William Henry Gorman

William Henry Gorman
From Volume IV (1912) of Men of Mark In Maryland
Born	(1843-08-29)August 29, 1843 Woodstock, Maryland, U.S.
Died	July 7, 1915(1915-07-07) (aged 71) Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting place	Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Borromeo College, Pikesville, Maryland
Occupation	Businessman
Spouses	Margaret Bradley ​ (m. 1857)​ Mary Clark ​ (m. 1887)​ Ada Rogers ​ (m. 1903)​
Children	4
Parent(s)	Peter Gorman, Elizabeth Brown (Gorman)
Relatives	Arthur Pue Gorman (brother)

William Henry Gorman (August 29, 1843 – July 7, 1915) was a co-founder of the Citizens Bank of Maryland. Born and raised in the Baltimore area, he was the younger brother of Arthur Pue Gorman, an influential political leader. William was a successful businessman, leading and investing in various financial institutions and public utility companies in Maryland, as well as a coal company and railroad in West Virginia.

He was born in Woodstock, Maryland.^[1] William Gorman was the younger brother of Arthur Pue Gorman, an influential political leader who served in the Maryland House of Delegates, then the State Senate, and was elected by the General Assembly (state legislature) to several terms in the United States Senate. William was raised at a farmstead called "Good Fellowship" – dating back to the original land grant by the Lord Baltimore, Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605–1675), as Lord Proprietor of the colony and Province of Maryland) – as well as a family home in Laurel, Maryland. He went to school at Borromeo College in Pikesville, Maryland, northwest of Baltimore in Baltimore County; the college was Roman Catholic in affiliation and existed from 1860 to 1872.^[2]

In 1866, Gorman served as the deputy revenue collector alongside his brother. In 1871 in the state capital of Annapolis, Maryland, he founded the Maryland and City Hotel, advertised in 1876 as a summer resort.^[3] In 1874, he also co-founded the Annapolis Savings Institution, the Annapolis Water Company, and the Annapolis Gas and Electric Light Company. While Gorman was its president, the publicly held water company issued 6-percent annual dividends in the early 1880s.^[4]

In 1875, Gorman declined for personal reasons an opportunity to serve as a Democratic candidate for alderman of Annapolis.^[5]

In 1884, Gorman moved to the state's biggest city of Baltimore, Maryland and started investing in coal companies. He was the president of The Piedmont Mining Company formed in 1898, and the Gorman Coal and Coke Company.^[6] Gorman was also on the board of directors of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway, later the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway.^[7]

In 1890, Gorman co-founded and was named a director of Citizens Bank of Maryland.^{[8][verification needed]} In 1891, Gorman and his brother Arthur founded the Cumberland Coal Company in Tucker County, West Virginia with 300 employees and 140 coke ovens.^[9]

Gorman and his father were the proprietors of several quarries in the Laurel area and Prince George's County that supplied granite and stone for the U.S. Treasury building and the United States Capitol, in Washington, along with material for bridge construction on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, first passenger railway in the country, begun 1827.

In January 1902, Gorman was added as a director of Citizens National Bank.^[10]

Gorman married Margaret Bradley on February 1, 1857;^[11] she died on October 21, 1861, at age 25, after a short but severe illness.^[12] He later married Mary Clark, who died on January 23, 1887, and is interred at Loudon Park Cemetery.^[13] Gorman married Ada Rogers, widow of Judge Edward Thomas Boykin, in a private ceremony on June 18, 1903, in Concord, North Carolina.^[14]

Gorman purchased property in Catonsville, Maryland's Oak Forest Park neighborhood in 1896 for $2500 and contracted with William Gerwig in 1897 to build a residence there.^[15][16]

Gorman's daughters, Nora and Elizabeth, both announced their engagements in September 1903, to marry E.G. Ballenger of Tryon, North Carolina, and J. William McMillan of Knoxville, Tennessee, respectively.^[17] Nora died at her Atlanta home in July 1912 of typhoid fever.^[18]

Gorman's son Douglas married Shirley Gwendolyn Nash of Savannah, Georgia, in February 1912.^[19]

Gorman was ill at home in January 1915 before leaving for a week in Florida with his wife to recuperate.^[20] They went to Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, in late June to spend the summer there.^[21] Gorman died at Bedford Springs on July 7, 1915, after a stroke of paralysis on July 3, and is buried at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore.^[22][23] His funeral was held at St. Timothy's Protestant Episcopal Church in Catonsville, where he had served as a vestryman.^[24][25] After two weeks in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where they had previously visited,^[26] his widow returned to her former North Carolina home in August 1915.^[27]

Gorman's son Albert married Sallie Dorsey Owings of Ellicott City, Maryland, in December 1915.^[28][29] He married Eloise Stewart in December 1929 and they separated in September 1932, with Eloise filing for divorce two months later.^[30] Albert died in Baltimore in October 1937 at age 52 after two years of illness.^[31]

Upon its sale in May 1916, the Gorman's Catonsville home was described as having "18 rooms and 3 bathrooms" on about 2.75 acres (1.11 ha), fronting about 390 feet (120 m) along Montrose Avenue.^[32]