Dorrance, Gershom

Born: 1801-11-23 New York

Flourished: 1839-05-23 Sangamon County, Illinois

Alternate name: Dorance, Dorrence

Dorrance emigrated with his father from Seneca County, New York to Sangamon County, Illinois, in 1822, settling in what would become Woodside Township. In 1823, the family moved to what became Loami Township. During the Black Hawk War, Dorrance served as a private in Jonathan R. Saunders's company of the 2nd Regiment of Illinois Mounted Volunteers from June to July 1831, and as cornet in Thomas Moffett's company of the 4th Regiment from June to August 1832. In November 1832, he married Louisa Woodworth, a union that produced nine children. In 1850, Dorrance was farming and owned real estate valued at $450.

Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 29 November 1832, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 260; Ellen M. Whitney, comp., The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832: Illinois Volunteers, vol. 35 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1970), 1:90, 413; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 176.