Trek 2018: Who Were the Mormon Pioneers?

The youth of my Philadelphia-area LDS stake are participating in "Trek" this year and I am helping prepare historical information and serving as a historical advisor for the different activities. Here are my remarks for an opening fireside this past Sunday.

One hundred and sixty-four years ago, a young Irish immigrant named Samuel Linton picked up the Philadelphia newspaper and saw a notice that said, “Elder Samuel Harrison of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would preach at ten o’clock on Sunday at 7th and Callow Hill.” Seventh and Callowhill is just a few minutes’ walk from the Liberty Bell and a few minutes’ drive from the temple. Samuel Linton said, “They were the most presumptuous people I had heard of, to style themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I thought I must go and hear them first. I was there on time.” He heard the missionaries preach the gospel and said, “I was convinced that the Lord had restored the Gospel and the authority to administer the Ordinances thereof, [so] I applied for baptism.”

In those days the Latter-day Saints would move to live with other Latter-day Saints, so a few months later, Samuel left Philadelphia for Utah.

Samuel Linton Family Reunion 2015

Morgan Line

Samuel Linton's Birthplace: Mulvin, County Tyrone

Samuel Linton's birthplace has been a mystery to his descendants. His autobiography stated that he was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, but that's nonspecific, and his family recorded that he was born in Murbin, Tyrone, N. Ireland, but there is no such place. 

My father, James Tanner, has been looking for a birthplace for many years. Over the years he's looked through a variety of records in Utah and Philadelphia, but never found an accurate birthplace. He speculated that Samuel may have been born in a place called "Mulvin," close to Ardstraw.

Last week he was at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and decided to go up to Special Collections and look at the temple records.

Samuel Linton and Ellen Sutton were married on April 26, 1858. She had recently left her first husband, Charles McKechnie, and for whatever reason Samuel and Ellen were not sealed until a decade later, on April 9, 1868. The sealing was performed by Wilford Woodruff, with W. W. Phelps and Joseph Lyon serving as witnesses.

When the sealing was performed, Samuel gave his birthdate as July 27, 1827, and his birthplace as Mulvin, Tyrone, Ireland, confirming my father's conclusion. 

Mulvin is a small place about a mile northeast of Ardstraw, another small place, where his father William Linton was born.

The coordinates are 54°45′00″ N, 7°26′00″ W.

My father notes that there is a Free Presbyterian Church in Mulvin, so the vital records may be in the Non-Conformist records there, or in the Presbyterian Church in Ardstraw.

The Linton family did a lot of genealogy about ten years ago, and I can't recall all the details of a visit to Ireland by one of the branches of the family, but I note that we all need to add some family materials and pictures to the family entries on FamilySearch Family Tree.

Notes

Picture from FamilySearch Family Tree, courtesy of SMSRogers. The picture has been cropped and edited.

Temple Index Bureau, Endowment Records, Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Utah, Family History Library Film 1,149,515, Samuel and Ellen Linton sealing, April 9, 1868.

Happy Times Behind the Scenes at TheAncestorFiles

Posts have been rather sporadic here for a little while since I am working full speed on editing a chapter for the Women of Faith in the Latter Days project. The chapter will consist of an edited autobiography of Ann Prior Jarvis.

My kind siblings and mother typed up one of the versions of Ann Prior Jarvis's autobiographies, a copy of which was serendipitously posted on Ancestry.com and then sent to me by email by David Bond. Thanks again to all of you!

Documentary editing could potentially be a tedious process, but luckily the subject matter here is so fascinating that I have not lost interest in the least. I have really appreciated New Family Search for this project, because it has made it surprisingly easy to identify some of the people mentioned in the autobiography.

Besides the time necessary for this project, I have a number of other major projects in the works, as well as the requirements of family life, so going forward, looking at the schedule for TheAncestorFiles, I usually try to post something each weekday, but will most likely post just a few times a week on the following topics through the end of the year:

• Tracing Mormon Pioneer Ancestors, Starring the Richard and Frances Litson Family
• Biographies of the Four Litson Children
• The Letters Written Home to Wales after Eliza and Joan Jeanetta Litson Arrived in Utah
• The Remainder of Mary Isabell Pettit's 1890 Diary
• The Life and Death of James Glade
• The History of Isabella Love Glade
• The History of the Hamilton Family
• The History of the Green Family
• The History of the Marsden Family
• The History of the Hill Family

• A Famous Utah Photo, or, Boy, You Look Distinguished in Stripes, Grandpa
• Some Famous (Or Infamous, as the Case May Be) Relatives
• The Lanark Society Settlers
• George Jarvis and the Opium Wars
• Cholera in London, the Birth of Modern Epidemiology, and Why I Am Mentioning It Here

And, hopefully, before the end of the year:

• The John Tanner Daguerreotype

Lots of fun stuff coming up! Happy times!


