Gorham Family

Generation 1

James Gorham had at least one child:
  1. Ralph Gorham

Generation 2

Ralph Gorham was granted land at Plymouth Colony (now in MA) for a house and garden on 2 October 1637.  Apparently he did not get along with his neighbors as he sued and was sued by them several times.  He married Margaret Stephenson 23 May 1610 at Oundle, England.  Information about her ancestry is unknown.  They had at least one child:
  1. John Gorham

Generation 3

John Gorham was born c28 January 1620/1 at Benefield, Northamptonshire, England and died c5 February 1675/6 at Swansea, Plymouth Colony (now Bristol Co., MA) of wounds received during the Narragansett Swamp Fight (December 1675) of King Phillip's War.  He was Captain  of the Second Barnstable Co. under Major William Bradford at that time.  He married Desire Howland c1643 at Barnstable, Plymouth Colony (now Barnstable Co., MA).  She was born c1623 at Plymouth, Plymouth Colony (now Plymouth Co., MA) and died 13 October 1683 at Barnstable, Plymouth Colony (now Barnstable Co., MA).  For information on her ancestry see the Howland Family.  They had the following children:
  1. Desire Gorham
  2. Temperance Gorham
  3. Elizabeth Gorham
  4. James Gorham
  5. John Gorham
  6. Joseph Gorham
  7. Jabez Gorham
  8. Mercy Gorham
  9. Lydia Gorham
  10. Hannah Gorham
  11. Shubael Gorham

Generation 4

Elizabeth Gorham was born 2 April 1648 at Marshfield, Plymouth Colony (now Plymouth Co., MA) or Barnstable, Plymouth Colony (now Barnstable Co., MA) and died before 5 March 1683/4 at Barnstable, Plymouth Colony (now Barnstable Co., MA).  She married Joseph Hallett before 5 March 1666/7 at Sandwich or Barnstable, Plymouth Colony (now Barnstable Co., MA) when they were fined 10 pounds by the Plymouth Court "for committing carnal copulation before marriage or contract".  At that time pregnancy was believed to last exactly nine months in all cases.  As the medical facts of premature birth were unknown, a baby born a week or in some cases two weeks before the 9 month wedding anniversary might be overlooked but not one born any sooner.  Therefore Joseph Hallett and Elizabeth Gorham's first child may have been born prematurely.  Joseph Hallett was born 1630 in England and died between 30 June 1715 and 20 June 1721 at Barnstable, Barnstable Co., MA.  For further information see the Hallett Family.  They had the following children:
  1. Mary Hallett
  2. Lois Hallett
  3. Elizabeth Hallett

Visit Joan Carnahan Carlin's Gorham page at http://www.syix.com/jcarlin/indexes/gorham.htm.
 

Sources

New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Clarence Almon Torrey, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD 1985

Pedigree chart prepared by Don G. Olmstead

Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England by John Farmer, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD 1994

The Family of John Howland Mayflower Passenger Five Generations by Mrs. Curtis W. (Mardenna J.) Hunter,  Indianapolis, IN 1970

Families of the Pilgrims:  John Howland by Hubert Kinney Shaw,  Massachusetts Society of Maylfower Descendants, Boston 1955

John Howland of the Mayflower, Volume 1:  The First Five Generations Through his first child Desire Howland and her husband Captain John Gorham by Elizabeth Pearson White, Picton Press, Camden, ME 1990

Mayflower Increasings For Three Generations by Susan E. Roser, Genealogical Publishing Co. Baltimore, MD 1989

A Brief Genealogical and Biographical History of Arthur, Henry, and John Howland by Franklyn Howland, New Bedford, MA 1885

Return to Cathi's Genealogy Page

7 May 1999