Grandma Morgan—Mary Ann Linton Morgan, Part 1

By Helen Morgan Ayrton

She was born 11 February 1865 to Samuel Linton and Mary Ellen (McKichins) Sutton. She was the third child of nine children. Her mother had been married to a Mr. McKichins [or McKechine] and had a daughter Sarah Ellen, who was ten years older than Mary Ann. Grandma told me that her mother left Mr. McKichins because he wanted nothing to do with the Church. The family group sheet in Dad’s records shows Sarah Ellen was adopted by Samuel Linton.

She was very fond of her family, especially her brother Samuel Linton. I remember going to Nephi once or twice during my early years and visiting with Grandma’s people. She thought a lot of her brothers, John and Samuel. My mother told me several times that Grandma’s father, Samuel Linton, was a very stern man. Dad mentions him in his Life Story.

Grandma had light reddish blond hair and was a stately woman who appeared taller than she was because of her slender but upright carriage at all times. She had beautiful brown eyes and very fair skin. She was always very proper, possessive of her sons, religious, and a quite beautiful woman who worked very hard all her life.

I remember several times being with her when she did janitorial work for Elias Morris & Sons in their offices located then on South Temple. She must have been in her late fifties or early sixties then.

Grandma became immersed totally in genealogical work. From some letters her fascination with this subject must have happened when I was a small girl. As I grew to a teenager, Grandma tried her best to interest me in the subject but somehow the “bug didn’t bite.”

Grandma lived for a time in Washington D.C. where Linton was studying for the bar. She lived with Lin, Eudora and one or two children (daughters). She also lived in California. The following is something which was found in one of her genealogy notebooks.

This Sun. Jan. 23 Larani and Jayne took Julia (Grandma’s sister) and myself and the little girls on a beautiful ride through the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica Mountains, Van Nuys, Westwood, Bel Aire, University of California; through the famous Coast Highway then south to Ocean Park, Venice, Pala Del Rey.

Sat on the beach at the Palasaid; went through Manhatten, Harniosa and by Daud’s Beaches. Through the Palasverd Estate, over to Pont Permire where we had a delicious lunch Jule had prepared.

At San Pedro Harbor we saw 21 battleships.

We came on through the Western Ave. which reaches from the mountains to the sea.

In coming home we called at Mr. & Mrs. (?) (Jayne’s sister) and saw her lovely baby boy.

On the back of this page from one of her genealogy notebooks this, dated 5 April 1938:

I have found a wealth of books which may give much information on our lines.

What a lonely life Grandma had. She never had more than one room with a small sink; the bathroom was down the hall. This was in the Sharon Building where she lived many years of her life. She had good friends—Cecilia Steed, a lady with a decided accent from the French side of Switzerland, and Margaret Harned, a Mrs. Jones who helped her with genealogy [I'm guessing Jessie Penrose Jones]. There were others but these are the ones I remember best. She used to keep her food perishables on the window sill of her room.There were two windows, one large and one small facing South Temple, so her room was on the north side of the building. Grandma had no possessions to speak of but accumulated many notebooks with genealogy notes, a good many of them in pencil. She did much Temple Work. Grandma went to the 14th Ward in Salt Lake City.

[To be continued.]