Individual Details
William Torrey
(21 December 1608 - 10 June 1690)
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 Brief Discourse Concerning 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 1757 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. (I have downloaded the 1757 copy of the treatise if any of you are just dying to see it.)
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.
William Torrey is the fifth great grandfather of William Howard Taft.
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 Brief Discourse Concerning 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 1757 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. (I have downloaded the 1757 copy of the treatise if any of you are just dying to see it.)
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.
William Torrey is the fifth great grandfather of William Howard Taft.
Events
| Birth | 21 December 1608 | Combe Saint Nicholas, Somersetshire, England | |||
| Marriage | Abt 1637 | Somersetshire, England - Elizabeth Fry |  | ||
| Immigration | 1640 | Weymouth, Massachusetts Bay | |||
| Death | 10 June 1690 | Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts Bay |
Families
| Spouse | Elizabeth Fry (1619 - 1690) |
| Child | Judith Torrey (1655 - 1693) |
| Child | Naomy Torrey (1641 - ) |
| Child | Mary Torrey (1642 - ) |
| Child | Micajah Torrey (1643 - ) |
| Child | Josiah Torrey (1650 - ) |
| Child | Angel Torrey (1657 - ) |
| Father | Philip Torrey (1580 - 1621) |
| Mother | Alice Richards (1580 - 1634) |