And one additional note: this weekend my family and I will be attending the broadcast of the groundbreaking for the Philadelphia Temple. The Temple (A) will be just blocks from the place (B) where Samuel Linton first heard the gospel preached in 1856:

View Larger Map

Samuel Linton Family Reunion

Reposting from Colette from the Linton Family Organization...

Samuel Linton Family Reunion 2010

Date: Friday, July 9 - Saturday, July 10, 2010

Location: Provo/Orem, Utah

We are seeking to find the posterity of Samuel Linton (b. 1828 Ardstraw, Ireland) and Ellen Sutton AND Eleanor Coolidge. Please pass this link on to anyone you know who is part of our family.

We are putting together a fabulous reunion this summer in Provo/Orem, Utah and we hope you can make it!

*Family BBQ
*Games
*Adult Dinner
*Historical slideshow
*Family photos and family trees available at reunion

Please come!

The Linton Family Organization

Rather than duplicating all the excellent work done by the Linton Family Organization, I will simply point interested readers to lintonfamily.org. The organization started out as a project to bring together the descendants of Samuel and Ellen Sutton Linton but as more was learned about the family, the effort expanded to include Samuel Linton's second wife, Eleanor Coolidge Chase Linton, and her family.

Thanks to Colette and many other family members who have put so much effort into the project.

Morgan 10: Samuel Linton and Ellen Sutton Linton, Part 3 of 3

Continued by Mary L. Morgan, 1945.

My father, Samuel Linton and my Uncle Peter Sutton went to Echo Canyon to guard against Johnson’s Army. They naturally spoke of their sisters, so I concluded that father became acquainted with mother, Ellen Sutton, as they were married in April, 1858. She was previously married to Charles McKetchney who was a glass stainer by trade. They had one child, Sarah Ellen, who lived with grandmother Sutton till she was 10 years old, when she died with diptheria [sic].

[Note: Ellen Sutton (age 21) and Charles McKetchney or McKecknie or McKetchine (age 23) traveled to Utah in the Joseph W. Young Pioneer Company in 1853. The notes indicate that this was called the "Ten Pound Company." The sources for both Ellen and Charles list the Perpetual Emigrating Fund. The sources about this trip across the plains are extensive, and include multiple notes about the Sutton family, including some difficulties they had with animals.]

McKetchney had some dealings with President Brigham Young on which they didn’t agree so he apostacized and went to California threatening to take their baby. Mother has told me how Uncle Peter guarded her till he knew he, McKetchney, had left the country. He begged Mother to go with him, but she told him she could not leave her church and people to follow him. I think she never heard of him any more. Father was a very large, strong man. He had a farm in the old field and could cradle more grain in a day than any other man around Nephi, where they lived and could cut more wood, so I have been told by men who knew him. He had great faith in prayer and the Priesthood which he held. We never had to call a doctor if father administered to us, we got well immediately, no matter what ailed us.

He was called to the “Muddy Mission” down near St. George about 1869 to help develop that country and went with others that had been called, just a few days before Alice was born. Mother pleaded with him not to go till after, but he thought he was called and had to go. Mother came nearly leaving us, but I guess his faith and prayers prevailed as she was spared to live and bear five other children. Three of them died at birth, twin boys and one girl. Mother was a hard worker too. She could take the wool shorn, wash, dry and send it to the machines to be made into rolls; spin it into yarn which was made into skeins. Then gather rabbit brush, steep into tea, dip the skeins in this, then in blue dye to make the different colors for shirts, dresses, etc. Dear mother was a patient sufferer. I wonder that she lived as long as she did. She was 77 when she passed away. She was affable and kind. All loved her who knew her.

When Alice was a year old, Father was helping on the thresher and got his leg in the horse power. It was just mashed. Dr. Bryan set it putting it in a heavy box. Brother Adams made the box from heavy timber. They couldn’t keep the flies out of it. Oh goodness what he must have suffered. Father and John went to work for Mr. R.W. Young in Arizona. Father was quite taken up with that country. He wrote Mother to sell the meadowland and prepare to move. Mother had a good councilor in her eldest brother Uncle Peter, who advised her not to sell and said father might change his mind, which he did, and came home thankful he still had his meadowland. This was a wild grass which they cured for their animals to feed through the winter. They used to take me to tromp the hay as they loaded it. I would ride with John going down but felt safer with father coming back on top of a high load. Roads were not paved then.

