Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Eleven

Martha Morgan:A Journey to Zion

Story by Allen Morgan Kendall

Joys and Sorrows

Martha Morgan was true to the faith she had embraced in Scotland, and for which she had sacrificed so much, to the end of her life. As with all who seek for a Zion, her faith was surely tried: tried by noble plans that somehow failed to be realized in spite of every possible effort; tried by the nature of dear ones who probably failed to rise to their divine potential in this life.

She must have been disappointment to learn of the excommunication from the Church of her brother John Nelson in 1874. John had served well in the church in Scotland, emigrated to Utah and settled in Cache Valley becoming very wealthy through his abilities. However, he had failed to give heed to a statement of President Brigham Young. Brother Brigham said,

“The worst fear that I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country,

forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church...”

John Nelson

John Nelson Mansion in Logan, Utah

John pretty much fulfilled the prophetic statement to the letter. Martha's sorrow would have been multiplied had she heard of the escapades of John's son, who became the infamous “Black Jack” Nelson, a notorious cattle rustler and stagecoach robber in 1880's southern Idaho.57

John and Catherine Williamson Nelson

Black Jack is the one seated on far left.

But disappointment must have come closer to home when her son James was excommunicated on 10 Aug 1901. Levan Ward records show the charge of “neglect of duty, unbelief, and contempt” being leveled against him and 10 other Levan men, for which they were cut off from church fellowship.58 Martha and James lived under the same roof for 5 years with this little rain cloud probably never very far away. Happily, James was reinstated before the end of his life (but not Martha's). He was again ordained to the office of Elder by his brother John on 28 January 1917, about a year before his death.59

A Life in Review

All things considered, Martha had much for which to rejoice as her mortality came to a close. She still possessed in her heart the conviction of an ideal which had sustained her through persecution, the crossing of an ocean, and the walking of a continent. She had escaped a social system which had held her forefathers captive for centuries, and was now enjoying the benefits of the rich heritage her late husband had bequeathed her: land of her own, and strong sons to work it. And she must have smiled kindly as she observed the majority of her children following the trail she and William had blazed, notwithstanding their shortcomings.

Martha Morgan had found her Zion.

Martha Matilda Nelson Morgan died the day after Christmas at 6 pm in the year 1906 . Her oldest living son Edward was present from Beaver and acted as the informant as the death certificate was duly filled out. The cause of death: old age. She had lived for 82 years, 1 month and 7 days.60  She was laid to rest in the Levan cemetery, next to her husband, whose absence she had quietly endured for 30 years. The grave of her daughter Jane was very near.

Today, the grave site is distinguished by a marker, stately and slate gray. It reminds us of the names of those whose remains wait there, and the duration of their lives. And it offers us this warm reassurance, engraved permanently in the stone and framed neatly in palm leaves, the symbol of eternal life: “The faithful are certain of their reward.”

Sources:

57. A. J. Simmonds. The Gentile Comes to Cache Valley: A Study of the Logan Apostasies of

1874 and the Establishment of Non-Mormon Churches in Cache Valley, 1873-1913. Logan:

Utah State University Press, 1976. p. 79-82.

58. Records of Levan Ward.

59. ibid.

60. Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1956. FamilySearch. Www.familysearch.org. Martha M.

Morgan.

Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Nine

Martha Morgan:A Journey to Zion

Story by Allen Morgan Kendall

Pictures added by Lois C. Berrett


Life in Levan

William Morgan was one of the two men given responsibility for temporal affairs in Levan by Elder Erastus Snow. Each family was allotted half a block, or 2.5 acres of land within the town boundaries, as well as twenty acres farm and pasture land outside. William and Martha selected a lot at what was then the center of town at the southwest of the junction of Main Street (now 1st West) and Canyon Lane. Here William built a log house, consisting of three rooms, all in a row. The roof was constructed of cottonwood sticks supporting a layer of clay and straw, covered with a layer of soil.39

The Morgans shared their block with Jacob Hofheins, Mormon Battalion veteran, his two wives and large family. The Hofheins family had lived in Parowan and had been part of the first group sent to support the Iron Mission. They had also moved from Chicken Creek and so the two families were undoubtedly well acquainted. In the years to come intermarriage would make them closer yet.40

The United Order was introduced into the Levan Branch in 1875. In late October and early November, William and Martha entered into the Order by covenant through the token of baptism. Children Martha Ettie, James Nathaniel also joined, as well as married son Daniel with his wife. A total of 113 persons joined the United Order at that time, with the number increasing to 273 by 1878. In spite of growing numbers, the Order eventually ceased to function in Levan, as it did in most Utah communities where it was attempted.41

1870 Census

The United Order 

From the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:

"United orders" refers to the cooperative enterprises established in LDS communities of the Great Basin, Mexico, and Canada during the last quarter of the nineteenth century in an effort to better establish ideal Christian community and group economic self-sufficiency... Economic goals of consecration included relative income equality, group self-sufficiency, and the elimination of poverty. Under this plan, the head of each family would consecrate or deed all real and personal property to the

Presiding Bishop of the Church and would receive, in turn, a stewardship, or "inheritance," from consecrated property. Thereafter, Church members would consecrate annually all surplus production from their stewardship's to the bishop's storehouse.

