"Seattle and Environs, 1852-1924." Vol. 2.  Hon. C. H. Hanford, Editor. Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1924.  p. 436.
 
JOHN J. GORMAN

     Although he is still considerably less than forty years old, John J.
Gorman, general manager of the Yamashita Company, Incorporated, is known in
shipping circles on both sides of the Pacific as a man who has already achieved
much that is worthy of accomplishment and one who will do even greater things in
the future. An account of his career thus far is the story of a young man who
set his mind on a definite goal and refused to be diverted from the path that
led to the fulfillment of his ambition. When he was nineteen a chance Job as an
extra checker on the Great Northern dock in Seattle gave him a glimpse of the
fascinating possibilities of a career in the Pacific shipping business. From
that time on he was ever on the alert to identify himself with some firm that
would take him into this field of work and when his opportunity came he was
ready to stake everything on his ability to succeed.
     John J. Gorman was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, August 8, 1886, son
of James J. and Catherine (McDermott) Gorman. His parents were natives of the
Bay state and lived in Fall River until 1904, when they came to Washington,
living in Spokane for a year, then moving to Seattle, their present home. Here
James J. Gorman was connected with the Teale Hills Furniture Company, and
subsequently engaged in business on his own account.  Since 1910 he has been
connected with the Knights of Columbus welfare work and is very active at the
age of sixty-seven. His wife, six years his junior, takes a keen interest in
civic and social affairs, as well as in her family and household
responsibilities. Of the seven children born to this couple, six are living: A.
B. Gorman, John J. Gorman and the Misses Mary, Gertrude, Ruth and Frances
Gorman. When the family moved to Spokane, John J. Gorman had completed his
education in the Fall River schools and a business college in the same city. Out
here in Washington his father became a heavy stockholder in a large laundry and
as this seemed to present an excellent opportunity for the young man to start
out in life, he went through all of the departments of the establishment from
fire room to office. It is stated on good authority that his inaptitude for this
work was conspicuously demonstrated by the ruin of a lot of fine woolens
committed to his especial care. Be that as it may, the Germans shortly moved to
Seattle, where their second son came into contact for the first time with the
world of ships and shipping. Late in the summer of 1905 he found temporary work
in his new home as an extra checker on the Great Northern, under Joseph Weber,
the agent on the dock for the Great Northern Railroad, and soon decided that his
future lay with the trans-Pacific shipping industry.
     No immediate opening in this line of work presented itself, however, so Mr.
Gorman went north to Alaska in April of the following year to spend the season
in the salmon canning industry in the southeastern part of the territory.
November found him back in Seattle apparently as far from the goal of his
ambition as ever. To keep himself in funds he went to work for M. Seller &
Company, under Sol Friedenthal, where he made a good record during the three
months he was so employed. When at last his opportunity came to get into the
shipping game it was in the form of a position as stenographer to E. J. Manion
of the Blue Funnel Lines. Mr. Friedenthal tried to dissuade the young man from
accepting this offer, for he foresaw a good future for him in his own line of
work and doubted the lad's ability to push ahead of all the obstacles in the
shipping business. But Mr. Gorman refused to be thwarted in his purpose,
although lie declined a generous increase of salary to go with the Dodwell
concern. When in January of 1907 Mr. Gorman. took up his new duties the firm of
Dodwell & Company had just opened a Seattle branch and his position was that of
stenographer, office boy and utility man. Two years later the firm took over
Pier 8, and the duties of broker, cashier and clerk were assigned to Mr. Gorman.
Six years later the headquarters of the company were moved to Seattle from
Tacoma and in 1915 he was sent to the latter city as manager of that branch.
When in the summer of 1916 that branch was closed lie returned to Seattle as
head of the company's merchandise and insurance departments.
    The next great step forward for Mr. Gorman came in 1918, when on the 1st of
October he became general agent in the Orient for the Admiral Line, with
headquarters in Hongkong. During the three years he spent on the other side of
the Pacific he traveled from Vladivostok to Java, opening various offices for
his company. The headquarters were transferred to Shanghai in 1919 and Mr.
Gorman became manager.  In October of 1921 he was recalled to Seattle to become
Oriental manager under vice president A. F. Haines. He resigned from that
position in September of the following year to accept a better post as general
manager of the Yamashita Company, Incorporated, United States representatives of
the Yamashita Kisen Kogyo Kaisha, a powerful Japanese steamship and mining
corporation of Kobe. This corporation operates five hundred thousand gross tons
of ships, including one hundred and fifty thousand tons which it owns, the rest
being operated under charters. Its business extends all over the world, while
its Pacific coast services include two steamships a month from Puget Sound and
two a month from the Columbia river in the trans-Pacific trade and one steamship
each month from one of the northwest ports to South America. Since Mr. Gorman
has been in his present office he has made substantial progress in developing a
large clientele among importers and exporters and developing great cargo
movements for his firm. Needless to add, his rank in the shipping circles of
Seattle is a very high one.
     Mr. Gorman is an independent in politics, a Roman Catholic in his religious
faith and a member of the Knights of Columbus, in which order he has taken the
fourth degree. His clubs are the Arctic of Seattle, the Hong Kong Club of
Hongkong, and the American Club and Columbia Country Club of Shanghai.
     In June, 1910, occurred the marriage of John J. Gorman and Misy Helen
Strehlau. of Seattle, daughter of H. Strehlau and a member of a prominent family
of the city.  To this union five children have been born: Mary J., born in 1911;
Catherine, born in 1913; Lucille, born in 1915 ; Helen, born in August, 1922,
and Patricia, born in 1923, all five girls being natives of Seattle. The three
older children have started their educational careers in the excellent schools
of the city. Mr. Gorman owns his home at No. 1131 Eighteenth avenue North.
 


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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in July 2011 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.