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From: Mike Morrison <>
Subject: [SOMGEN] Gorman/Rushaberger
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 16:07:32 -0800


I may have found a home! For years I have been penetrating the
mystery that is my great grandfather's history. Although my mother and
aunts remember him well and I have photos and even home movies from 1927
of him, nobody knew much about him.
For instance, he was known as J. Anthony Gorman and nobody in the
family knew what "J"" stood for. He was supposedly from Maryland,
however there is nothing there that connects. I found the date of his
death, in 1938 in Sacramento, California and his death certificate which
had questions marks where ancestral information should have been.
He traveled the country extensively in the 1890's and early 1900's,
which makes locating him harder. I have photographs of he and my
grandmother and great grandmother in Pasadena, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New
Orleans, Nashville and Buffalo. He was also in the San Francisco area
and the state of Washington. My grandmother was born in Memphis, MO in
1891 and J. Anthony married my great grandmother in Keosauqua, Iowa (her
home town) in 1888. He was a set designer and organizer for World's
Fairs in that era.
I located an application for Civil War benefits filed by him in Iowa
in 1888 that indicated his father, Joseph A. Gorman, was a Sutler with
the 54th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers in the "War of the
Rebellion". I tracked down that file and found that Joseph A. Gorman
died in Division Hospital 1 in Annapolis, MD in 1864. (Pension was
denied because he was a sutler and not a soldier.)
In the affidavit, it appears that the family lived in Stoystown and
that J. Anthony (Joseph Anthony Gorman, Jr.) was born in 1854 as was his
younger sister Emma. Their mother was Mary Rushaberger, however, the
affidavit, filed by their physician, Robert Patterson, indicates that
their father's death left them as orphans.
Back to the list --
Does anyone know where to turn to hunt down the disposition of two
young orphans from 1864 in this area?
Does anyone with knowledge of the area and era have more information
to help me and my family fill in the gaps? We've learned a great deal,
but we are currently stuck in neutral.
I look forward to any information that is available.

Mike Morrison
Lake Forest, CA

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