My third great grandmother, Margaret
Crawford Houston, had quite the conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Her experience was recorded and written by, I believe, Gladys
Delong Banks, a granddaughter. I have taken Gladys's own words and posted them
below, with the exception of the title and some other minor edits for
clarification:
The Whitewashed Walls
Margaret Crawford (Houston) was
born in Dunsyre Parish, Lanark, Scotland in 1825. When she was a young girl,
about 17, a very strange incident happened to her.
 |
| Margaret Crawford Houston 1825 - 1912 |
She had just finished putting
chalk, or whitewash, on the walls and hearth stone. They had a large fireplace
at one end of a low ceiling room where the family lived and did most of their
cooking. In the hills nearby there were large deposits of white clay, or chalk,
which if dissolved in water, made a white wash. This was used to paint the walls
and the great hearth stone of the large fireplace, often, to keep the house
clean and comfortable for the family. It was Margaret's job to do this as she
was the oldest girl. She had just finished her task, and she and her mother
were admiring the snow-white walls and hoping they would not have to be done again
very soon, when a knock came at the door.
Margaret opened the door and let
in who seemed to be a beggar. He walked into the room and looked at the girl,
then the mother, and the white walls. He stood a moment and gazed steadily at
Margaret. He walked to the fireplace and picked up a piece of charcoal and went
to the white wall and began to write.
The mother and daughter looked on
in speechless amazement. No one uttered a word since the appearance of this
strange person. Then both Margaret and her mother began to remonstrate at
having the walls all marked up with black charcoal.
But he would not quit and seemed
to know nothing of what they were saying but continued writing until he had
covered the whole wall from top to bottom. When he finished, he walked from the
room never saying a word.
At first, when Margaret looked at
the writing, it seemed to be in some strange language and she could not make it
out. Then after a time, it was made clear and she read as follows:
"Margaret
was going to be visited by a young man who was teaching a new and strange
religion. The young man was from the new world and had crossed many waters to
teach her this religion. She would accept the new religion and some of her
family would accept it, but they would suffer persecution by joining it. The
young man was of their own nationality, and would return to his home. Then he
would come to her land and take her as his wife across the many waters, and there
in the new world they would build a home and have a great posterity."
After the family read this they
all laughed and made fun of it and thought it was just some crazy person who
was roving around and had written a fairy tale. But Margaret was deeply
impressed. They wondered how it would be possible for one of their own nationality
to come from the new world.
 |
| James Houston 1817 - 1864 |
Things turned out just as they
were written. James Houston, born in Paisley, Scotland, was converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormon") by Samuel Mulliner and went to America [in 1840]. Later, James was
called on a mission to his native Scotland, and there, he converted Margaret
Crawford [in 1845] whom later he married and took to America where they
raised their family and made their home in Utah.
<< End of Gladys's words
>>
And Margaret Crawford did have a
great posterity. Using Puzzilla.org, below is a visualization of just six
generations that have descended from her. Each particular individual is either
a blue square (man) or a pink circle (woman). Gray squares don't represent
people. My particular line to Margaret is highlighted in yellow. Except for my
own line, living people are not displayed. Otherwise, the only people displayed
are those who have already passed away. This means the chart is only a portion of
her descendants as of this writing (March 2017), and may be at least a few hundred people.
I am inspired by and grateful for
Margaret's conversion to the church. My life would not be the same had she not
made such a decision! What an amazing conversion!
Margaret Crawford Houston's Descendants - 6 Generations
***
Source of story:
Ancestors and Descendants of
James and Margaret Crawford Houston, starting page 211
This was an impressive account!
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