Desire Gorham

Descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Howland-7
Howland-7 created 11 Jun 2010 | Last modified 16 Mar 2023

There is no record of her birth, but her parents were probably married about 1624. The Pilgrim John Howland Society's website gives 1625 as her birth year but gives no source for this information.[2] She is mentioned in the division of cattle in 1627, so she was born prior to May 22, 1627, and she was their oldest daughter.[3]

She married John Gorham, probably before 1644, as their eldest child was born in April 1644. Again, there are no primary records evidencing her marriage date.[4] John Gorham and Desire Howland had the following children, born between 1651 and 1667: Desire, Temperance, Elizabeth, James, John, Joseph, Jabez, Mercy, Lydia, Hannah, and Shubael.

Desire Gorham died in 1683, but the precise date of her death is not known as the records conflict. George Ernest Bowman states:

"Desire (Howland) Gorham, eldest daughter of John and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland, died at Barnstable and her death is entered on the town records [Volume I, page 414] as follows : 'Mrs Desire Gorham Relict of Cap John Gorham Senr Late of Barnstable Deceas d Departed this Life ye 13 Day of October 1683." According to the probate records her inventory was taken 3 August 1683,[5] more than two months earlier, and it is evident that one of these entries is incorrect. The probate record was copied from the original inventory and the town record was copied, in 1736, from the original volume now lost."[6]

The probate of her estate, dated 5 March 1683/4, mentions sons James, John, Joseph, Jabez, and Shuball (the youngest son), and daughters Desire, Temperance, and Elizabeth (deceased), Marcy [this was Mercy, who married George Denison], Lydia and Hannah. You can see the Inventory of her estate at Gorham Inventory.

Family

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18676934/desire-gorham

Daughter of Mayflower passengers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilly, and grand daughter of Mayflower passengers John Tilly and Joan Rogers, she married John Gorham, son of Ralph Gorham and Margaret Stephenson, about 1643. Between them they had 11 children:

1. Desire Gorham 1644–1700
2. Temperance Gorham 1646–1715
3. Elizabeth Gorham 1648–1684
4. James Gorham 1650–1707
5. Lieut. Col. John Gorham 1651-1716
6. Joseph Gorham 1653–1726
7. Jabez Gorham 1656–1725
8. Mercy Gorham 1658–
9. Lydia Gorham 1661–1744
10. Hannah Gorham 1663–
11. Shubael Gorham
12. Also had a daughter: Hannah Gorham Whillden or Whilldin Born: 11/28/1663 Died: 1728 Hannah and her husband, Joseph Whillden or Whilldin, settled in Cape May, New Jersey.

DNA

Maternal relationship is confirmed by an exact HVR1 and HVR2 match between this Family Tree DNA mtDNA test for William Matthew Thornton Jr. and this Family Tree DNA mtDNA test for Cynthia Herald, 10th cousins twice removed. Their Most Recent Common Ancestor is Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland.[7]

Children of John Howland

Source: Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 15 November 2018), memorial page for Desire Howland Gorham (1624–13 Oct 1683), Find A Grave Memorial no. 18676934, citing Cobb's Hill Cemetery (East and West), Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Ryan D. Curtis (contributor 46858513) .

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References

1. The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower or John Howland's Good Fortune, author and illustrator P J Lynch, published by Candlewick Press, Somerville, Massachusetts, copyrighted 2015
2. Howland Society (Link via Wayback Machine)
3. New Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. General Court (Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, David Pulsifer, editors). Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England: Deeds, &c., 1620-1651. Vol. 1. Boston: Press of W. White, 1861. Google Books Page 10, (citing original record page 52)
4. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995). Page 1022
5. "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G97D-V3HK : 15 March 2023), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 569 of 616; State Archives, Boston.
6. Bowman, George Ernest, "Desire (Howland) Gorham's Estate" Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 4 (1902):217.
7. See FTDNA Kits 159230 and 337121 at GSMD/FTDNA Mayflower DNA Project - mtDNA Test Results for Members. (As of Aug. 2019.)
8. See also: White, Elizabeth Pearson. John Howland of the Mayflower (Picton Press, Camden, Maine, 1990 - 7th printing 2014) Vol. 1, pages 9-12
9. Desire Howland may have been named after Desire Minter, who came over on the Mayflower with John and Kathrine Carver and lived in the household of John and Elizabeth Howland in 1623 before going back to England.
10. Otis, Amos. Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families (F.B. & F.P. Goss, Publishers and Printers, Barnstable, Mass., 1888)
11. Mayflower Births & Deaths, Vol. II
12. Clemens, William Montgomery, American Marriages Before 1699 (Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, USA: Biblio Co., 1926)
13. Author: Dori Coplien: We're Coming to America, database online, May 09, 2008.
14. Snow, Nora Emma. The Snow-Estes Ancestry (Hillburn, New York, 1939) Vol. 1
15. Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1862)
16. Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families. William T. Davis; Michael Tepper - Editor- Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Originally published as Part II of Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth Second Edition Boston 1899. (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1985, Baltimore.)
17. The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass.)
18. "EDMOND HAWES and His American Descendants" by Raymond Gordon Hawes, Gateway Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 2000.
19. Livermore, Abiel Abbot. History of the Town of Wilton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire (Lowell, Massachusetts, Marden and Rowell, printers, 1888)
20. Austin, John Osborne. One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families (1893) The inventory of the estate of Desire Howland dated Mar. 1, 1684 amounted to L123, 16s. 11d. shown by sons James and John.
21. Records of the colony of New Plymouth, in New England (Press of W. White, Boston, 1861) Vol. 12 Deeds, &c. Vol. 1 1620-1651 & Book of Indian Records for their lands. Page 10, (citing original record page 52).
22. The Mayflower Descendant (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1902) Vol. 4
23. The Howland Homestead (Society of the Descendants of Pilgrim John Howland, of the Ship Mayflower, Boston, 1911) Page 9: She was "named after Desire Minter, the faithful friend of Elizabeth Tilley."
24. History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts: 1620-1637-1686-1890. New York: H.W. Blake & Co., 1890, Chap 17 pg 458.
25. Burial location: Cobb's Hill, Barnstable, Massachusetts on Oct 14 1683 check Find A Grave: Memorial #18676934 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18676934