Elizabeth Gorman and her Husband

Great-great grandmother Elizabeth Gorman (1833-1902) was born in Ireland, and she immigrated to America in 1852. Unfortunately, however, we know nothing about her husband, except that he was also born in Ireland. We do know that Elizabeth Gorman, and presumably her husband, lived for several years in the state of New York after arriving in the U.S. While in New York, they gave birth to two children. Daughter Kate was born in 1855, and a son named Thomas was born in 1863. Kate would later use the name Catherine, and she would become our great grandmother.

Sometime in the 1860s, the family, with or without the husband, moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Here, the possibility of additional information might be noted. Liz Ault, another genealogy researcher with whom I have corresponded, and who might be a distant relative, raises the possibility that Elizabeth Gorman's birth name was Lawler, and that her husband's name was Patrick Gorman. However, this suggestion presents some inconsistencies and cannot be confirmed.) By 1870, Elizabeth Gorman, with her children Kate and Thomas, had moved cross-country and were living in Milwaukee in the 4th Ward. Her husband was no longer with the family. Elizabeth, as head of the household, identified herself as a 'tailores', suggesting a source of income that could have been earned either in or out of the home. In the late-1870s, Elizabeth's daughter, now Catherine, had married Frank R. Larkin.

By 1880, Elizabeth, as a "widow", moved in with Catherine and Frank and their growing household of kids, and she would continue living with them for the 20-plus years remaining in her life. This family lived at 127 17th Street. Elizabeth Gorman died on May 6, 1902, and she is buried in Calvary Cemetery.