WILLIAM TORREY 1608-1690

[Ancestral Link: Lura Minnie Parker (Stagge), daughter of Minnie May Elmer (Parker), daughter of Mark Alfred Elmer, son of William Elmer, son of Sarah Peak (Elmer), daughter of Joanna Ellingwood (Peake), daughter of Joanna Hunt (Ellingwood), daughter of Ephraim Hunt, son of Judith Torrey (Hunt), daughter of William Torrey.]

Deputy to the court
Captain William Torrey came from Combe St. Nicholas county of Somerset, England, to Weymouth in 1640. He was the son of Philip and Alice Torrey, born and baptized at Combe St. Nicholas, 21 December 1608. He married (1) at Combe St. Nicholas, 17 March 1629, Agnes Combe, daughter of Joseph Combe, baptized at Combe St. Nicholas, 4 January 1608. She died soon after their marriage. He married (2), near 1630 Jane Haviland, daughter of Matthew Haviland of Bristol, England. She was buried at Combe St. Nicholas, 27 April 1639. He married a third wife and settled at Weymouth, Massachusetts. He died at Weymouth, 10 June, 1690.

He was captain, a commissioner, and deputy from Weymouth to the General Court from 1642 to 1645, 1679 and 1683. For many years he was clerk of the House of Deputies in the General Court. (Water's Gleanings in England, pp. 498, 549.)
found on ancestry.com

From http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jsggenealogy/Jsgordon/d66.htm#P136
3840.

Captain William Torrey (2) was born about 1608 in Probably Combe St. Nicholas, Somerset, England. He died on June 6, 1690 or October 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 probably in Combe St. Nicholas, Somerset, England.
found on ancestry.com


A brief discourse concerning futurities or things to come [electronic resource] : viz. The next, of second coming of Christ. Of the thousand years of Chrrst's [sic] kingdom. Of the first resurrection. Of the new heavens and new earth; and of the burning of the old. Of the New Jerusalem. Of Gog and Magog. Of the calling of the Jews. Of the pouring out of the spirit on all flesh. Of the greatest battle that ever was, or shall be fought in the world. And many other things coincident with these things. Together with some useful consideration upon the whole discourse. / Written by (Mr. William Torrey,) a very old man, in continual expectation of his translation into another life and world. ; With a preface by the Reverend Mr. Prince. ; [Five lines of quotations]Book
Bib ID: 3374168
Format: Book, Online, Online - Google Books
Author: Torrey, William, 1608-1690
Online Versions: http://opac.newsbank.com/select/evans/8048
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Description: Boston: : Printed and sold by Edes and Gill, at their printing-office, next to the prison, in Queen-Street,, 1757. [2], iv, iii, [1], 76 p. ; 19 cm. (8vo)
Series: Early American imprints. Series I, Evans (1639-1800); no. 8048.
Notes : Parentheses substituted for square brackets enclosing "Mr. William Torrey," in title transcription.
Microform version available in the Readex Early American Imprints series.
Cited In: Evans 8048
Reproduction: Electronic text and image data. [Chester, Vt. : Readex, a division of Newsbank, Inc., 2002-2004. Includes files in TIFF, GIF and PDF formats with inclusion of keyword searchable text. (Early American imprints. Series I, Evans (1639-1800); no. 8048). Mode of access : World Wide Web.
Subjects: Second Advent. Resurrection.
Place: United States Massachusetts Boston.
Other authors/contributors: Prince, Thomas, 1687-1758
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