Morgan, Barbara - Biography

BARBARA MORGAN MAUGHAN

(1833-1888)

                Barbara Morgan Maughan was born in Merthyr, Tydfil, Glamorganshire, South Wales, on 10 December 1833, the daughter of Morgan and Cecilia Lewis Williams Morgan. The Mormon missionaries brought the gospel message to them in their home in South Wales, and in October 1847 they were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The family was very desirous of coming to Zion; and they worked, saved, and prayed to realize this ambition, leaving in 1850. They moved to Tooele, Utah, and lived in the Fort there.

                On 25 December 1853, Barbara married William H. Maughan; and to them were born nine children. In the fall of 1856 William H. and Barbara, along with their three-year old daughter Ruth Cecelia, left to make a settlement in Cache Valley. They arrived in the valley on 15 September 1856 and began to make a home in Maughan’s Fort. On 8 December 1856 Barbara gave birth to another daughter Mary Elizabeth, who was the third white child born to permanent settlers in Cache Valley. Barbara, along with her family, left the valley in the spring of 1858 by order of President Brigham Young because of the “Utah War.” Before returning to their home at Maughan’s Fort, she gave birth to her third child, Peter, in E.T. City in Tooele County.

                Barbara was deprived schooling herself, so she always wanted her children to get an education. They paid for the schooling by having the teachers live at their home; or they would pay them with vegetables, flour, etc. Her younger children went to the home of Mrs. Lawson to help her wash dishes and care for the children and in turn she would teach them to read. During the next twenty years Barbara’s husband married five other women in polygamy. In 1875 he left for England to serve an LDS Mission, leaving Barbara with the family to care for. In 1886 the crusade against polygamists was in full force. William H. was forced to leave Wellsville for Mexico. When he returned in 1888, Barbara was very ill and died on 19 September 1888 and was buried in the Wellsville cemetery.