Thomas P. Gorsuch
Hon. Thomas P. Gorsuch, formerly mayor of Mt. Pleasant, O., and for many years one of the town's most active and successful business men, is also one of the honored survivors of the great Civil War and a member of the J. T. Updegraff Post, No. 549, G. A. R.. at Mt. Pleasant, of which he has been commander for the past fourteen years. Mr. Gorsuch was born at Mt. Pleasant, O., June 7, 1845, and is a son of John M. and Louisa M. (Mayhew) Gorsuch.
John M. Gorsufh was born near lndependence, Washington County, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1821, and died at Mt. Pleasant, May 25, 1895. He was a gunsmith by trade and he carried on business at Mt. Pleasant for many years. He was a son of Thomas and Phoebe (Manchester) Gorsuch, who came from Pennsylvania and settled in Smitlifield Township, this county. Thomas Gorsuch, who was a carpenter, died in Smithfield Township and was buried in the Wheeler grave-yard, situated between Smithfield and Dillonvale. His widow subsequently married Richard Hemming, of Carroll County, Ohio, and her death took place at Mt. Pleasant. John M. Gorsuch married Louisa M. Mayhew, who was born in Frederick County, Maryland, September 18, 1820, and was quite young when her parents drove over the mountains into Jetferson County, Ohio, and settled in Smithfield Township. To John M. Gorsuch and his wife three children were born: Annie E., wlio married B. L. Rodgers, of West Liberty, W. Va.; Thomas P., subject of this sketch; and John Ephraim, who was born in 1849 and died in 1851.
Thomas P. Gorsuch was a school boy only sixteen years of age when he enlisted for service in the Civil War, in 1863, becoming a member of Company E, 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After being mustered in at Camp Chase, he joined with his company the Army of the Cumberland. He was in General Sherman's command in the Atlanta campaign and took part in all the engagements from Chattanooga to Atlanta. From Atlanta his regiment was sent to Nashville, under General Thomas, from there to Texas. It participated in the battle of Franklin, Tenn., and that of Nashville in November, 1864. Mr. Gorsuch escaped all serious injury and was honorably discharged at Columbus, O., in December, 1865. In spite of his youth he had proved a good soldier and in every time of danger had faced the foe with the courage of a veteran.
After his return from the army, Mr. Gorsuch worked in the oil fields at Smith's Ferry for one year. In 1867 he went to Washington County, Ohio, where he was engaged in a lumber business for two years and he so continued for three years more in Jefterson County, also working as a carpenter. In 1872 and 1873 he had charge of the machinery in the office of the Herald, at Steubenville, and he then reengaged in the lumber business which he continued until 1880, when he embarked in the hardware business at Mt. Pleasant, conducting a store in the Hall Building here for about ten years. Mr. Gorsuch then turned his hardware business over to his two sons and in a short time opened a grocery store in which he remained interested for eight years. He then turned it over to a son-in-law, while he went into the dry goods business, which he carried on until 1909, when he practically retired, his dry goods interests being continued by a second son-in-law. As a business man Mr. Gorsuch has always been considered highly capable, while his personal character has made him widely popular among his fellow citizens. In politics a stanch Republican he has worked for party success, but as a member of the town's council or as mayor, he has been public spirited and efficient without regard to political bias.
In 1866 Mr. Gorsuch was married to Miss Mary T. McMasters, a daughter of Merrick and Susan McMasters. Of their nine children six survive, namely: John L., a hardware merchant at Memphis, Tenn., who mairied Mattie Faulkner; Merrick F., who is in the hardware and roofing business at Jackson Center, Shelby County, Ohio, married Florence Medill and they have one son, Ralph; Edna W., who married E. B. Burris, who is in the grocery business at Mt. Pleasant, and has eight children, Rena, Maud, Edmond, Mary, Eva, Marjorie, Dorothy and Myron; Anna E., who is the wife of William Moore, a dry goods merchant at Mt. Pleasant, and has one child, Anna Mary; Louisa W., who married William Dungan, proprietor of a hotel, they being the parents of three children, Martha, Hazel and Anna; and Thomas E., who resides at Mt. Pleasant. The three deceased are Jennie, Eva and Albert. Mr. Gorsuch belongs to the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Protestant Church, in which he is a steward and a member of the board of trustees. He has long been one of the representative citizens of this part of Jefferson County.
From 20th Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio, by Joseph B. Doyle. Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910