History of Murel’s Grandparents.

Mary Ann Williamson, born 30 November 1849, christened, December 2, 1849 at St. Margarets, Leicester, Leicestershire, England, daughter of Ann Lount and Jame Williamson. She married William Hill, 13 December 1869, at Leicester (Cholchester) Leicestershire. They both worked for Farmer Fro.

Four of their eight children were born in England, Sarah – 1870; Rachel – 1872; Harriet – 1875; and John – 1877.  Joseph – 1880 and Hannah – 1883 in Utah. William – 1886 and Mary Ann 1889 in Idaho.

Grand Mother was a servant in England and Grandfather worked in the coal mines.

The family landed in New York with  .25$ in their pocket. To pay for food and lodging Grandmother got a job in a hotel cooking.  John was a very delicate baby and they feared he would not survive the trip to America. But his health improved when they were on the boat.

The family took a train from New York to Ogden, Utah where William (Grandfather) worked for a Mr. Stone for $.50 per day. “We were given a shack to live in . We used boxes for chairs….” Grand Mother sewed her sheets together and filled them with straw to make a mattress.

Mr. Stone raised sugar cane so Grandfathers wages were mostly paid in trade (Molasses) and sometimes they would receive a little flour, tea and a few potatoes. The family’s next move was to Wellsvill, Cache Valley. They were looking for a former missionary named Tiny Ferrell.

Many times Grandmother had given her bed to Tiny Ferrell and other missionary’s that were in England. Brother Troops, a friend, had preceded them to America and were staying in this country. When William met up with him he was sleeping in the hay loft of a barn. He was using a buffalo robe for a blanket. Upon seeing Grandfather he broke down and cried.

Grandfather and Brother Troops rented a farm from Brother Ferrel. Neither one of them new anything about farming so, of course, their crops were a failure. There living quarters had improved.

While living in Cache Valley, they milked a bunch of cows. Grandmother was asked to help them with the milking. It was agreed that her payment would be the milk from two of the cows.

She would pour the milk into shallow pans where the cream would rise to the top. Grandmother would skim off the cream, saving the milk to drink and make butter out of the cream and then sell the butter.  Grandmother would pack the butter and walk five miles to Mendon where she would sell the butter. The income from the sale of the butter contributed a great deal to improving their standard of living.

While living in Utah on August 4th 1880 their son Joseph was born.