Father was very anxious to have his folks join the church. His father died a year after they came to Philadelphia and father left to gather with the Saints, as he has told us. After 20 years he got a letter from his mother through the dead letter office. He began writing trying to convert them. Later he made two trips to visit them, but they were too full of prejudice to talk to him or listen so no more joined the church, but he has had their work done in the Temple which we hope they have learned to accept and appreciate.

Linton, Samuel and Mary L. Morgan. "History of Samuel Linton." Nephi, Utah, May 1908 and 1945.

Part 1.
Part 2.

Photo of Echo Canyon from www.flickr.com/photos/bryanto/3149234611/.

Morgan 10: Samuel Linton and Ellen Sutton Linton, Part 2 of 3

The 3rd of April, 1854, I left for Utah. We took rail for Pittsburg [sic], and boat from there to Cincinnati, and from there to St. Louis, where I met Horace S. Eldredge. There were five or six boys of us who were good teamsters. We asked him for a job to drive team across the plains. He told us if we would furnish our own gun and blankets, we could have the privilege of driving a team to Utah. I accepted these conditions. I went up the Missouri River to Fort Leavenworth that was the outfitting point at that time. I made the most of my situation. I made myself useful, helping to take care of Church freight. The Church had a large train that year. [This is listed in the Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel database as the Orson Pratt/Ezra T. Benson/Ira Eldredge Company (1854). Samuel Linton is not listed in the company, so after the third part posts tomorrow, I will submit the information for the database.]

A man by the name of Bucklen, a returned missionary was in charge of all the wagons and stuff. He did our cooking, but he went off to buy cattle. This left us to do our own or starve. I went 24 hours before I came down to it. None of the others would, so I had to cook. Our old hand came back. I was put to cut wood to make charcoal for blacksmithing. This, and putting wagons together, and loading up freight, and handling half broke cattle, gave us plenty to do. After the first lot of cattle was delivered, I was put to look after them. I did so, and I did not lose anything but a fancy came that was made a present to Brother Eldredge. It was taken a day or two before we started. There were men driving a herd of high bred cattle through to California. They offered me forty dollars a month and a good outfit to ride if I would go with them, but I made choice to stay with the saints and work for the Church, and I have never regretted it.

I drove a big team, the wagon loaded with sheet iron, mill irons, window glass, and woman and 4 children. I got through all safe although we had a stampede on the road. I heard them coming. I stopped my team and stood in front of the leaders and talked to them. They stood still while they ran past on each side of us. We came into Salt Lake City the third of October, 1854 or 56. I went to work for Heber C. Kimball. He set me to digging post holes and shucking corn. He sent me and a prisoner he was taking care of, to cut fire wood up City Creek. He had three teams hauling two trips a day. He kept them going all right. He called me the Irish Yankee. He thought I would do; when my month was up I quit. Mrs. Kimball wanted to know what was the matter. He asked me if he had not treated me right. I told him yes—and if the boys had not treated me right, and his wife, if she had not treated me right. To all this I said yes. I did not like digging and pick and shovel.

The remainder of the winter I worked for the Church up Big Cottonwood Canyon cutting timber.

In the Spring of 1855 I went to work for Bro. Eldredge, and worked for him until the Fall of 1857.

Then I went out to guard Uncle Sam against Johnson’s Army, who were sent out to annihilate the Mormons, but they found it to be a blessing by them leaving food and things they could use. In the spring of 1858 I worked for Brigham Young doing farming, and helping to move the family to Provo and back to Salt Lake. I stayed with him until the Fall of ‘60, then I moved to Nephi.

I forgot to say in the Fall of 1860, I went out after those late hand-cart companies. Had a very hard time. In the month of September 1858 Bishop Hunter sent me and eight others out to meet Rowly hand-cart company. We met them on Ham’s Fork. They were out of flour. The most pleasant trip I ever recollect having, although I came near to losing my life by a party of soldiers that followed us from Fort Bridger a distance of ten miles. They got in trouble with their Captain who was doing something the soldiers didn’t like. He ordered them out of camp. They went on about a mile to a saloon. They wanted to search every wagon and tent. But I went to them and talked to them quietly. They offered me the whiskey bottle. I said I always wanted to see a man drink out his own bottle first. “Well,” he said, “that is sensible.” By this time we had got round to where the other eight boys were, each one having a six shooter in his belt. I had told them we got along with men in peace, and when we could not get along in that way then we got along the best way we could. The one who was making so much noise showed fight, but one of them picked up a rock and said here is one of the Lord’s biscuits, shut your mouth. They went outside the camp and commenced shooting into the camp. It was dark by this time, and there was no one hurt, but it was a miracle.