Here in Levan their last son, Ira Robert Morgan was born, 25 February 1868.

Ira Robert Morgan

William Morgan appeared before the First Judicial Court in Provo in October 1871 and became an American citizen.42 By virtue of her marriage to William, Martha now became an official citizen herself, renouncing legally her allegiance to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

After years of sacrifice and travel, the Morgans were settled into a pastoral lifestyle on land of their own, surrounded by family. It was to be altogether too brief.

If family tradition is correct, William suffered from the symptoms of asthma.43 There can be no doubt as to the source of his affliction. A glance at the history of his fathers, and his own occupational experience in the mines tells the story. His decline would have been gradual, the great strength from years of hard labor being sapped by his respiratory weakness. William Morgan died on 24 November 1876 in Levan.44  He was 59 years old when the cold specter of the coal

mine which had haunted generations before him finally claimed his life also. He was buried in the cemetery southeast of the town. It was the location he himself, as one of the city fathers. had helped to select just a few years earlier.45

Martha was 52 years old and a widow. Within two years she suffered further sorrow when she

lost her dear sister Jane, still living in Beaver and a highly respected midwife, to a relatively

early death.46

She remained in Levan for the rest of her life. She watched from under the shade of the fruit trees planted by the hand of her husband47 as the plot of tall blue grass grew into an industrious little town. Many businesses sprung up, including a broom factory operated by son Daniel.48 She witnessed the raising of three church meeting houses, from the simple log structure a few blocks north of her home, to the present stately brick church with gothic windows, under construction when she died. And before the end of her life, even the miracle of telephone had reached this former frontier settlement.49

Martha's life was certainly one of industry. While her sons toiled in the fields, she would have supported them planting and harvesting gardens, preserving fruit from the orchard, cooking and

mending. Wrestling with the notoriously hard water coming from the canyon springs must have been a massive chore on wash day in and of itself. It was a life of labor, but that had become the only life Martha knew.

Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Eight

Martha Morgan:A Journey to Zion

Story by Allen Morgan Kendall

Pictures added by Lois C. Berrett

Life in Beaver 

As the impracticality of iron production at Cedar City became more apparent, the population decreased sharply. There were about 1000 residents in 1855, but by 1860 only about 400 remained.  Among those leaving were the Andrew and Jane Patterson family. Early in 1856 they were among the first of the settlers moving 36 miles to the north to a location on the Beaver River.30

Beaver River

When the Morgans left as the iron works closed, they joined the Pattersons in Beaver.

Mt Baldy viewed from Beaver in 1872

As the 1860 census was taken William was listed, no longer as a miner, but as a farmer. Also on this census William and Martha possessed something that would probably have never been theirs if they had remained in Scotland: $350 in real property.31

Here Martha gave birth to another son on 22 January 1860. She named him John Athos Morgan.32 The middle name given to the lad is interesting. Not a family name, it makes one wonder if Martha had developed a literary interest. Athos, of course, was the name of one of the fictional Three Musketeers in Alexander Dumas' 1844 novel of that title. Perhaps the book she was holding in her elderly portrait was more than a prop, but an icon of her interests to those of a later generation.

John Athos Morgan

Beaver was a beautiful location, hunting and other natural resources were abundant. The settlement was growing rapidly, ironically, due to the Utah War. Pres. Young had called many church members who were living in the corridor between there and San Bernardino, California back into the Utah Territory. Many of them found Beaver a desirable place to live.

The Morgans apparently found it desirable to move on.

Chicken Creek

Chicken Creek was a location that seemed ideal for a permanent home. It was located on the main thoroughfare through the Utah Territory about 15 miles southwest of Nephi, and no doubt many weary travelers to parts south, such as Cedar City, stopped there to rest from their journey. They must have found the shade of the cottonwood trees and thick willows, and the abundant flow of the creeks merging there very appealing.

