“ Gorman was born in Hester Street, of Irish parents, Oct. 5, 1828, and for many years was a resident of the old Ninth Ward. He attended the public school at Grove and Hudson Streets, but left school to enter a dry goods store. He afterward became and apprentice in the plumbing trade. He was taught by his father, who was a practical man, to look out for himself, and he was a self-made man in the truest sense of the word. In his early youth he was an enthusiastic member of the Volunteer Fire Department, and ran with the "machine" at every opportunity. ”