You can write the remainder of my life as well as I can. (He stopped short, never could get him at it again). [That last note is from Mary Ann Linton Morgan. She continues writing the history in Part 3.]

Part 1.
Part 3.

Photo of wagon from www.flickr.com/photos/tgray/207860417/.

Morgan 10: Samuel Linton and Ellen Sutton Linton, Part 1 of 3

Samuel Linton
b. 27 June 1828 Tyrone, Ireland
m. 26 April 1858 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
d. 21 May 1916 Nephi, Juab, Utah
b. 24 May 1916 Nephi, Juab, Utah
Wives: (1) Ellen Sutton, (2) Eleanor Coolidge Chase
Father: William Linton; Mother: Elizabeth Selfridge

Ellen Sutton Linton
b. 22 January 1832 St. Helens, Lancashire, England
d. 1 or 2 April 1909 Nephi, Juab, Utah
b. 5 April 1909 Nephi, Juab, Utah
Husbands: (1) Charles McKetchney, (2) Samuel Linton
Father: John Sutton; Mother: Mary Ellison

County Tyrone, Ireland

Nephi, Utah; May 1908. Samuel Linton, the son of William Linton and Elizabeth Selfridge, born June 27, 1828, in the County of Tyrone, Ireland. My father emigrated to St. Johns, New Brunswick, about 1834 or 1835.

Saint John River, New Brunswick, Canada

When I was 6 or 7 years old I helped father all I could piling brush and light wood such as I could handle. I remained with my father until I was twenty (20), when I went to Philadelphia, with the approbation of my parents. I took passage on a Brigantine loaded with spare timber for New York which I helped to unload. It took us four days. I then took a train for Philadelphia where there was a job waiting for me. I was among strangers, but my friends were very kind to me.

The Linton gravesite at Westminster Cemetery outside Philadelphia, 2005.

Cemeteries tend to move around a lot in Philadelphia. William started out in a different cemetery, but ended up here. There are a number of other family members also buried in this cemetery. 2005.

The next year, 1849, my sister Sarah Jane came on. She lived with my cousin Robert Selfridge his wife and one child. She lived with them until she married Mathew T. R. Ralston. The next year (1850), the family came on. Father only lived a year after he came to Philadelphia (1851). Five years after my father died (1856) I heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how I came to hear it was this:

There was a great infidel, Joseph Barker of Ohio. He gave out a challenge to any of the ministers of the day to debate with him on the divine authenticity of the Bible, or the being of a God. There was an old gentleman that took him up. They had five nights of a discussion. The Old Presbyterian could do nothing with him. I went every night. This set me to thinking. I made up my mind to go and hear every sect and party that professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In looking over the advertisements in the Daily Ledger to see which of the sects I should visit, I saw the advertisement of the Latter-day Saints which read like this: “Elder Samuel Harrison of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would preach at ten o’clock on Sunday at 7th and Callow Hill, and he would show that neither Protestant nor Catholic had the true gospel preached to them.” This took my attention. I thought they were the most presumptuous people I had heard of, to style themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I thought I must go and hear them first. I was there on time.

The corner in Philadelphia where Samuel Linton first heard the gospel preached. It's not much to look at now; there are no original buildings on any of the four intersections. Here's what the area looked like about thirty years later. Here is a bit of history of the branch at Seventh and Callowhill from the point of view of the RLDS. ("Brighamites" means the part of the church that went to Utah under the direction of Brigham Young.)

