English: habitational name from a place in Lancashire, so named from Old English gor ‘dirt’, ‘mud’ + tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.
FOREBEARS Introduced in America by a family from Gorton, Lancashire, England (three miles from Manchester), the name Gorton was also adopted by a religious group known as the Gortonites. They were followers of Samuel Gorton (c. 1592–1677), whose unorthodox religious beliefs, which included denying the doctrine of the Trinity, caused him to seek religious toleration by emigrating to Boston in 1637 with his family. In conflict with authorities in Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Newport, he eventually settled in Shawomet, RI, and renamed it Warwick. He died there in 1677, leaving three sons and at least six daughters.
