John Gorham

Captain John Gorham (bp. 1621–1676)

Desire Howland (say 1624–1683), daughter of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley

John, the son of Ralph Gorham, is said to have been baptized on 28 January 1621 in Bennefield [presumably Benefield, Northamptonshire]. [1] He was buried on 5 February 1675/6 in Swansea. [1] He married Desire Howland. [1]

Colonel John Gorham wrote his genealogical notes on 27 February 1745/6 in a "Wast Book." He began: [2}

My Great Great Grandfather & family came out of Some part of England and Lived att Marshfield and Had one sone named after him John Gorum alias Gorham, which son after Having Marryed With an Howland and had Sevrall Children Went home to England and Returned Soone again to his family. His Father Lived & Dyed att Marshfield and whats Remarkable He Was a Jyner and Made his Coffen himself for sevrall Years before he Dyed and Used to keep apples In It as a Chest Untill he dyed & used it. the son John that marryed Desire Howland and Went to England Moved from Marshfield to Barnstable and Settled there in order to begin a township afterwareds Called Barnstable Build Mills—tan vatts &c.

Cpt. John Gorham Was a Captain of a Company of English & Indians and Went to the fight of King Philip—or Swam Narraganset fight and there was Wounded by having his powdr Horn shot and Split against his Sided and Wounded and Dyed att Swansey.

Desire, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland and wife of Captain John Gorham, was born say 1624. [3] She died on 13 October 1683 in Barnstable. [1][2, eds.]

John was a lieutenant of the Barnstable company in the Dutch war in 1673. [2, eds.]

Captain John Gorham was a soldier in King Philip's War. On 24 June 1675 he was at Mount Hope. On 28 June he was in Swansea. In August he was at Sugar Loaf Hill. He was captain of the second company on 4 October 1675 and in December he commanded the company in the Great Swamp Fight on 19 December. After being wounded (according to his grandson) he was reported to have died of a fever and was buried in Swansea on 5 February 1676. [2, eds.]

Children of John Gorham and Desire Howland: Colonel John Gorham said his grandfather's children were James, John, Joseph, Jabez, Shuball and daughters Elisbeth, Temperance, Desire, Lydia, and Hannah. The editors/annotators of his book give their birth dates. [2]

i. Desire Gorham was born on 2 April 1644 in Plymouth. She died on 30 June 1700. [2, eds.] She married Captain John Hawes on 7 October 1661. [2, eds.] John, the son of Edmond Hawes, died on 11 November 1701. [2, eds.]

"Desire Gorham maryed Capt. Haws Yarmouth, having his Leg cut off Dyed with It." [2]

ii. Temperance Gorham was born on 5 May 1646 in Yarmouth. She married first Edward Sturgis of Yarmouth. [2, eds.] He died on 8 December 1678. [2, eds.] She married second Thomas Baxter on 16 January 1680. [2, eds.]

Thomas was from Old England and lived at Yarmouth. [2]

iii. Elizabeth Gorham was born on 2 April 1648. She married ___ Hallett in Sandwich. [2]

iv. James Gorham was born on 2 or 28 April 1650. [2] He died in 1707. He married Hannah Huckins on 24 February 1673/4. [1] She died on 13 February 1727. [1]

James married a Huggins and lived at Nantucket. [2]

v. Lieutenant Colonel John Gorham was born on 20 February 1651/2 in Marshfield. He died on 9 December 1716. [2, eds.] He married Mary Otis on 16 February 1674. [2, eds.] She was baptized on 14 March 1654. [2, eds.]

John Gorham was the grandfather of the Colonel John Gorham who kept the "Wast Book." He married Mary, this sister of John Otis. [2]

John served with his father in King Philip's War. He was a captain in Sir William Phipps's expedition to Canada in 1690 and in Major Benjamin Church's expedition in 1696. He was a lieutenant colonel and second in command in Colonel Church's expedition in 1703/4. [2, eds.]

vi. Ensign Joseph Gorham was born on 16 February 1654 in Yarmouth. He died on 9 July 1726. He married Sarah Sturgis.

vii. Jabez Gorham was born on 3 August 1656 in Barnstable. He married Hannah (Sturgis) Gray. [1]

Jabez married a widow Gray, sister to Sarah Sturgis. He moved to Bristol. [2]

viii. Mary (Mercy) Gorham was born on 20 January 1659. She married George, the son of Captain George Denison of Stonington. [1]

ix. Lydia Gorham was born on 6 or 11 November 1661. [4] She died on 2 August 1744 in Yarmouth. [4] She married Colonel John Thatcher on 1 January [16]83/4 in Yarmouth. [2][4][5] John, the son of Anthony Thatcher, was born on 17 March 1638 in Marblehead (then Salem). [4] He died on 8 May 1713 in Yarmouth. [4] He married first Rebecca Winslow on 6 November 1661. [4] Rebecca, the daughter of Josiah and Margaret (Bourne) Winslow and niece of Governor Edward Winslow, was born on 15 July 1643 in Marshfield and died on 15 July 1683 in Yarmouth. [4]

x. Hannah Gorham was born on 28 November 1663. [2] She married Joseph Whelden. [2][1][6] Joseph, the son of John Whelden, was born about 1654. {6]

Hannah and her husband moved to Cape May. [2][6]

xi. Shubael Gorham was born on 21 October 1667. [2] He died after February 1745/6. He married Puella Hussey on Nantucket. [2]

Colonel John Gorham said that Shubal was alive on 27 February 1745/6. [2]

Endnotes:

1. William Proud Davis, "Gorham Families of Yarmouth," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 52 (1898): 357–60.

2. "Col. John Gorham's 'Wast Book' and the Gorham Family," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 28 (1897): 133–6.

3. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 1022.

4. John R. Totten, "Thacher-Thatcher Genealogy," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 42 (1911): 82.

5. Robert M. Sherman and Ruth Wilder Sherman, Vital Records of Yarmouth, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, vol. 1 (Warwick: Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Rhode Island, 1975), 125 (death of Desire), 128 (marriage of Lydia), 137 (marriages of Desire and Shubal).

6. Maclean W. McLean, "John and Mary (Folland) Whelden," The American Genealogist 48 (1972): 4–11

Last revised: 24-Aug-2023