The people began to gather in. I thought they were the most sociable, happy people I had ever seen. The Elder came in and went up on the stand and gave out a hymn. I thought it, and the prayer, was the most sensible I had ever heard. He preached from the New Testament, and quoted passages of scripture that I had committed to memory in Methodist Sabbath School, but he applied them in such a different light that it bothered me to understand it. I had inquired about these Mormons, and they said they were Old Joe Smith’s followers, that he had dug up a golden Bible, and they didn’t believe our Bible. Well, I thought that if this is the Book of Mormon, it is very like our Bible, and thought I would ask him to let me see his Book of Mormon, but before he sat down he held up the Bible and said this is the Bible translated under King James that I have been preaching from. That was enough for me. I could see they had lied about the people. When meeting was over I was in no hurry to go. There was a man by the name of Luts, a perfect stranger to me. He asked what I thought of the preaching. I told him I had no fault to find. I asked him a great many questions. He answered me satisfactorily. He told me if I would come back in the afternoon, he would lend me a book, which, if I would read, I could learn a great deal about the Gospel. I read it, I was convinced that the Lord had restored the Gospel and the authority to administer the Ordinances thereof, I applied for baptism. They asked me if I had considered the consequences. He asked me if I was ready to have my friends turn against me and have my name cast out as evil, and suffer persecution, and perhaps lay down my life. I considered a moment, and I thought the former-day Saints had to take all these chances, so I told him I was prepared for all this. He said on these conditions you may be baptized. They were about three weeks before they were ready to go. There were quite a few baptized. There was plenty of ice to be moved, so we had a cold bath. We were all right. We took no harm. This was the first of January, 1854.

Part 2.
Part 3.

Photo of Tyrone County, Ireland from www.flickr.com/photos/deviant-87/1998085204/. Photo of St. John River, St. Johns, New Brunswick from www.flickr.com/photos/greencolander/15548027/. Photo of Philadelphia taken in May 2009. Photos of the Linton graves in Philadelphia taken in July 2005. Photo of Samuel and Ellen from lintonfamily.org.

John Morgan's Children

Here is a page out of Harold Morgan's Book of Remembrance. It shows:

Harold Morgan

His parents:
John Hamilton Morgan
Mary Ann Linton Morgan

His grandparents:
Garrard Morgan III
Eliza Ann Hamilton Morgan
Samuel Linton
Ellen Sutton Linton

His full brothers:
Linton Morgan
Mathias Cowley Morgan

His half brothers:
Nicholas G. Morgan
Earl Morgan
Jack Morgan
John Morgan
Joseph Morgan

I have John Morgan's children listed as follows. Please contact me with any corrections.

John (1842-1894) m. (1868) Helen Melvina Groesbeck (1852-1930)
Helen Melvina (1870-1952) m. Andrew Burt and later George Austin
Elizabeth (1872-1874)
Eliza Ann (1875-1952) m. James Frank Smith
Ruth (1878-1949) m. Berke Kunkel
John (1881-1881)
Flora Groesbeck (1882-1885)
Nicholas Groesbeck (1884-1971) m. Ethel Tate
Gail (1888-1984) m. John Clayton
Bessie (1891-1938) m. Percy Harold Rex
Gerard Earl (1892-1957) m. Merin Engman
John Hamilton (1894-1982) m. Lucile Lloyd

John (1842-1894) m. (1884) Annie Mildred Smith (1863-1935)
Annie Ray (1884-1972) m. Lawrence Hensen Heiselt
Myrtle (1887-1890)
John Albemarle (1889-1935) m. Eva Block
Ivy (1892-1940) m. Luther Grantham
Joseph Smith (1893-1948) m. Violet Dutler or Dudler

John (1842-1894) m. (1888) Mary Ann Linton (1865-1951)
Linton (1890-1952) m. Eudora Eggertsen
Harold (1892-1963) m. Jessie Christensen
Mathias Cowley (1894-1964) m. Mildred Pearce

The Morgan children died at the ages of: 82, 1, 76, 70, <1, 2, 87, 96, 47, 64, 88, 87, 3, 45, 48, 54, 61, 71, 70. An average of 55 years. If you remove the four deaths of small children (Elizabeth, John, Flora, Myrtle) and the five that lived more than 80 years (Helen, Nicholas, Gail, John H., Annie), the other ten lived an average of 46.5 years.

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.]

The Life Story of Mary Ann Linton Morgan Written by Herself

Daughter of Samuel Linton and Ellen Sutton (Linton) b. 11 Feb. 1865 in Nephi, Juab Co. Utah. In a brown adobe house built I think by Homer Brown a farmer for whom my father worked.

It was situated on the So. East corner of what is now 2nd So. and 2nd East St. We lived there till I was 4 years old when we moved into a log house on 3rd E. Father had cut and hauled the logs from the mts. They were sawed at the John Andrews Saw Mill in Nephi.

My brother John was b. in S.L. city Apr. 6, 1859. My mother had a little daughter by a former marriage also b. (b. 29 May 1855) in S.L. City. Sarah Ellen McKetchney dau. of Charles who apostacised from the ch. and went to California. I also had a little sister Lucilla b. 16 Oct. 1861 who died 29 Apr. 1863. My bro. Samuel b. 7 Jan. 1867 in the same brown adobe house.

