• Ralph Gorham his son John Gorham2669, p 11

• We have no record of the birth of Capt. John Gorham, but he was baptized in Benefield, Northamptonshire, England, Jan. 28, 1621. Of his early history, little is known. He had a good common school education, was brought up in the Puritan faith, and during life was a consistent and exemplary Christian. His occupation was that of a tanner and currier of leather, which business he attended to in the winter, and carried on his farm in the summer. He was an honest boy, and grew up to be an honest man.2670, pp 516-7

• Louisburg Feb 27 1745/6
the Rise of ye Family of Gorhams taken from Capt George Gorham –
my Great Great Grand father & Family Came out of Some part of England and Lived att Marshfield and Had one son Nam’d aftr him John gorum, alias Gorham –– which Son aftr Having Marryed With an Howland and had Sevrall Children Went home to England and Returnd Soone again to his family –
His Father Lived & Dyed att Marshfield and Whats remarkable He Was a Joyner and Made his Coffin himself for sevrall Year before he Dyed and Used to Keep apples In It as a Chest Untill He dyed & used t
the Soon John that Maryd Desire Howland and Went to England Moved From Marshfieeld to Barnstable and Settled there in ordr to begin a township aftrwards called Barnstable. Built Mills – tan fatts &c
Children . Names – James – John – Joseph Jabez and Shuball now Living –
Daughters – Elzebth – maryd a Hallett, att Sandwich
Temperance maryd Thomas Baxter an old England man Lived att Yarmouth –
Desire – Gorham – maryed a Capt Haws Yarmouth – having his Leg Cut of Dyed with It
Lydia – Gorham Maryed . Coll John Thacher
Hanah – maryd a Wheelding boath moved to Cape-may2521, p 177

• John, the son of Ralph, was baptized Jan. 28, 1620, at Benefield, Northamptonshire, England, and came to this country with his father.
In 1643, at the age of 23, he married Desire, the daughter of John Howland, one of the last survivors of the Mayflower passengers. Living at the time of Plymouth, shortly after in 1646, the young couple settled at Marshfield, and then in 1652 at Yarmouth, adjoining Barnstable. He was owner of a grist mill and wharf; also a tannery. A deputy to the General Court and holding various town offices, his greatest service, however, was of a military nature during King Philip’s War, and from the exposure and fatigue incident to the expedition he contracted a fever and died at Swansea, February 5, 1675.
At Gorham, Me., on the town monument, may be seen a quotation from the letter of Captain John Gorham, written in 1675, to Governor Winslow, in which he offers to serve God and his country as long as he had life and health, which he literally fulfilled in his death during the war.2670

• Desire Howland married in Plymouth, about 1643, John Gorham, who was baptized in Benefield, Northamptonshire, England, 28 January 1620/1, the son of Ralph Gorham. Capt. John Gorham was buried in Swansea, Mass, 5 February 1675/6.
The Northamptonshire branch of the Gorhams are supposed to have descended from Sir Hugh de Gorham and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir William l'Angevin. Sir Hugh de Gorham, in 1281, possessed the manor of Churchfield in the parish of Oundle, and land in Benefield which had belonged to his wife's father. More than three hundred years later, the baptism of “John Gorram, son of Ralph Gorram” was entered in the Benefield register.
A John Gorham, perhaps this man, was a passenger on board the Philip, bound for North America, 20 June 1635, with Richard Morgan, master. A Ralph Gorham was granted land in Plymouth 2 October 1637 for a house and garden. On 5 March 1637/8, he complained against Frances Sprague. A year later, “Ralph Gorham the older” was presented for breaking the peace. On 1 September 1640 he complained against Ralph Smith and on 2 March 1640/1 Smith complained against Ralph Gorham. On 5 April 1640 he sued Tristram Clark and John Crab for debt. He then disappeared from Plymouth records.
On 8 March 1648 Desire's father, John Howland, sold to his “son-in-law, John Gorum,” half of the lands in Marshfield that he had bought from Governor William Bradford.433, p 2 In 1672, Desire's mother, Elizabeth Howland, “wife of Mr. John Howland, deceased, came into court at Plymouth and acknowledged that she freely gave and surrendered rights in the lands of her late husband lying in Namasket in the township of Middleboro to Mr. John Gorum of Barnstable,”2410, p 9

