Maria is the daughter of John & Harriett Steele Watkins. She was the 7th child of a family of 13 children. Her mother died at the birth of her 13th child. Maria was 11 years old, but she helped her father's 3rd wife (polygamist) to raise the little children. She helped cook at her father's saw mill in Snake Creek Canyon. She early assumed the responsibilities of an adult. At the age of 17 on May 16, 1888 she married John Morton Jr. in the Logan, Utah LDS Temple.

They had the following children:
Robert Cunningham - died in his 20's, he was deaf
Effie Ophelia Morton Murdock - married Heber Murdock
Sterling - married Ivy Isabella Smith
Basil Wallace - married Emma Lou Knothe
Bernard - married Mattie A. Hamblin
Maynard - died infancy
Alton Watkins - married Thelma Barlow
Emery Llewellyn - married Dorothy Myrle Bywater

In 1909 the family moved to Kaysville. Her husband John died April 9, 1920. Mrs. Morton took in boarders and ran a small lunch stand to help finance the education and bringing up of her children.

She sold her home in 1931. She stayed with several of her children over the years. She loved to travel. She was famous for saying: "don't ask me to go with you if you don't mean it, my suitcase is always packed." One of her favorite travel stories was telling about her trips to see her brother in Calif. and riding in a glass bottom boat to Catalina. She was known as a wonderful cook, making especailly fine desserts. She was psychic. She had a keen sense of humor, and was very easy going. Her favorite actress was Mae West, she was often found quoting some of Mae's famous lines. Everyone who knew her called her "Minnie". It is said it was because she was so thin and tiny.

She developed pancreatic cancer and died at the home of her daughter Effie in Salt Lake City. She was buried in Kaysville next to her husband.