Nathaniel Gorham – Family History Ralph Gorham of Benefield ...

Samuel Gorham, according to a family legend, having engaged in some sort of Loyalist activities
when still a youth, was wanted by the rebel forces, and a search party was in pursuit of him when
he arrived at his home; his mother Mary (Selleck) Gorham, was quilting under the trees in the
orchard, her quilt frame supported on four barrels. When Samuel came home seeking shelter, she
lifted one of the barrels and put it over him; he being very small in stature, it covered him
completely. The search party arrived and tried to intimidate and frighten Mary into revealing the
whereabouts of her son, but she would not be frightened, and telling them to go ahead and
conduct their search, she returned to her quilt. The premises were thoroughly searched without
success, and after the rebels had gone, Mary released Samuel from the barrel, and he escaped to
the British lines. Samuel came to New Brunswick with the Loyalists, or soon after, although he
did not marry and did not receive a grant of land. He lived most of his life with his brother
Nathaniel and with Nathaniel’s daughter Hannah McCleery in his old age; his grand nephew
William Sterrett, in 1924, remembered him as an extremely frail and tiny old man, who “did not
die of any disease, he just dried up”. He was buried at Trinity Church, Kingston, November
1854, aged 96.
[Information provided by Eric Langley]