• Capt. John Gorham, who commanded a company of the colonial troops in the King Phillip war, and was at the taking of the fort in the swamp in the Narragansett country, Dec. 19, 1675, the capture of which crushed the hopes of King Phillip and his allies, was the son of Ralph Gorham.
The Gorhams trace their genealogy back to the De Gorrams, of La Tanniere, near Gorram in Maine, on the borders of Brittany, where William, son of Ralph de Gorram, built a castle in 1128. During the reign of William the Conqueror several of the family removed to England, where certain ones of the name became persons of some standing; but the immediate ancestors of Captain John do not appear to have been of much note. James Gorham of Benefield, Northamptonshire, England, who was born in 1550, married Agnes Bernington in 1572 and died 1576. Ralph Gorham his son was born in 1575. He married in England and came with his family in ship Philip to New England about 1635. Of his family but little is known; the only record being of his son John. It is probable he had other children, and a son by the name of Ralph, as he was called the “elder,” which shows that there must have been one other of the same name. Ralph Gorham died about the year 1643, leaving no widow and only one son, John, who inherited his father’s estate. No other Gorhams are known to have been in the colony during the seventeenth century, after the death of Ralph, besides John and his descendants.
We have no record of the birth of Capt. John Gorham, but he was baptized in Benefield, Northamptonshire, England, Jan. 28, 1621. Of his early history, little is known. He had a good common school education, was brought up in the Puritan faith, and during life was a consistent and exemplary Christian. His occupation was that of a tanner and currier of leather, which business he attended to in the winter, and carried on his farm in the summer. He was an honest boy, and grew up to be an honest man. In 1643, when about twenty-one years of age, he married Desire Howland of Plymouth, daughter of John Howland, and granddaughter of John Tilley, both of whom came over in the Mayflower. Desire was one of the first children born at Plymouth; she was a Christian woman both in name and spirit.
John Gorham moved from Plymouth to Marshfield in 1646; June 4, 1650, he was made a freeman of the colony. In 1652, he moved to Yarmouth, where he purchased a house lot adjoining the line of Barnstable. From this time we find him adding to his estate until he became a large land owner, which with his grist mill and tannery must have kept him well employed.
In 1677, in consequence of the good service Capt. John Gorham had rendered the country in the war in which he lost his life, the Court confirmed to his heirs and successors forever the hundred acres of land at Papasquash Neck, in Swansea, which had been selected by him in his lifetime. He was one of the selectmen of Barnstable in the year 1674, and was appointed a Lieutenant of the Plymouth forces in the Dutch war in 1673. Oct 4, 1675, he was appointed Captain of the second company of the Plymouth forces in the King Phillip war, and ordered to rendezvous his company at Providence, Dec. 10, 1675. The battle was fought Dec. 19, 1675, and was decisive in its result. This was the second expedition sent against the Narragansetts in which Capt. Gorham bore a part. The first was not successful, the English suffered a defeat, a fuller account of which can be found in the histories of the times.
To the officers and soldiers of this war the grant of seven townships of land was made by the General Court of Massachusetts about the years 1728 and 1732. Capt. Gorham did not live long after the battle. He was seized with a fever, brought on in consequence of fatigue and exposure, and died, while in command of his company, in Swansea, where he was buried, Feb. 5, 1676.
In the distribution of the seven townships amongst the Narragansett soldiers, No. 7 was awarded to Capt. John Gorham and one hundred nineteen others, to their heirs and assigns forever, according to the rules fixed by the General Court providing for descent or heirship. For a list of the co-holders in the proprietory, reference may be had to Chapter 11 of this work.2671, pp 516-7

