Mystery Solved...

 And I found her... Last Spring I hit the "motherlode" as it relates to family history.  In a chest in the old home of my mother's aunt Matilda Barton, were these photos and a"treasure chest" of others.  My mother immediately recognized the photos as they had hung on her Grandmother Morgan's wall when she was a little girl.  However, when her grandmother died, the pictures were taken- someone wanted the frames, but saw little or no value in the pictures.  For years, these photos have gathered dust until one day last spring my mother and I interrupted the dust mites...

On the back of the man's photo is printed his name, "Edward Nelson Morgan."  The date is listed November 10, 1901.  He is my mother's great grandfather.  The photos hung in the home of my mother's grandparents, Martha Jane (Morgan) and John Michael Hofheins.  Unfortunately, on the back of her photo nothing is written, not even her name.  These crayon etched drawings have stared at me for months.  Who was she? 

I even took her to other family members for identification as well as a family reunion, but no one could identify her.  But then today in my family history class offered during Sunday School I began identifying the first converts on my maternal line.  And then I found her.  Matilda Mcgill Nelson mother of  Edward Nelson Morgan (the other photo was her son).

Martha Morgan: A Journey to Zion by Alan Morgan Kendall

 In the little town of Levan, Utah stands a log cabin, a rustic and weathered monument to a few who transformed a field of grass near a mountain stream into a home. Sheltered in those aging walls are the artifacts of toil which sustained them. Pictured on the walls are those pioneers whose shoulders bore the burden of that toil. It was they who broke the first soil, laid the first adobe, gave birth to and nurtured the first child. One such photograph reveals an elderly woman, sitting attentively in a high backed chair, her smooth and kindly face framed tightly by a black bonnet. Her dress is Victorian black, long sleeves covering even her wrists, with a large bow modestly gathered at her neck. In her lap she holds a thin cloth bound volume, one matronly finger marking a place, as if the photographer had interrupted a quiet moment with the poetry of Robert Burns. Her hands are thick, showing the strength of many years of labor. She gazes placidly, as she has for decades, with just a hint of a smile. Her name is Martha Morgan, and this is her story. Unfortunately, Martha and her kin never left a written record. We will not know for now what was happening behind that gentle smile, or why she and her family made decisions as they did. But in their journey across an ocean, and into a strange new land they left their imprints, and they collectively tell a story, truly, a journey to a Zion after which they faithfully sought.  (This record was taken from Family Search.org)


Martha Jane Morgan was born in Inversek, Midlothian Scotland on November 19, 1824.  She died in Levan Utah on December 26, 1906 just five short years after this portrait was done. She was 82 years old.  She married William Morgan on March 13, 1841 in the Old Monkland church of Scotland.  They were Presbyterians.  Records indicate that William joined the church on January 1, 1847 but Matilda was not baptized until June 7, 1847.  

Before her 17th birthday had it not been for the relocation of both the Nelson and Morgan families to the farwest outskirts of New Dundyvan in North Lanarkshire divine destiny may never have occurred.  But then, God always knows.  

The Morgans and Nelson were coal miners and tied to the mines not by their own choice-- their families had worked in these same mines for generations and by law they belonged to the mines as well. They were born to this fate that  even the church of Scotland itself had allowed. decades of turmoil and strife to occur for those in the mines.  19th century coal miners were destined to inherit a grim legacy- at a young age enter the mines young, work in a harsh environment, and most likely died young. The thinking mind of the era cried for justice.

For the Nelsons and Morgans justice came in the form of truth- the gospel of Jesus Christ brought to the land of Scotland by Mormon Missionaries. In 1849, John and Matilda (Martha) registered with the Church Emigration service in July 1849.  While there is no records to indicate with whom or how they crossed the plains.  In 1850 records indicate that they were in Jackson County where William was working as a miner.  But by 1852, the annual Bishop's report shows that a William Morgan appeared.  But after years of travel, sacrifice, and hard work the William and Matilda who now had relocated to the South in the Iron Mission made the return trek to Salt Lake to sealed in the Endowment House in 1855.  Their faith, love and devotion to God and each other now sealed for the eternities.