The Family › Temple–Catchings › Gorham
John Gorham
–c. 1836
✦ direct ancestor — Owen's 6×-great-grandfather · Carpenter line
Life
- Died
- before 31 Dec 1836 · Fayette, Kentucky, USA
Marriage & children
Spouse(spouse unknown)
Records behind this page
Fayette County, Kentucky, Deed Book 19 (County Court, 1840-1842, 467 pages) -- county deed book, original volume; FHL microfilm 8702, filmed by the Margaret I. King Library, University of Kentucky, 1952; FamilySearch full-text. Read on the manuscript 22 Sep 2026, not from a machine transcript
William Cavens and Margaret his wife, of Randolph Co., Mo., to William Cromwell, 16 Oct 1843 -- Fayette Co., Ky., Deed Book 19, p. 427 (ark 3:1:3Q9M-CSLZ-JKLR)
read the transcript
[marginal] Cavens / To ... Deed / Cromwell || This Indenture made this 16 day of Oct'r Eighteen hundred and forty three between William Cavens and Margaret his wife of the County of Randolph and State of Miss[ou]ri of the first part and William Cromwell of the County of Fayette and State of Kentucky of the second part Witnesseth that for and in consideration of Eleven hundred and fifty four dollars by the said party of the second part to the said parties of the first part in hand paid ... all that tract of land situate and being in Fayette County on the waters of Cane run ... being lot No 3 as laid down in the plat of land of John Gorham, and she the said Margaret Cavens being an heir at law of said Jno Gorham dec'd - Said Plat can be refered to in the Circuit Court Clerks Office -- transcribed from the image 22 Sep 2026; brackets are uncertain readings. K791.
Fayette County, Kentucky, Will Book N (Oct 1836 - Oct 1838, 466 pages) -- county will book, original volume; FamilySearch 'Kentucky, Probate Records, 1727-1990' (cc=1875188) > Fayette > 'Mixed records, 1836-1840, Vol. N-O', 574 images. Read on the manuscript 22 Sep 2026, not from a machine transcript
Will of John Gorham Sen'r, dated 15 Oct 1825, proved Dec. Court 1836 -- Fayette Co., Ky., Will Book N, pp. 44-46 (images 42-43 of 574; arks 3:1:3QS7-89DL-N122 and 3:1:3QS7-L9DL-N9M7-5)
read the transcript
[p.44, opening] I John Gorham this is my last will and testament wrote with my hand and sealed with my [own] seal this the 15 day of October in the year of our lord thousand eight hundred and twenty five that is to say that I leave to my daughter Molly Gorham now [Pearson] the house and garden and pasture lot where she lives ... || [p.45] Peggy Gorham now Cavens I leve her one gold wring to be worth five Dollars for her as her dower and legacy ...... 5.00 / and I leave to her Children as a legesy two hundred dollars ...... 200.00 / to be divided between them all || [p.45] Simpson C Gorham has recived one feather bed with the trimmens 25.00 and he is to recive for his labour at the rate of fifty Dollars per year ... || [p.46] ... I have apointed John Gorham & George Gorham & Simpson Gorham as my Ex'rs for to settle all my businyss ... John Gorham Sinnor / Sined in the presents of us || [p.46, probate] Fayette County to wit Dec'r Court 1836 - This last will and Testament of John Gorham Sen'r dec'd was produced in open Court and proved by the oaths of Thomas B Catlett and John L. McDowell to be wholy in the hand writing of said decedent and ordered to be recorded which is truly done -- transcribed from the images 22 Sep 2026; brackets are uncertain readings. K790.
Research notes
Working notes from the research, kept verbatim — what was read, what it proved, what stays open. Many open with a line grading the parentage; what the grades mean.
Research note · 22 Sep 2026
AUDITED 22 Sep 2026 - created by rm-apply-891-gorham-father-direct-20260922.py as the father of [891] Margaret E Gorham. The proof lives in HER Audited note, not here.
JOHN GORHAM Sen'r of Fayette County, Kentucky. He wrote a holographic will on 15 October 1825 and it was proved at the December 1836 term of the Fayette County Court, "proved by the oaths of Thomas B Catlett and John L. McDowell to be wholy in the hand writing of said decedent" - so he died between those two dates, which is how the Death fact here is recorded. He signed himself "John Gorham Sinnor". His executors were his sons John, George and Simpson Gorham.
THE CHILDREN HIS WILL NAMES, in the order they appear: Molly Gorham now Pearson (called "my daughter" in words); Thomas Gorham, who is lame - "as he a cripple" - and whose maintenance is charged on the others; John A. Gorham; George Gorham; W. B. Gorham; Thornton F. Gorham; Peggy Gorham now Cavens = [891]; Letatia Gorham now Craig, whose children Joseph, John and Martha F. Craig are named; Simpson C. Gorham; and Frances G. Gorham. The will is a list of advancements - a feather bed and trimmings, horses, cows, a sow and pigs, cash - to be equalised among the sons by the executors. NONE OF THESE SIBLINGS IS ATTACHED HERE. They are recorded so that a future session does not have to re-read the will, not offered as tree entries. Fayette Co. Will Book N, pp. 44-46; register K790.
HIS LAND was in Fayette County on the waters of Cane Run, laid off into numbered lots in a plat referred to in the Circuit Court Clerk's office; lot No. 3 fell to [891], who sold it with her husband on 16 October 1843 (Fayette Deed Book 19, p. 427; register K791).
HIS WIFE IS NOT RECORDED HERE, and that is deliberate. Bob Baird's Gorham compendium (genfiles.com) gives Priscilla George, d. 1824; she is named in neither the will nor the deed. The will's "And if I should have a wife at that time it is my wish that she shall have a equal part with my Sons" shows only that he was a widower in October 1825. One compiled claim, no record - a lead, not a fact.
TWO THINGS LEFT OPEN. (1) The will's index entry reads "Gorham John Will 44. 90. 141." - pages 90 and 141 were opened and NOT read to completion; they are inventory and settlement matter and are recorded as unsearched, not as a negative. (2) The tenth child is read as "Frances G. Gorham" where Baird has "Travis G."; not reconciled.
Elsewhere
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