Grandma Morgan—Mary Ann Linton Morgan, Part 2

Grandma and Mom were always at odds, Mom couldn’t understand her and talked about her to us children so terribly that we had little use for her either. I understood why this was so much later when I found out Grandma Christensen disliked her so much for being a polygamous wife.

Grandma married John Hamilton Morgan in the Endowment House against her Mother’s wishes. One of Grandma’s aunts or cousins helped her to come to Salt Lake where she and Grandpa Morgan were married in the Endowment House. After the Manifesto Grandma was in Hunt, Arizona working for the D.K. Udall family and married “Uncle D.K.” I am sure that Grandma Christensen knew about this secret.

Mom was not a tidy housekeeper and Grandma would try to teach her how to be neater. Grandma had a tendency to snoop, too, (so Mom says) and Mom was upset with her about that.

During Grandma’s last years Mom took her into her home to care for. Aunt Eudora (Lin’s wife) came from California and said Grandma could no longer care for herself. Grandma had arthritis very bad and walked with a cane. She had little use for children and gave Jimmy a hard time while we had to stay with Mom and Dad at 777 Fourth Ave. until our house on 12th West was completed.…

Finally Dad was persuaded to put her in a nursing home on 13th South and it was here she died. The name of the home was Hill Haven and had been an orphanage while we children were growing up on 13th East and 13th South.

Grandma was the spur who interested Nicholas Groesbeck Morgan (Grandpa’s eldest son) in genealogy. He had the Morgan line traced back to three brothers who came from Glamorganshire, Wales to settle in the United States. One settled in New England; one in the middle Atlantic States; and one in Virginia. Our line comes through the latter man.

[A note from my dad: This information is probably inaccurate. In fact Nicholas Morgan traced the genealogy to Virginia where there were a number of Morgans. There is no evidence or proof that the Morgan he selected is the right one... A careful reading of the John Morgan book shows clearly that he just randomly selected a line that continued as opposed to ending the line in Virginia.]

Grandma had bunions on both her feet, one of which was most painful. Her arthritis kept her from raising her elbow but a little way and she combed her hair by propping elbow on her chest of drawers.… Lin was always Grandma’s favorite but it was Dad to whom she looked for the most support and help. She was always asking Dad to help provide for herself for genealogy, or one of his brothers.

Mom didn’t like to visit with Grandma, but one time we took a dinner in the pots and pans on the streetcar to surprise Grandma. I just remember how many parcels we all had to carry. We didn’t stay too long as there were too many of us for that little room. I remember going down the hall to the bath. There was a toilet with a long chain from the box at the top; a bathtub that stood on legs and in which all that whole floor bathed. Grandma had this small sink in her room in a sort of closet and Mom said she used it to wash dishes in…

Grandma used to call the managers of the Deseret News to see why Dad didn’t come to see her more often. This was upsetting to Mom, also.

Grandma was always praising Uncle Lin’s and Aunt Eudora’s kids to us. Aunt Eudora was an Eggertsen from Provo, and Grandma had a higher opinion of her than she did of the Christensens in St. Johns.

I trust Grandma has found peace and her rightful place in the hereafter. She endured many hardships for her belief in the Church and was persecuted severely for her participation in polygamy as a third wife. I am grateful to her for telling me there was a hereafter and that we should all be together again after death.

Photo of the Salt Lake Temple from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimberlyfaye/2483954549/.