Charity Gorham

Charity Turner was born 18 November 1811, Waitsfield, Vermont (Charity Turner entry, Births, Deaths, Marriages 1779-1857 Waitsfield, 1: 35, Waitsfield Town Clerk, Waitsfield, Vermont)and died 15 June 1887, Perrysville, Ohio (Perrysville Union Cemetery (Perrysville, Ohio; corner of East Bridge and East Church Streets), Charity Gorham, Section 2, row 3, lot 98; read and photographed by Lee Martin, 25 May 2015).  There is no death record in the courthouse and the obituary in the Ashland Press dated 23 June 1887 ("Mrs. Charity Gorham was buried last Friday [17 June 1887].  She was born in Vermont, married to Capt. Gorham in Brooklyn, moved here in 1843 and died in her 71st year.  She was a dear old mother, one of those who never grew aged.  She took part in all literary entertainments that were connected with the church and Sunday school with the enthusiasm of a girl.") stated she was buried the week previous (Charity Gorham obituary, Ashland Press, Ashland, Ohio, 23 June 1887, p. 2, col. 6) and died 48 hours before that based on the inscription on the tombstone.

Not much is known about her, although based on the obituary, she must have had boundless curiosity for religious literature.  I thought often of how they may have met.  Charity have have taken a small sailboat or ferry up Mad River north to the Winooski River, chartered another boat to sail west to Burlington on the shores of Lake Champlain.  From Burlington, she may have sailed down the Hudson River to Brooklyn where she may have met Hezekiah Gorham and married him.  If she did not take a river route, she may have taken a wagon north to Middlesex and ferried to Burlington.