Chicken Creek

After leaving Beaver, the Morgans were among a small group who attempted a settlement in the location of Chicken Creek. Once again they started from scratch. They were living there in 1862 when Martha gave birth to a daughter, Martha Ettie on 24 August 1862.

Martha Ettie Morgan

And where there yet when another son James Nathaniel was born on 2 October 1864.33

James Nathaniel Morgan

The Morgans helped to build a community in Chicken Creek. They had erected a meeting house which doubled as a school and social hall. They had put in gardens and wheat fields. But Chicken Creek was still not to be their permanent home. It must have been with some disappointment that they concluded that the location that looked so ideal was unsustainable to their needs. The soil was actually quite poor, and the growing season too short to allow the cultivation of fruit trees. The water dwindled in the fall, and locusts often devoured what crops could be raised.34 

There were still Indian conflicts.  In May of 1866, most of the residents moved temporarily to the fort in Nephi as a defense against attacks, but returned for the harvest in the fall.35

Sources: 

30. Dalton, Luella. History of Iron County, p. 200. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

31. Ancestry.com. 1860 U. S. Federal Census [Database on-line]. Provo, Utah, USA: Ancestry.

com Operations Inc. 2009

32. LDS Church Membership Records.

33. ibid

34. Stephensen, Maurine. A History of Levan, p. 5. Chicken Creek Camp, Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

35. McCune, Alice P. History of Juab County, p. 152. Juab County Company, Daughters of Utah Pioneers. 1947.

Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Seven

Martha Morgan:A Journey to Zion

Story by Allen Morgan Kendall

Pictures added by Lois C. Berrett

The Iron Mission 

The trip to Salt Lake City may have begun more than the eternal continuation of their marriage. To understand this, we must understand the Iron Mission. When Apostle Parley Pratt led exploration far to the south of Salt Lake valley one of the important discoveries made was that of iron ore. It provided an exciting potential resource to a people striving to become independent of the iron products being shipped at dear prices from the east. In 1851 a company of pioneers were sent to what was then called Little Salt Lake Valley, 250 miles from Salt Lake proper with the specific mission to establish an iron industry for the support of settlements in the Great Basin and surrounding areas. The initial settlement was Parowan, but 

Church in Parowan

the iron works were set up 20 miles to the southwest in Parowan. A fort was built there called Fort Cedar, and it grew into the town of Cedar City. It was selected because of coal to the east and iron ore to the west.

The mission struggled valiantly from the beginning. Between snow and ice, drought, Indian attacks, and poor quality coal, the production of usable iron seemed nearly out of reach. But they persisted for years. As late as June 1855, Pres. Brigham Young was still calling for experienced European iron workers to go to the Little Salt Lake Valley.26

This may have prompted the Morgans to move there. During their visit to Salt Lake City William may have received a call to serve in the coal mining operation when Elder Pratt and others were reminded of his experience. Or he may have been persuaded by brother in law Andrew Patterson, who was already serving there. One thing is certain, there was little personal advantage to their family. They were probably looking forward to settling permanently in Nephi with the dream of a little farm of their own at the base of majestic Mount Nebo. The move to Cedar City was a call to duty, a faithful response to the consideration of the sacred covenants they had just made.

The Morgans were in Cedar City by 1856. Their presence there was again marked by the birth and death of another child. Thomas William Morgan, less than 6 months old, died there on 20 September 1856.27

Although conditions in the iron works had improved since the beginning, in which workers were clothed in rags and sometimes shoeless, these were still difficult years. Payment for workers was made in kind through the store of the Deseret Iron Company, and requisitioned payments usually exceeded store inventory. Coal Creek flooded frequently and inundated the iron works. 

Drought and grasshopper infestation in 1856 began a serious decline in the operation. The Utah War in 1857 sounded the death knell for the iron works with its disruption and draw upon resources. The tension in the area was further increased by the Mountain Meadows Massacre in September of 1857. The operation finally closed in 1858.28

From a practical perspective, the Iron Mission was a failure. But for the Morgan family and the others who sacrificed greatly in this effort much more than iron was produced in the fiery furnace which burned there. Once again the character of the saints who gave much was forged to a more perfect form in a test which could have made them or broken them. The cooperative operation of the church functioned throughout their time there. In 1856 a Female Benevolent Society (Relief Society) was

organized in Cedar City. Martha Morgan would have been a part of it. Martha gave birth to a healthy son there, on 1 Oct 1857, and named him in honor of her father Edward Nelson Morgan.29

26. Shirts, Morris A. A Trial Furnace. Brigham Young University, University Publications. 2001.

27. LDS Church Membership Records.

28. A Trial Furnace.

29. LDS Church Membership Records.