Mary Parsons Gorham

(X) George, son of Nathaniel (4) and Mary (Parsons) Gorham, was born in Canandaigua, New York, May 25, 1837; died at Buffalo, June 2, 1906. He prepared at Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire. and entered Harvard University, from whence he was graduated, class of 1857. After finishing his studies he returned to Canandaigua, where he began the study of law in the office of Smith & Lapham.- He was admitted to the bar in 1858, and in 1861 removed to Buffalo, New York. He was clerk of the United States District Court in Buffalo until 1867 when he resigned and began private practice, making at first a speciality of bankruptcy law and practice in the United States courts. Later he devoted himself more closely to the law of real estate and the management of estates and other confidential trusts. He was a member of the law firm of Bass & Gorham, 1867-1870; then of Sprague & Gorham, and Sprague, Gorham & Bacon until 1879; then practiced alone until 1898, in which year he entered into a partnership with his son, Nathaniel Gorham (6). In 1900 this firm dissolved, Mr. Gorham Sr. practicing alone until his death in 1906. Among the many tributes to his memory is the following from the Erie County Bar Association: George Gorham, “a gentleman by birth and character, an incisive and logical thinker, a trained lawyer, a sound and safe counselor, an honest and earnest man.” For many years Mr. Gorham was vice-chancellor of the University of Buffalo; was a warden of Trinity Episcopal Church; at one time president of the Buffalo Club, of the City Club and Harvard Club of Buffalo, and a member of the University Club of Buffalo. In politics he was a Democrat.

He married, October 23, 1860, Emily A., daughter of Judge N. K. Hall. She died May, 1863. He married (second) June 14, 1866, Ellen Augusta, daughter of Edward E. Marvine, of Auburn, New York. She died January 1, 1887. Child of first wife;

I. Emily Grace, Born August 23, 1861; married January 22, 1891, Charles Clifton, of Buffalo, New York, treasurer of Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company. Children: Katherine Gould, born August 14, 1892, died January 30, 1902 ; Gorham, born November 29, 1893; Alice Dorsheimer, May 26, 1903.

Children of second wife:

2. Frances Perry, born March 16, 1867; married, September 22, 1892, Dr. John Parmenter, formerly of Buffalo, now a resident of Geneva, New York; child: Richard, born November 16, 1894.

3. Nathaniel (6), of further mention.

4. Marvine, born November 1, 1870; attended public schools of Buffalo, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, 1893; was connected with Yale & Town Manufacturing Company at Hartford, the Buffalo Bolt Company, and later removed to Detroit, Michigan, where he was with the C. C. \/Vormer Company for a number of years, and is now secretary and treasurer of the Schweppe & Wilt Manufacturing Company of Detroit. He is a member of the University Club of Detroit. He married, June 30, 1909, Sarah Given White, of Abingdon, Virginia; child: Elizabeth Gibson, born December 3, 1910.

5. Mary Parsons, born June 21, 1875, died October 12, 1884.

6. Margaret Robertson, born May 29, 1877; married, October 10, 1899, Earnest Harold Cluett, of Troy, New York, treasurer of Cluett, Peabody & Company; children: John Parmenter, born September 8, 1900; William Gorham, July 16, 1903; Gorham, November 12, 1907; Margaret Fisher, February 28, 1910.

(XI) Nathaniel (6), son of George and his second wife, Ellen Augusta (Marvine) Gorham, was born in Buffalo, New York, January 6, 1869. He was educated in the public and private schools of Buffalo, and entered Williams College, from whence he was graduated, class of 1890. After leaving college he was with the Niagara Falls Power Company at Niagara Falls, 1890-1895. In the latter year he returned to Buffalo, and began the study of law in the office of Moot, Sprague, Brownell & Marcy, and entered Buffalo Law School, being graduated in 1897, and was admitted to the bar in September of the same year. He was in legal partnership with his father, George Gorham, until 1900, since which time he has practiced alone. He is a member of the Lawyers’, Saturn and Country Clubs of Buffalo.

He married, April 16, 1907, Vivette Elizabeth Herschede, of Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of Frank Herschede, late of Denver, Colorado. Children: Nathaniel (7), born May 12, 1908; George, born December 14, 1910.

Bibliographic information:

• Title Genealogical and Family History of Central New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation, Volume 2
• Genealogical and Family History of Central New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation, William Richard Cutter
• Author William Richard Cutter
• Publisher Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912
• Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison
• Digitized Sep 6, 2011
• Page 537
• https://books.google.com/books?id=Ru0pAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA537&lpg=PA537&d...