Nathaniel Gorham

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(VIII) Nathaniel (3), son of Hon. Nathaniel (2) and Rebecca (Call) Gorham, was born October 25, 1763. at Charlestown, Massachusetts, died October 22, 1826. He acted for his father as agent of the Phelps and Gorham purchase, which he frequently visited, although his father never saw the purchase. His residence in Charlestown was on Bunker Hill, where two of his children were born. In 1800 he removed with his family to Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, where he built a mansion on the site of the present court house. He occupied a prominent position in Ontario county, was judge of the court of common pleas and president of the Ontario Bank. He was an exceedingly portly man, and wore the smallclothes and kneebreeches in the style of the gentlemen of his period. There is no picture of him, but in the court house at Canandaigua there is a copy of a portrait of Hon. Nathaniel Gorham, the Continental, the original of which is in the possession of Nathaniel Gorham, of Buffalo. He married, February 11, 1794, Ruthy Wood. Children:

1. Margaret, born November 2, 1796, died in 1806.

2. Nathaniel (4), of further mention.

3. David Wood, born February 1, 1800.

4. Rebecca, born May 20, 1802, never married, died in 1857.

5. William Wood, born August 22, 1804.

6. Margaret (2nd), born August 11, 1807, died in 1826.

7. Mary, born October 30, 1808, married A. G. Bristol.

8. Sarah Stone, born October 11, 1811, died in 1815.

(IX) Nathaniel (4), eldest son of Nathaniel (3) and Ruthy (Wood) Gorham, was born in Bunker Hill, Charlestown, Massachusetts, August 14, 1798, died May 19, 1875. He was a merchant of Canandaigua, New York, where he maintained a store at the corner of (unreadable) and Bristol streets for half a century. His residence until 1855 was in the north half of the double brick house yet standing at the corner of Main and Gorham streets. In his later years he built a residence further up Main street, in which he lived until his death. He married, January 16, 1827, Mary Parsons, of Hadley, Massachusetts. Children:

1. Nathaniel (5), born August 7, 1830, died in Detroit, Michigan, unmarried, December 14, 1853.

2. George Clarke, born September 26, 1832, died in 1836.

3. George, of further mention.

(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.

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...

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43. Nathaniel6 Gorham (Rebecca Call, Rebecca* John,* Andrew,2 Andrew1), born in Charlestown, Oct. 25, 1763; married Feb. 11,1794, Ruth, daughter of Col. David and Margaret (Sprague) Wood, who was born in Charlestown July 5, and baptized July 6, 1766; they removed to Canandaigua, N. Y., where he died Oct. 22, 1826. Children:

i. Margaret7 Gorham, b, Nov. 2, 1796.

ii. Nathaniel Gorham, b. Aug. 14, 1798.

iii. David Wood Gorham, b. Feb. 1,1800; graduated from Harvard College in 1821; d. 1873.

Bibliographic information:

• Title Genealogy of the Stimpson Family of Charlestown, Mass: and allied lines
• Author Charles Collyer Whittier
• Publisher Press of D. Clapp & Son, 1907
• Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison
• Digitized Jan 7, 2008
• Length 206 pages
• Page 49
• https://books.google.com/books?id=-DRVAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=...