Her death certificate spells her given name as Mary AKA Marian, while numerous other records spell it Marion. Very few records refer to her as "Mary" because her youngest sister, who lived to age 80, was named Mary.
She is a daughter of Janet Leishman and David Kay Moffat of Scotland. When a very young girl, she and her family immigrated to America in 1855, aboard the Samuel Curling sailing vessel, with a group of LDS Church members. They settled in Pennsylvania where her father worked in the coal mines.
By June of 1860, they joined with a group of Saints who were headed for the Great Salt Lake Valley, Utah Territory. Theirs was the Daniel Robinson Handcart Company. According to many accounts, the journey was very difficult especially for her mother and young children. Even their father was near starvation before they arrived in the valley early September 1860.
Later in life, Marion wrote a personal history which described their struggles to survive, which lasted for many years. With eight siblings, there never seemed to be enough food, security, nor even pleasureful time to just play and be carefree children.
She married Manassah Woodville Williams Sr. 30 March 1874 in the Salt Lake LDS Endowment House. He had been married 9 May 1868 to Rosalia R Kimball and had three children with her. They divorced 17 August 1877.
(Rosalia married Joseph Smith Gordon in 1878, had one daughter with him and later (about 1885) married Edward Farshun Edwards and had seven more children with him.)
Three mysteries remain surrounding Marion. (1)There is another civil marriage record for her and Manassah W. Williams at Bingham County, Idaho on 14 June 1890.
(2) The 1900 census records for them at Cache County Utah shows them married for 25 years and records that she has had 9 children, with only 2 living. The marriage date computes with the 1874 marriage, yet....
(3) the living son and daughter were born in 1891 and 1892 at Soda Springs, Caribou, Idaho. No other deceased children can be found, supposedly born prior to her turning 38. It seems unreasonable that seven would be miscarriages, and stillbirths are usually recorded.
Her death certificate spells her given name as Mary AKA Marian, while numerous other records spell it Marion. Very few records refer to her as "Mary" because her youngest sister, who lived to age 80, was named Mary.
She is a daughter of Janet Leishman and David Kay Moffat of Scotland. When a very young girl, she and her family immigrated to America in 1855, aboard the Samuel Curling sailing vessel, with a group of LDS Church members. They settled in Pennsylvania where her father worked in the coal mines.
By June of 1860, they joined with a group of Saints who were headed for the Great Salt Lake Valley, Utah Territory. Theirs was the Daniel Robinson Handcart Company. According to many accounts, the journey was very difficult especially for her mother and young children. Even their father was near starvation before they arrived in the valley early September 1860.
Later in life, Marion wrote a personal history which described their struggles to survive, which lasted for many years. With eight siblings, there never seemed to be enough food, security, nor even pleasureful time to just play and be carefree children.
She married Manassah Woodville Williams Sr. 30 March 1874 in the Salt Lake LDS Endowment House. He had been married 9 May 1868 to Rosalia R Kimball and had three children with her. They divorced 17 August 1877.
(Rosalia married Joseph Smith Gordon in 1878, had one daughter with him and later (about 1885) married Edward Farshun Edwards and had seven more children with him.)
Three mysteries remain surrounding Marion. (1)There is another civil marriage record for her and Manassah W. Williams at Bingham County, Idaho on 14 June 1890.
(2) The 1900 census records for them at Cache County Utah shows them married for 25 years and records that she has had 9 children, with only 2 living. The marriage date computes with the 1874 marriage, yet....
(3) the living son and daughter were born in 1891 and 1892 at Soda Springs, Caribou, Idaho. No other deceased children can be found, supposedly born prior to her turning 38. It seems unreasonable that seven would be miscarriages, and stillbirths are usually recorded.
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