Margie, the GORHAMS in New England may be connected to my line of Virginia 'across the pond'! I have some data on the Gorham silver people, but not much. I also have Gorham in my kitchen drawer! Below are a few messages from John Gorham, who was born in England, but now lives in Canada. He had quite alot of information about the family. If I find more messages I'll send them later. Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 From: John Gorham <x.gorham@sympatico.ca> To: iobrist@mail.win.org Subject: Re: GORHAMS VA / MA Hello Pat: I don't think I have any information on Miles Gorham--but I still have to complete organizing my data. I shall keep my eyes open. I think there is a slight error in the information you have on Ralph Gorham. If you look at the article about Ralph which I mentioned in my email of 15 December, you will see that it mentions that he had two sons, John and Ralph. The names you listed were sons of John, not his father Ralph. I am sending a copy of this article (it is quite short) to you by snailmail. Ralph sr. married Margaret Stephenson on 22 May 1610 in Oundle, a village in Northamptonshire, England on 22 May 1610. (I had an email from someone in the area who checked that record for me last week!) His son John, son of Ralph, was christened in Benefield parish (a short distance from Oundle) on 28 January 1620 [1621]. The date in brackets is according to the New Style calendar--i.e., the one that is used nowadays. In 1750 the English parliament enacted that this calendar should be used in place of the Old Style calendar. Under the Old Style, the new year started on 25 March. Naturally, in the early 17th century the christening would have been recorded in accordance with the Old Style calendar. My informant in Northamptonshire specifically checked this date last week for me also (except that he could not make out the 8 in 28 January). The assumption is that this John is the son of the Ralph that came to America "before 1637". Now John (son of Ralph sr.) married Desire Howland in 1643 and had children with the names that you listed. These are all set out in the article. What happened to Ralph jr.? No-one seems to know, though some say he might have returned to England. You expressed interest in connecting the Virginia Gorhams up with the New England Gorhams. I am not clear whether you have connected any of the persons you mentioned in your first email (dated 15 Dec 96) with either the Virginia or the New England branches. This information would help. I have no definite information about Jabez Gorham (b.1747, died 1807) who you mentioned, but suspect that he may be the gg-grandson of John Gorham and Desire Howland. John and Desire had a son Jabez b. 3 Aug 1656 who married Hannah Sturgis in 1676. I am told that Jabez and Hannah had a son Joseph b. 22 Aug 1692 who married Abigail Lockwood on 11 May 1715, and that they had a son Jabez b. 22 March 1718/19 in Fairfield CT. This son Jabez married Mary Couch on 27 Nov 1752 and died on 26 Feb 1764 in Rye, Westchester Co. NY. I have no knowledge of whether they had any children, and their marriage date is 5 years after the birth of the man you mentioned. Their move Fairfield to NY may just be a coincidence. John Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 20:09:53 -0500 From: John Gorham <x.gorham@sympatico.ca> To: iobrist@mail.win.org Subject: Re: GORHAMS MA Hello Pat: I am presently concentrating on my own ancestors, and have very little information about the Gorhams in the States. I am interested in the descendants of Ralph, for they are all distant cousins of mine. I fully expect that you are one also. I have contacted half a dozen or more people in the US who are Ralph's descendants, and have agreed to send them any information I dig up about Ralph's ancestors--leaving it to them to concentrate on more recent history. So I wouldn't worry about getting those addresses. Your present tack of working backwards step by step from your own end is the best. I shall certainly send you any information I can find about Ralph or his ancestors. There is one tid-bit about the younger Ralph (rumoured to have returned to England). I have just discovered that a certain Ralph Gorham married Anne Pearson in 1639 at Aldwinkle, which is less than ten miles from Benefield. He would probably have been of the right age to be the Ralph that came with his father and brother to New England. Was Anne Pearson the reason for his return? I suggest that other researchers in the States will be in a better position to help you than I am, but I'm quite happy to check to see if a particular name is on my list. It was in this way that I located a possible connection for Jabez Gorham--from data that I had received from some one who is a descendant of Ralph (though not of Jabez). Please keep in touch. We will probably connect up one day. Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 From: John Gorham <x.gorham@sympatico.ca> To: iobrist@mail.win.org Subject: Re: GORHAMS in Virginia Hello Pat: The story of Thomas and John being deported to Virginia is completely new to me. Gravesend is a port in Kent (where, as I told you, a number of Gorhams were then living--and where many are still to be found). It is on the Thames estuary and has quite a history. "Princess Pocahontas, who died when preparing to return home from a visit to England in 1617, was buried in the old church." [Encyclopaedia Brittanica You may well be right in believing your Gorhams were Irish. One of my past relatives did some research on some of the Irish Gorhams, but I have not examined his notes closely because he did not seem to have found a connection with us. I must plead ignorance as to when they arrived in Ireland. I am sure that all Gorhams would find, if they succeeded in tracing their roots, that their families came from England at some time. My great-grandfather did extensive genealogical research, and concluded that the Gorhams were descended from the de Gorrams, who arrived in England from Brittany in the 12th century. Some of them settled in Northamptonshire, changing their name to de Gorham, and he was able to trace their history down as far as 1338. Benefield, from where Ralph and his son John migrated, is in Northamptonshire. Ralph's family had lived there at least since 1588. Hence the supposed connection with the de Gorhams). Others of the de Gorram family settled in other counties (though as far as I know, none of them in Kent--at least, not till later). He did not find any trace of any of them after about 