Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Two

Martha Morgan: A Journey to Zion

by Alan Morgan Kendall

Her Childhood

Little can be said of her childhood, except for the possibility of employment in the coal mines.

Did Martha attend school? Education was highly regarded among the Scottish people, and each parish was required to have a school. But not all children attended the schools. Martha may have missed the opportunity due to her status in a collier family. A gauge of her education would be in her ability to read and write. According to the 1850 U. S. census she could do neither.  By 1860 it was reported that she could, while the 1870 census says she could read but not write. Both 1880 and 1900 census records give her a passing grade in literacy. It appears that she may have learned later in life. If so, that would be a high accomplishment for a busy frontier wife and mother. However, in her later years she lived among a people who also placed education as a high priority.

Before her 17th birthday, her family had moved from Inveresk far west to the outskirts of the Glasgow area. They lived in an area known as New Dundyvan in North Lanarkshire6, a polluted and gritty industrial center outside of the city. It was a center of coal mining and iron manufacture, and so drew the likes of the Neilson family to pursue their livelihood. It also attracted, as divine destiny would have it, the family of Martha's future husband.

1850 Jackson Illinois Census for William and Martha

1860 Beaver, Utah Territory Census for William and Martha

1870 Levan, Utah Territory Census

1880 Levan, Utah Territory for Martha and children

1900 Levan, Utah Territory Census for Martha and some of the children