Picture & Story of the Week: Maria/Mary Billings Linney Morris

This is a picture of my 4th Great Grandmother Mary or Maria Billings Linney Morris.

She was married to John Morris. They are the parents of Louisa Morris who married John McCullough.
Louisa & John McCullough are the parents of William Morris McCullough.
William married Ruth Susan Independence Keysor and they are the parents of Raymond Verne McCullough.

I found the following story about her:

Maria Billings Linney Morris Story

Written by Arlene Pulsipher Hemsley
Compiled from autobiography of her son Robert Morris, Histories of her daughter Harriet and grandson Fred.
Transcribed by Anjanette Stone Lofgren

Maria Billings Linney was born 12 Nov. 1806/1807 at South Whitham, Lincolnshire, England. She was the only child of John Linney and Sophia Billings...Her parents followed a common tradition of giving a child for their middle name the maiden name of the mother.

Nothing is known of her childhood until her marriage to John Morris in 1832. This was his second marriage and he had a small daughter named Sara. They made their home in Barrowden, Rutlandshire, where their eight children were born: five sons and three daughters. Their second son, John, only lived one year, so the third son was also named John. Their other sons were Charles, Robert, and William. Their daughters were Emma, Harriet, and Louisa.

About the year 1845 or 1846 an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints whose name was Thomas Smart went to work in Barrowden to take charge of Dyeing wool mats. Soon after he arrived he began to preach the new faith and Maria accepted the gospel with gladness and was baptized on 10 Dec. 1848, with her two sons Charles and John. Emma was baptized in 1849, in 1854 Harriet, Robert and Louisa were baptized. They had to go in the dark to the river that ran by the village so they might not be observed. William was baptized in 1857. Nothing further is known of William. John Morris, the father of the family was not baptized while living, although he was a friend to the elders and never objected to their presence in his home until an elder brought small pox into the home and had to stay there until he was well. Every member of the family had small pox at that time.

They lived in a very poor neighborhood in Barrowden and all had to work to make a living. They cleaned and sold many pans of tripe in the more wealthy district. Tripe is made from the cow’s or pig’s stomach lining, cleaned, washed, cooked and seasoned, it was considered a very palatable dish.

There were many factories in the area and all, even the children, were allowed to work in them, Robert went to work in a leather dressing establishment when he was 13 years old. Possibly John and Charles worked there also as that is the work they did after they came to America. The children were also compelled to go to school part time.

Maria and her daughter Harriet were seamstresses. Maria was a good cook and housekeeper and taught her children to do things proper.

It must have been very difficult to save enough money to pay for their emigration to America but they did and John and Charles came to America in 1855 and 1856. They stayed in Cincinnati where they found employment. In the spring of 1860 Charles sent the money to England to pay for passage to America of Robert, Emma, and Harriet. Emma and Harriet had to stay in Brooklyn doing house work to earn enough money to finish their journey to Utah. Harriet worked for two years. Robert had enough money to go onto Cincinnati where his two brothers were working.

Even though the proprietor of the factory favored Robert he still had a difficult time financially to earn enough over his board and room to go on to Utah. At one time the only job available was something that was very difficult to do without practice and Robert had never been able to do it successfully. One morning on his way to work he felt very impressed to get on his knees and pray that the proprietor would offer him a job. He knew if he could get the job he would be able to use the money to go on to Utah. He prayed and was offered the job and did it successfully, and was the first member of the family to make it to Utah.

John married in Cincinnati and nothing more was heard of him. Charles married and had a family before starting for Utah. He with his family made the journey to Utah later. Harriet and Emma arrived in Utah in 1862. Nothing is said of Louisa but she was in Salt Lake City when she married in 1862. (I found records of Louisa coming in the William H. Dame Company in 1862.)

In the spring of 1866 Robert sent the money to England to emigrate Maria to Utah. She arrived on September 24th (in the John D. Holladay Company). Her husband, John chose to stay in England, family tradition has it that he did not want to leave his daughter Sara who never accepted the gospel. She was the daughter of John and his first wife.

Maria was 60 years old when she arrived in Salt Lake City, and she still earned her living going out to nurse sick people and doing the washing for families. She lived in Salt Lake City the rest of her life. She had very good health and never had a headache.

Maria died 17 November 1889 in Salt Lake City. John Morris died in 1882."

Words in Italics were added by Marie Arnold.