1338. The Black Death reached England in 1349, and there was a substantial reduction in the population. I suspect there must have been considerable disruption of all families in the following years, and it may be that it was then that Gorhams appeared in other areas of the country. If you can trace a connection to the Irish family, let me know and I will check if it ties in with any of the names that I have for Ireland. On the other hand, if you connect yourself with Ralph, that would indicate that your people came from Northamptonshire. John Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 From: John Gorham <x.gorham@sympatico.ca> To: iobrist@mail.win.org Subject: Re: GORHAMS in Virginia Hello Pat: First let me tell you where I fit in. I came to Canada in 1948. Before that date my Gorham ancestors had lived in England since the twelfth century. However, a certain Ralph Gorham, who was I believe a first cousin of one of my direct ancestors, migrated from Benefield, a little village in Northamptonshire, to New England with his son John (later Captain John Gorham of whom you may have heard) around 1636. Most of the information I have about the Gorham family relates to those who never left England, and so what I know of those in North America is limited, and you quite possibly know as much as I do. I like to have contact with them though, both because many of them are distant cousins and also because we have a direct and common interest in those who lived in England before the 17th century. So far, I have only had contact with those people (whether named Gorham or not) who are descendants of the Ralph Gorham I mentioned. However, there may well be others, who are descended from a Gorham who migrated to America at a later date. At the time that Ralph came to America the Gorhams in England seemed to be living mainly in Northamptonshire or Kent county. There were others though. I do not know what connection there may have been between the N'hampton Gorhams and the others. However it is quite possible (I should perhaps say probable) that there were some who came over after 1636. I just do not know about them. There is one exception. Acoording to family history, a gggg-uncle of mine (also called John) "taking extravagant and bad courses, went to America in 1773, and wrote to his brother Stephen about two years after, from Baltimore . . . but has never since been heard of!" (It is not clear to me whether going to America constituted "taking to bad courses") If you come across him in your enquiries, I should be delighted to know what happened to him. He was 46 years old at the time, so may never have married. I do not know of any connection to Virginia Gorhams, but obviously they must have originally come from England and so must be related. (See below for more on this.) I see that you have placed a listing under Gorham in the Roots Surname List. [I am listed there with the name livy]. Presumably you have been in touch with others on that list. I have sent enquiries to those who included ENG in their places of interest, and most have replied, each with some information of interest to me. About all the data I have about American Gorhams (apart from what I have learned from them) comes from two articles in The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register--one about Ralph Gorham and his descendants and the other about the Barnstable Gorhams. The article about Ralph (in the July 1898 Register) mentions Thomas, born Dec. 16, 1684, son of James Gorham (not John) and Hannah Huckins. This James (born in Marshfield April 28, 1650) is shown as marrying Hannah on Feb. 24, 1673-4 and dying in 1707. He was the son of John, son of Ralph. Have you linked this Thomas to the Virginia Gorhams? If so we have established the connection. If you have access to a good library, they may have a copy of the Register. If you can not find a copy I will send you copies of these articles by snail mail (just let me have your address). John Gorham ****************VA GORHAMS************** From: iobrist@mail.win.org Subject: Re: GORHAM To: jac57@comteck.com Hi, Cousin! Bill, I descend from George GORHAM, s/o Alexander GORHAM and Sally TYLER. I have the sketch of Alexander from the Putnam Co History or Atlas. It's probably the same one you have. What was your source? Alexander is son of Thomas GORHAM and Margaret COTTON. [Some dispute Margaret COTTON, and say she is Margaret TAYLOR. I have been assured by a distant GORHAM cousin, Nancy Clifford, from Putnam Co, who is that county's person who checks the records when queries come in. She says that even his wife had a will, and that Margaret COTTON is the d/o William COTTON and Mary TAYLOR. Have you heard any of this? From which of their children do you descend? I have worked on Sally TYLER, but have'nt got her parents yet...still looking for that group of TYLERS who lived in a fort in KY about 1775. I did recently get her death date from a kind Putnam Co gentleman. Sally d. 15 June 1863. I have Alexander's will. Would you like a photocopy? Perhaps I could Gedcom my GORHAM File too. Thanks for the message you sent! On Sun, 18 Aug 1996, jac57@comteck.com wrote: >I am descendant of Alexander Gorham b VA d abt 1837 Putnam Co, IN. I need >family group sheets. I have a biographical sketch on Alexander -- are you >interested? > >Bill Allen >2130 Crystal St >Anderson, IN 46012 >(hm 317-642-5502) >(wk 317-640-2161 x 244) >this email is my brother-in-laws; I will get it. Regards, Pat <Iobrist@mail.win.org> Patricia Bishop Obrist -----Original Message----- From: MBaker8035@aol.com <MBaker8035@aol.com> To: iobrist@mail.win.org <iobrist@mail.win.org> Date: Monday, October 16, 2000 5:11 PM Subject: Re: Thomas, John, William, Sanford Gorham- Georgia >Thanks for such a quick response. >I'm searching for my g-grandmothers family. I've been told by my grandfather > they came over on the Mayflower and were a part of the Gorham silver >people but i've searched and haven't found enough to put any of it together. >Here's what i have >g-grandmother was Margaret Ann Gorham. Siblings were Steven,Roxanna and Laura >Her parents were John and Sarah J. She was born March 6th 1843 on a farm in >Morgan county,Ill. She married John Rowan Mc Ahan on Dec.1863 >She had 2 sons Earl and John Gorham. >Earl had 1 daughter >John had 2 sons, Jay Canterbury, Gorham A who was my father. >Any help would be greatly appreciated I only have stories told to me by my >grandfather and none of it in writing except what I placed above. > >Thanks again Maggie McAhan Baker.