Reverend Dr. Joseph Torrey

Rev. Joseph Torrey

Birth: 19 OCT 1707 in East Weymouth, MA

Death: 25 NOV 1791 in South Kingstown, RI

Father: Joseph Torrey b: ABT 1678, Warwick, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; d. April 22, 1723, Weymouth, Suffolk County, Province of Massachusetts

Mother: Elizabeth Symmes. b. 1685, Weymouth, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Marriage (1) 15 OCT 1730 in South Kingstown, RI

Wife: Elizabeth Wilson b: BEF 2 DEC 1711

Children:

• 1. Elizabeth 1st, b: 19 JUL 1731 in South Kingstown, RI, m. Edward Adams of Killingly, Conn.
• 2. Joseph JR., Col. b: 4 FEB 1732/33 in South Kingstown, RI, m. Hannah Fisk of Killingly, Conn., Dec 1757,; d. at Killingly, 19 Feb. 1804, age 72 yrs.
• 3. Oliver 1st, b: 14 FEB 1734/35 in South Kingstown, RI, prob. did not marry; d. at South Kingston, 11 May 1755, age 21 yrs
• 4. Ann, b: 13 MAY 1737 in South Kingstown, RI, m. Thomas Hawkins.
• 5. Samuel Holden, b: 1738 in South Kingstown, RI, m. Ann Gould of Branford, Conn., 3 April 1760; d. at Killingly, 1 Dec. 1786, age 48 yrs.
• 6. Mary, b: in South Kingstown, RI, m. her half-first cousin Capt. William Wilson Pollock
• 7. Lucy, b: 1745 South Kingstown, RI, m. Rev. John Fisk Osgood at Boston, 11 Oct. 1770.

Marriage (2) 24 MAY 1750 in Stoneham, MA

Spouse: Elizabeth Fiske, b. 1721; d. 15 Jul 1780, Tower Hill, South Kingston, R.I.

Children:

• John Fiske, b. abt. 1750, did not marry; d. at Killingly, Conn., 1 July 1816, ae. 66 yrs.
• Oliver 2nd, b. 24 March 1756, m. Tamer Davis, 13 Sept. 1784; d. at Killingly, 7 March 1843, age 87 yrs.
• William, b. 21 Jan. 1764, m. (1) Hannah Plank, d. 5 Aug. 1800; m. (2) Zilpha Davidson, d. 10 Jan. 1866; d. at Killingly, 25 Aug. 1847, age 84 yrs. 7 m. 4. d.
• Abigail, b. Bet 1754 and 1764, South Kingstown,Washington Co., Rhode Island; d. 18 Oct 1807, Washington County, Ohio, m. George Wilson, b. Nov 26, 1754, South Kingstown, R.I., d. after 1790
• Sarah, b. ______, m. David Wilson b: ABT 1762 in South Kingstown, R.I. , d. September 15, 1845, Ohio
• Elizabeth 2nd, b. 1766; d. 30 Nov 1808

"PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. -- A Presbyterian church was established on Tower Hill May 17th, 1732, and the Reverend Doctor Joseph Torrey was the first pastor. He labored there with untiring fidelity for sixty years. After his death, which occurred November 25th, 1791, the church neglected to repair the meeting house, which had become somewhat dilapidated, and it was finally sold at auction. Mr. James Wilson was born and lived in a house constructed from the materials of the old Presbyterian church. Reverend Thomas Kendall took up the pastorate in 1802, and continued to preach the gospel to the benighted sons and daughters of the village until 1818. Under his ministrations religious services were held alternately in the school house on Tower Hill and in the court house at Little Rest. Most of the graves in the burying ground have been plowed over. Robert Helme was buried there, clothed in a suit of black broadcloth with a gold watch in his pocket, which was wound up a short time before the funeral services, agreeably to his request.

The church at Tower Hill was gathered less than three months after the birth of General Washington, with Joseph Torrey for pastor, William Mumford, George Douglass, Mary Wilson and Alice Gardner, the original members. The following forty-six years show 124 baptisms, among whom were the Douglasses, Wilsons, Helmes, Nichols, Mumfords, Hazards, Coles, Armstrongs, Niles, Smiths, Hammonds, Holloways, Tisdales, Woodbridges, Pollocks and Browns, Doctor Torrey making for himself an exhibit of fourteen children and thirteen grandchildren on the roll of the consecrated; Oliver Hazard, the great-grandfather of Oliver Hazard Perry of Lake Erie fame, and his wife Elizabeth also. Of his numerous offspring six succeeded to the ministry. [p.554] This ancient church was really the same with the Congregational church at Kingston Hill. The house of worship was on Tower Hill. Its field was the Pettaquamscutt purchase. Its revenue originally was derived from a donation of three hundred acres of land made in 1668 by th first purchasers. Doctor Torrey married, October 15th, 1730, Elizabeth Wilson, and left five sons and five daughters.

Thomas Kendall became pastor in 1802, and continued till 1818. The court house, the jail and the law having migrated to Kingston Hill, it must be that the Gospel, with its alleviations, should follow.

Reverend Oliver Brown took up his pastorate in 1820, in which year the present Kingston church was built. In 1857 valued members residing in Peace Dale joined themselves to other pious souls, an the church in that place was organized."

History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island by J. R. Cole W.W.Preston & Co., New York, 1889

Burial: Congregational Churchyard, Tower Hill, South Kingstown, Washington County, Rhode Island

Sources:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dominicch...

http://awt.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1034016&i...

Sources: "The Descendants of Samuel Wilson of South Kingstown, R.I.", by Ken Stevens, New England Historical Genealogical Register, v.144, p.301: NEHGR: Rev. Dr. Joseph Torrey, born 19 Oct. 1707, East Weymouth, Mass.; died South Kingstown 25 Nov. 1791. Married Elizabeth Wilson 15 Oct. 1730.

R.I. Genealogical Register, Vol. 6, No. 1, page 87: RIGR: The Rev. Joseph Torrey.

Narragansett Historical Register, Volume 7, edited by James N. Arnold, p. 295 - 298

History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island, by J. R. Cole W.W.Preston & Co., New York, 1889

The ancestry and allied families of Nathan Blake 3rd and Susan (Torrey Blake) ... by Almira Torrey Blake Fenno Gendrot

A Modern History of Windham County, Connecticut: A Windham County ..., Volume 2, by Allen B. Lincoln

The Torrey Families And Their Children in America, Vol I, Frederic C. Torrey, Book, 1924.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26972094