My Gorton ancestry begins with my 4th great-grandmother, Olive Gorton.   She was a 3rd great-granddaughter of Samuel Gorton, the immigrant ancestor who was born about 1593 in Manchester, England and emigrated from England in 1637, settling first in Plymouth Colony  where he was ousted for his religious opinions and his insubordination toward the magistrates and ministers.  He moved to Portsmouth and then, Providence Plantation, where he ran into similar troubles. He eventually settled south of the Pawtuxet River in an area called Shawomet which Gorton founded as Warwick, Rhode Island, named after the Earl of Warwick.

Before 11 January 1629/30, and prior to his arrival in the American colonies, Samuel Gorton married Mary Mayplet, the daughter of John Mayplet, a haberdasher. Mary was the granddaughter of the Reverend John Mayplet, Rector of Great Leighs Parish in Essex, Vicar of Northolt in Middlesex.  Her brother was Dr. John Mayplet, physician to King Charles II. 

Samuel and Mary Gorton had nine children, born between 1630 and about 1654, the first three of whom were born in England, the younger six children born in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  I descend from their firstborn son, Samuel, who married Susannah Burton.

The Rhode Island Gortons are well-documented, however it wasn't easy for me to connect my ancestor, Olive (Gorton) Larkham, to the rest of the family.  After several years of research, my breakthrough came in the form of a difficult-to-read will on microfilm of Hezekiah Gorton, written in 1841 and proved in 1842, with the following bequest:

I give and bequeath to Betsey Olive Larkham one Chest with a drawer one bed and bedsted and one pair of flannel sheets and with This is what I allotted for your Mothers portion that is deceased  

Betsey Olive Larkham was Olive (Gorton) Larkham's youngest daughter, providing me proof of Olive's father. It has been easy to trace Olive's ancestry back to Samuel Gorton, founder of Warwick, with this information. 

My line of descent from Samuel and Mary (Mayplet) Gorton, down to my maternal grandmother, is as follows: