# HISTORY OF MARGARET EVANS ### (1836 - 1893) \[Portait\] Margaret Evans was born October 10, 1836, at Conwil Elvet, Carmarthenshire, Wales. She was the daughter of Ebenezer Evans and Amy Williams. Her brothers and sisters were: Mary, Rachel, Ann, Amy, William, John, Evan, David, Stephen, and Sophia. They were farmers and the women worked in the fields the same as the men. Margaret was an attractive girl with fair skin, auburn hair and large brown eyes. She married William Morse at Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales. Mary Jane, their oldest daughter, was born at Merthyr Tydfil on January 26, 1860 and Ann was born August 9, 1862 at Mountain Ash, Glamorganshire, which is just a few miles from Merthyr. Her family disowned her because her husband was a Mormon and entertained Mormon missionaries. Margaret was known as their lost child. She immigrated to America on June 4, 1863 on the ship “Amazon”, which sailed to New York from the port of London. It was a long, tiresome crossing of over seven weeks in the sailing vessel. She crossed the plains with the Thomas E. Ricks Company walking most of the way and carrying her second daughter, Ann, in her arms. While crossing the plains, the wagons were too heavy for the oxen to pull so the teamster made Margaret leave part of her precious possessions along the roadside, including her flat iron and cooking utensils, among several other treasures. She cried because she had to part with her treasures. She suffered many hardships along the way and considered the plains long and dreary. They arrived in Salt Lake City at the Tithing Yard on October 4th. They stayed there a few days and were advised by the Church leaders to travel on to Logan, where her husband built a dugout for them. It wasn’t very comfortable, but more livable than a wagon box. In this dugout, Emma Morse Price was born on June 17, 1865. Margaret found a large lizard in her bed the day Emma was born. Their dugout was located in the present Third Ward of Logan. \[Photo of William Morse\] Sometime later they built a one-room cabin with logs that her husband cut from a nearby canyon. In this log home her first and only son, William Evans Morse, was born on October 31, 1868. In the year of 1869 her husband traveled to Samaria, Idaho. There he built a log house with a dirt floor and factory windows. Then he returned to Logan for his family. He traveled by way of wagon and ox team. Other families they knew also went to Samaria to make their homes. Here their family increased to eight. Margaret was a hard worker and was always willing and ready to help in time of sickness or death. She was very kind and generous and was like a mother to everyone who came to her for any assistance. She knit lots of woolen stockings for her children using one thread of cotton to make the heels and toes stronger. She used lime to whitewash her walls and ceiling and used a piece of sheepskin for a brush. For chairs they used benches made of slabs cut in a nearly hand-made sawmill. These she scoured the wood with sand until smooth. She gathered the sand by the spring where they got their drinking water. All of their furniture was homemade. The bedsprings were made of rope and the mattresses were made of ticking filled with straw. She used maple wood ashes in water to extract the lye for washing and for making soap. She also used to card wool and send it away to be made into underclothes. \[Photo\] Family of William Morse and Margaret Evans Standing Left: Ann Morse Camp, Sarah Morse Williams, William Evans Morse, Emma Morse Price, Margaret Morse Jones, Rachel Morse Williams Sitting Left: Margaret Evans Morse, William Morse, Mary Jane Morse, Sophia Morse Hawkins Anderson Not having many clothes she would wash her children’s clothing after they had gone to bed on Saturday night I order to have them clean for Sunday. Margaret was baptized into the Church at Logan, Utah in the winter of 1868. Ice had to be broken or cut at the old mill to perform this ordinance. Later, at Samaria she was an active worker in the Relief Society, being a teacher for many years. She also did some temple work. In the year, 1890, she made a trip back to Wales to visit her people. Some of them still treated her with reserve and were not very sociable. She came back from Europe sick and never did regain her health. She died August 11, 1893, and was buried the Samaria Cemetery. Margaret Evans Born: 10 Oct 1836 Married: William Morse, 8 Oct 1859 He was born 6 June 1830 Their third child was Emma Morse Price Born: 17 June 1865 Married: John Evan Price, 15 Mar 1886 He was born 18 Jan 1855. Their second child was John Morse Price Born: 1 Nov 1886 Married: Ruth Williams, 9 Feb 1907 He was born 27 Mar 1889 * * * * From a CD from Jean Capener. (?) * 24 Oct 2010 - Converted to [markdown](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown) by Daniel Esplin.