Martha Stone Gorman

Martha Stone Gorman, first wife of Willis Arnold Gorman, c. 1850

First Lady
May 15, 1853 - April 27, 1857

Born: Approximately 1819
in Kentucky

Died: March 1, 1864
in Bloomington, Indiana

Married January 1836 to Willis Gorman

Biography
Martha Stone was born about 1819 in Kentucky, the daughter of Ellis Stone. The Stone family later moved to Bloomington, Indiana., where Martha married Willis Arnold Gorman in 1836. The Gormans had five children: Richard L., James W., Louisa G., Ellis Stone and Martha B.

Martha Stone Gorman was the second first lady of Minnesota Territory. She was described by author James H. Baker as "a most admirable lady, and possessed of great social qualities."

Martha Gorman died in 1864 in her childhood home in Bloomington. She had returned to Indiana while General Gorman was serving in the Civil War. Gorman remarried, to Emily Newington, in St. Paul on April 27, 1865.