While we lived in this house my parents shared their home with Bro. John Adams and wife Jane. Converts from England for several months till they could get a little place of their own. They had there two children Alice and Henry b. in Eng. and one dau. born in Nephi after they moved in their own home. We were life long friends and neighbors. Father always used to send for Bro. Adams to help him administer to us, when we were ailing and we were always restored to health without the service of a physician. Never had a Dr. in our home till after my husband John Morgan d. in 1894 in Jan. 1895 my mother was stricken by typhoid fever same disease as Bro. M. had, and my sisters were frightened and sent for Dr. Ed Wilcox much to fathers displeasure.

He had great faith and enjoyed to a marked degree the gift of healing. Soon after we moved into the log house Father was called to the “muddy mission” near St. George, Utah. As the company of missionaries were to leave father left a few days before my sister Alice was born. Mother had a very difficult delivery, a serious hemorage. She was attended by a midwife Eliza Gadd who had been called, blest and set apart for this service. She had great faith in the power of the Priesthood, and as I remember hearing, she never lost a case out of the hundreds she delivered. Mother lay in a pool of her own blood while (help was immediately neded or was near) dear Auntie Udall (Rebecca May Udall) waded the creeks to get Dr. (Bp.) Bryan to come and help. This was the 30 of December when she returned ahead of the Dr. she saw Sis. Gadd on her knees with her hands raised pleading for mothers life. Auntie went on to get Elder John Adams to help administer to her and her life was spared.

When I was 7 or 8 years old I started to School. Mary Ellen Love was one of my first techers. She was very kind and loveable, but John being 6 y. older, was under Andrew Love, M.E.’s father, who was a severe disiplinarian. John used to get punished and I would cry and beg for him. We were such pals, he used to take me on the horse behind him to take the cows up in the hills where there was good grass. When we came back we would stop and pick wild flowers which mother enjoyed so much.
We often did school in the winter and helped what we could with the work in the Summer. We always had our chores to do before and after school. Father was an early riser and saw to it that we were all up and dressed ready to go for family prayer before breakfast. No matter how early he had to leave to go to his work, he never missed this duty.

Lois Foot was another of my early school teachers. Then Aunt Hannah Grover, wife of Thomas (deceased). She had two sons Joel and Thom. Jo. who moved from Farmington to Nephi Joel having been called to be Bp. there. Father used to haul and chop wood to pay our tuition. I was quite a favorite with Sis. Grover which caused Jealousy of some of the students and made trouble sometimes for me. One time I remember particularly the monitor kissed me and said she was glad I prayed and if I would be a good girl H.F. would always hear & answer my prayers.

As I advanced in School Frederick W. Choppe was my teacher in Mathematics, writing, Spelling. Elizabeth Ann Schofield taught English, Geography, history & reading.

I loved both of these teachers very much. Used to wash at night and early in the morning so as not to miss a half day in School. Both teachers were very interested in my advancement and gr.ma Schofield Lizzies mother came and beged me to try the Teachers Examination. Said she felt sure I could pass. I didn’t think I could, so wouldn’t try. I have always wished I had if only to please dear gr.ma Schofield.

I used to help them on Saturdays and sometimes after school to pay my tuition. When I was 15 I did the work for Eliza Schofield Hawarth when her oldest son was born and again two years after with her 2nd son. I also lived with James Pepton and wife when their 2 dau. was born. with Lottie & Henry Adams when their eldest son Merritt was born.

[That's all of this history. I preserved her spelling and abbreviations.]

Mary Ann Linton Morgan: Five Faith Promoting Instances, No. 5

“Five Faith Promoting Instances”

#5. A Reward of Submission to the Will of the Father. In the year 1895 during the winter, after my husband’s death in August 1894, my mother was afflicted with varicose veins, and had a bad leg for 3 months, could not step on it, or even let it hang down. She was getting better of this, when typhoid fever set in, the same malignant form that took our beloved husband and father [John Hamilton Morgan] from us. We had always been healed in our home through the power of Administration of the servants of God. I had never been disappointed in answer to my prayers in my life, up to the time of Bro. Morgan's death. I guess that weakened our faith and we sent for Dr. Ed. Wilcox much against the wishes of father. Mother gradually grew worse. The Dr. gave us little hope, and friends thot she could not live.

I felt I could not give her up, thot it would not be possible to live without her in my lonely condition, but I had not much faith to pray.

One morning after a very anxious night, I felt I must be submissive to the will of the Lord, and I immediately bowed myself in humble prayer, telling my Heavenly Father thru sobs and tears how much I felt I needed my mother, but I knew He knew what was for her best good, and I wanted to be reconciled to His will.

