TWELFTH GENERATION

3840. Captain William Torrey ⁽²⁾ was born about 1608 in Probably Combe St. Nicholas, Somerset, England. He died on Jun 6 1690 or Oct 1690 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Captain William Torrey came to Massachusetts in 1640, near the end of the Great Migration, bringing with him his two sons by his second wife, who did not live to emigrate. He settled in Weymouth and soon entered into significant offices in the town and colony. In 1641 he was elected a member of the Royal Artillery of Boston and soon after was made a lieutenant. The title captain was used starting about 1655.

He was a member of the House of Deputies from 1642 to 1650, and was afterwards Clerk of the House of Deputies, a very important position, and Recorder of Deeds. His signature appears hundreds of times in the early records of the colony.

Captain Torrey was described by Edward Johnson in his The Wonder Working Providence, published in 1654, as "a good penman and skilled in the Latin Tongue." Torrey was himself the author of A Discourse in Futurities or Things to Come. The original handwritten copy is one of the greatest treasures in the possession of the Boston Public Library and bears the statement "Written with his own hand in the seventy-ninth year of his age and in the Year of Our Lord Sixteen eighty-seven." The book was published in 1754 with a preface by the then-pastor of Old South Church of Boston, the Rev. Mr. Prince. It apparently formed the basis of William Miller's arguments for the imminence of the Second Coming, and thus is the spiritual ancestor of all the modern Adventist churches.

Captain Torrey was a major landowner in the Boston area, owning 124 acres in Weymouth in 1648, where he subsequently bought a hundred more acres. He left his son Samuel 500 acres in his will. His estate was inventoried as having a value of 360 pounds, 10 shillings, and 6 pence.

Through his son Angel he and his third wife, Elizabeth Fry, were the 5th great grandparents of President William Howard Taft.

He was married to Jane Haviland about 1630 in Probably in Combe St. Nicholas, Somerset, England.

3841. Jane Haviland⁽²⁰¹⁾⁽¹⁷⁹⁾ was born about Aug 2 1612 in Bristol, England. She died before Apr 27 1639 in Combe St. Nicholas, Somerset, England. Children were:

i. Samuel Torrey⁽²⁾ was born in 1632. He died on Apr 21 1707. The following account of the Reverend Samuel Torrey is found in the Torrey family Bible. It "was taken from a letter addressed to Mrs. Margaret Nicholls Torrey by Dr. Barrett."

"He entered Harvard College, and would have taken his degree in 1650, but left the college with a number of others because a law was passed requiring the students to stay four years in order to take their degrees. He entered the ministry and was invited to settle in Weymouth in 1656, where he continued 51 years, a faithful laborious and exemplary minister. he had a remarkable gift in prayer. Upon a public fast in 1696 he prayed two hours after all the other exercises were over. Mr. Reed, an eminent lawyer, said to Mr. Prince that he and his fellow students regretted that he had not prayed an hour longer. he preached the Election sermons in 1674, 1683, and 1695. He was a person of such depths and extensive views that the governor and council would send for him to come 15 miles to help them with his advice and wise observations. His intimate friends were Gov. Stoughton, Judge Sewall & the Rev Mr. Moodey Willard Hobart of Newton and Thacher of Milton His wife was a daughter of Secretary Rawson. In 1686 he was chosen to succeed Pres. Rogers of Harvard College but declined that honorable station, although he was a fellow of that corporation for a number of years. he died April 10th 1707, aged 76 years."
1920 ii. William Torrey.

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