• Oct. 4th., 1675, he was appointed by the Court Captain of the Second Company of the Plymouth forces in King Phillip's war. Capt. Bradford and Capt. Gorham were ordered by the Council of War to rendeavous their men at Plymouth December 7th., Taunton December 8th., Rehoboth December 9th., and at Providence December 10th.
Capt. Gorham and his company were in the sanguinary battle at the Swamp Fort in the Narragansett County fight December 19th., 1675.
That battle was decisive in its results. It not only crushed the power of the Narragansetts, but it destroyed the hope of King Phillip and his allies of exterminating the white race in New England.
The weather was cold and severe. The forces had to remain in an open field "with no other covering than a cold and wet fleece of snow." At the dawn of day the next morning they started in on their weary march, sinking ankle deep at every step in the snow. At one o-clock they arrived at the fort. After three or four hours of hard fighting the English succeeded in taking the fort.
Capt. Gorham never recovered from the cold and fatigue to which he was exposed in this expedition. He was seized with a fever and died at Swansea, where he was buried February 5th., 1676.2514

• 1675. Yarmouth. Captain of the second expedition sent from that place this year to Narragansett, and his name is in a list of soldiers that were present into the Country's service, and went to Mount Hope against our enemies, the Indians.
1675, 12--9. This was the date of the great Narragansett fight with the Indians, in which the English forces numbered 1500 men, while the Indians had 3500. The loss to the English was 85 killed and 150 wounded, while the Indians had 700 killed and 300 died of their wounds. Cotton Mather gives an interesting account of this desperate battle. He says: "The Indians had a fort raised upon an Island of about five or six acres in the midst of a horrid swamp, which fort, besides it palisadoes, had a kind of a wall or hedge about a rod thick encompassing it. Brave Capt. Mosely and Capt. Davenport led the van. Capt. Gardner and Capt. Johnson were in the center. Major Appleton and Capt. Oliver brought up the rear of the Massachusetts forces. Gen. Winslow, with Plymouth forces, under Major Bradford and Capt. Gorham, marched in the center, and Connecticut forces under Major Treat and Capt. Sealey, Capt. Gallop, Capt. Mason, Capt. Watts and Capt. Marshall made up the rear of the whole body. The commanding officer of the combined forces was Gen. Josiah Winslow. Many years later (1733) an assignment of lands, as previously ordered by the General Court of Massachusetts, was made to those who were in the service of their country in the Narragansett War, as a reward for such services. When the person had deceased, the grant belonged to the oldest male heir, "otherwise oldest female if they pleased, “and this heir was to hold the share by paying the other heirs such proportionate part of £10 (the value of a right or single share) as such descendants were entitled to.” Capt. John Gorham's right was, therefore, represented by his eldest son, Col. Shubael Gorham, to whom, with 119 others, a tract of land was granted near Portland, Maine, measuring, as did all of these grants, six miles square. The town which Shubael Gorham and his associates had received was subsequently named in his honor, “Gorham.”2669, pp 2-4

• Capt. John Gorham and his family moved from Marshfield to Barnstable, then on to Yarmouth in 1652. In Barnstable he owned a grist mill and tannery. He joined the militia as a captain and fought in King Philip’s War, later taking part in the Great Swamp Fight against the Narragansett Indians in southern Rhode Island. He was badly injured when his powder horn exploded against his side. He also never got over the exposure to the cold weather.
After the battle, he somehow made his way either by water or land to Wannamoisett, probably to the home of James Brown, son of John Brown, gentleman. The John and James Brown families shared the same home.
John Gorham was racked with a high fever for some time and finally died, being buried on March 7, 1675 in what is now Little Neck Cemetery in East Providence, which lay on the Brown farm. This is also where Elizabeth Tilley Howland is buried.2672

• Desire's husband, Capt. John Gorham, died intestate. On 7 March 1675, Mistress Desire Gorum (sic) and her sons, James Gorum and John Gorum, were named as administrators of the estate. The court appointed “Mr. Hinckley, Mr. Chipman and Mr. Huckins” to take care of the estate of the youngest children until they came of age. ....Son Joseph was given forty acres of land next to Joseph Hallet's land, and some meadow. The rest of the estate was divided into five equal parts among the rest of the children, who were named as Jabez, Mercy, Lydia, Hannah, and Shubael Gorum.2410, pp 10-11