She lay in a stupor most of the day, too weak to even lift her hand. Her pains had ceased and she looked as tho she was going to leave us.

In the evening our beloved President William Paxman drove in from St. George. Hearing on the way of our mother’s serious illness, drove right to our home. He and my brothers John and Sam administered to her (I think father had lost faith she would live) and she rested well that night, slept most of the night and improved rapidly to a complete recovery, and lived 14 years a comfort and blessing to us all.

I am very thankful for the many blessings I have received, and know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. Not always as soon as we ask nor in the way we expect, but He wants us to have faith and confidence in His judgment, by saying and feeling Thy will be done.

Morgan, Mary Ann Linton. “Five Faith Promoting Instances.”

Photo of a Utah farm from www.flickr.com/photos/shawnecono/233619320/.

Mary Ann Linton Morgan: Five Faith Promoting Instances, No. 3

“Five Faith Promoting Instances”

#3. Another Miraculous Healing. My dear sister Alice when about 13 years old had a very bad attack of diphtheria. My father had swabbed her throat faithfully every half-hour with a dark medicine which had proven very effectual in many cases during the epidemic. One morning about 4 oclock she whispered she was choking and asked us to send for Bro. Gable. This was an old Elder who had no family and had been appointed to go among the sick. I ran for him (he lived) three or four blocks away. She said when he blest her she felt that which seemed to be gripping her throat and choking her loosen and she could breathe. A few hours later a piece of calloused flesh came out of one side of her throat about the size of a 25¢ piece. When father broke it open with a stick it looked like ground beef alive. We children all staid at home and not one of us took the disease. I am quite sure in answer to our parents prayers that we might not.

Morgan, Mary Ann Linton. “Five Faith Promoting Instances.”

Photo taken between Levan and Nephi, Utah; from www.flickr.com/photos/kenlund/1119949199/.

Mary Ann Linton Morgan: Five Faith Promoting Instances, No. 2

“Five Faith Promoting Instances”

2nd. Healed by Administration. When I was a young girl working in the Nephi Coop Store I often had a severe headache, due I presume to improper eating. Too much candy perhaps. One Thursday I remember I had a very bad spell. The pain was intense, finally settled in my eyes and the hot water streamed down my face. The other clerks had suggested I be excused and go home; but it was Relief Society meeting day and I knew there would be a crowd in after meeting so thot I should stay till that was over. A friend of mine came in, Sis. Sarah A. Cazier, and said my dear girl you have Erysipelas and began telling me I must go right home and what I should do for it. I knew it was only headache. I went home my father was lying on the couch. He jumped up exclaiming, my child, what is the matter? I told him I had headache. He said oh no that isn’t headache. I said father if you had it you would know it was. Please administer to me at once. He said we would send for Brother Adams (our old faithful neighbor) to help him. I said I can’t wait for Brother Adams do it now. He did. The pain immediately left my eyes and went all over my head. Bro. Adams came and they administered again. I went to sleep to awaken in the morning as well and fresh as ever much to the astonishment of Sis Cazier who came to the store early to ask if they had heard from me. She was so sure I had Erysipelas.

Morgan, Mary Ann Linton. “Five Faith Promoting Instances.”

Photo of the view from the Mt. Nebo (Utah) Loop from www.flickr.com/photos/seldom_seen/525700842/.

Morgan 2: Harold Morgan, Part I

Harold Morgan
b. 2 June 1892 Nephi, Juab, Utah
m. 28 March 1914 St. Johns, Apache, Arizona
d. 1 November 1963 Pasadena, Los Angeles, California
b. 5 November 1963 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Wife: Jessie Christensen
Father: John Hamilton Morgan; Mother: Mary Ann Linton

My earliest recollections are of the small central Utah town of Nephi, the place where I was born June 2nd, 1892.

My mother was Mary Ann Linton, also a native of Nephi. My father was John Hamilton Morgan, who at that time was high in the councils of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For more than 15 years he was a member of the first Council of Seventy. He was a gifted speaker and a great missionary. For a number of years he presided over the Southern States Mission, when that Mission included most of the southern states.

He endured many hardships and had a number of narrow escapes from death at the hands of religious bigots. Prior to coming to Utah in 1866 he served as a volunteer in the Union army during the Civil War. He was wounded during a battle in Tennessee and carried the bullet to his grave. As his company advanced up a hill, held by he enemy, the color bearer was killed. My father seized the colors and led the advance, which ended in victory. For this act of bravery, my father was awarded the bullet torn company flag, which is now encased in Salt Lake City.

He was born in Greensburg, Indiana, a son of Garrard and Eliza Ann Hamilton who came to Indiana from Kentucky, where they were neighbors of the Thomas Lincoln family.

My mother was the eldest daughter of Samuel and Ellen Sutton Linton. My grandmother was an emigrant from her native England. She was converted to the LDS church with her family the Peter Suttons. She spent six weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a sailing vessel. Arriving at the Missouri river town of Winter Quarters, now Council Bluffs in the middle 1850’s, the family joined a handcart company captained by a man named Martin. [They were in the Joseph Young Company in 1853 and had a rather uneventful crossing. Records show that Samuel Linton probably assisted with the rescue of the Martin Handcart Company]…

I remember my grandmother as a refined, gentle, generous woman, who served for a number of years as secretary of the Nephi ward Relief Society.

My grandfather was a native of County Cork, Ireland. Moving when quite young with his family to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia. [Samuel Linton was born on June 27, 1828 in Murbin, Tyrone, Ireland]. Later the family moved to Philadelphia, where my grandfather heard the Mormon missionaries and joined the church, the only member of family to do so. Crossing the plains to Utah in 1856 he became a teamster for Brigham Young. He was also an excellent axman and could cradle more grain than any man in the community. My Grandparents were married in Salt Lake City and at the request of Brigham Young moved to Nephi in 1857. The town had been the target for a number of Indian raids.

To better protect themselves the settlers built an adobe wall around the town. The wall was six feet thick at the bottom and two thick at the top. Heavy wooden gates permitted entry and exit. The Nephi colonists like other in Utah, heeded the advice of President Young that it was better to feed the Indian than to fight them. As Indian depredations became fewer, the colonists eased their vigilance and the wall deteriorated. I recall my mother telling of the children of her day burrowing into the wall to make a playhouse. Nephi was first settled in 1850. One of my most vivid recollections is the jubilee celebration of the founding in 1900. It was a colorful event. Covered wagons, ox teams, handcarts and flag bedecked carriages made up the procession which was several blocks long. I remember an old pioneer, Thomas Bowles, with his long blacksnake whip driving six yoke of oxen. The whip would sometimes cut through the thick hide of the animals.

The town of Nephi nestles at the foot of Mt. Nebo, one of the highest peaks, 12,400 feet, of the Wasatch range. The perpetual snows of this and other mountains fed the streams that flowed through the valleys and provided irrigation and culinary water for Nephi and other communities. One of the crystal clear streams known as Little Salt Creek flows through the center of Nephi. In this stream I was baptized on my eighth birthday, June 2, 1900. My first school teacher was a Miss Hamilton, other Nephi teachers included Miss Sorenson, Florence Christensen and Thomas W. Vickers. It was while attending the fourth grade under Miss Christensen that a most tragic event occurred. We were having an evening Christmas party. Kids outside were interfering so the teacher locked the two doors. As the young Santa Claus, Ivan Kendall reached for presents on the candle covered tree, cotton on his coat caught fire, soon turning him into a human torch. Children screamed and fled in all directions. The teacher finally caught the boy and smothered the flames with her coat, but not before he had been burned over much of his body. After three or four days he succumbed to his injuries.

One of my fondest recollections is going with my mother to visit David and Rebecca Udall, near and dear friends. Here the old gentleman whom we called Grandpa Udall, would regale us with fairy tales as well as Bible stories. From the time I was about seven years old until we left Nephi in 1903, Lin, my eldest brother and I worked for Udall during the summer months and on Saturdays during the school year, hoeing weeds and thinning sugar beets on his farm. He paid us 25 cents a day. It was hot, hard work. Sometimes he would pay us in script, which my mother could use at the store.

To be continued...

Photo of Nephi, Utah, from flickr.com/photos/kenlund/1120787798/.
Photo of Civil War reenactment from flickr.com/photos/lyle58/1713829150/.
Photo of Mary Ann Morgan with Harold, Richard Linton, and Mathias Cowley Morgan.
Photo of Ellen Sutton and Samuel Linton from lintonfamily.org.
Photo of Presidio Adobe Wall (Tucson) from flickr.com/photos/jclor/3196331076/.
Photo of Mt Nebo from flickr.com/photos/chispero/2457842596/.
Photo of sugar beets from flickr.com/photos/extrajection/2573329094/.
Photo of David Udall (NOT David King Udall) from www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/davidkudall/mormon/appendix.html.