Began: 2 Nov 2023

About the Project

This is the Torrey Name Study which concerns the descendants of the Torreys that were historically sheep ranchers from the civil parish, Combe St. Nicholas in the District of South Somerset. We begin with four brothers who emigrated to Weymouth MA in 1640. Our family is related biologically and geographically from the invasion of William the Conqueror of 1066 to Somerset in the Early Modern Period. We will follow Torrey DNA and Torreys as animal husbandmen's involvement in England's substantial textile industry.

Please Join Us

If your ancestor descends from Torreys that first landed in Weymount Massachusetts, please become a collaborator and add your branch!

• Follow the Project
• Open a New Discussion for your most recent descendant
• Upload the links of the profiles included in the thread from your present descendant to the Torrey from Somerset. (See Robert Torrey for example.)

We invite you to include the biographies from the variety of family branches descending from Capt. William Torrey, Lieut. James Torrey, Phillip Torrey, and Joseph Torrey that emigrated together after the death of their parents.

In the course of my personal research into my husband's family, I was surprised to find my own connections through the Torrey's wives and mothers! Hopefully other genealogists will be motivated to go beyond the profile identification and research stage to compile their own fully sourced, single-family histories of the families they discover.

Define Perimeters: R-M269-Y-DNA/32777

https://www.geni.com/projects/R-M269-Y-DNA/32777

Through YDNA and sources, we are distinguishing Capt William Torrey m. Elizabeth Frey from his family members who accompanied him from Somerset to Weymouth.

British Colonial America

Capt. William Torrey accompanied by his 3 brothers, Lieut. James Torrey, Phillip Torrey, Joseph Torrey his 3d wife Elizabeth Torrey, her brother George Frye and finally Rev. Samuel Torrey and William Torrey - 2 sons from Jane Torrey (Haviland) left Somerset Combe St. Nicholas to step off the passenger ship Sampson in Weymouth Massachusetts 1640.

RESEARCH

==Related Surnames and Surname Variants

BRITISH: Torrey, Torry, Thori, Tori, Turi, Thuri, Thure SCOTTISH: Torie, Torrie

Define Terms

• Husbandman: Our first challenge was resolving the term "husbandman" in antique 500 years old wills. "Husbandman" was a common definition used and is still commonly understood to mean a tenant farmer. For the Torreys, however it wasn't land, crops and lots of money that was meted out to beneficiaries but sheep for at least 3 generations. Somerset is Generally speaking, a husbandman of sheep; in terms of Somerset Levels the term husband were animal farmers or what we would now call ranchers.

Who were these Torreys and what happened to them after they settled outside of Combe St. Nicholas? for clearly as far as Phillip Torrey's family who left Somerset was concerned, they acquired wealth, reputation once they stepped off the passenger boat in Massachusetts.

• Gentleman: Another clue for the British branch was that well connected American descendants identified their Ancestor Capt William Torrey as a "Gentlemen." Gentlemen is a term used for a specific British Class. This is important to resolve confusion today. When Capt. Torrey's father, Phillip defined himself as a "husbandmen" in his Will. In order to correctly understand this family's role both individually and generally speaking regarding his place in England accurately, it becomes important to separate the term as used by tenant farmers who rented land from wealthy landowners from families that had been harvesting raw wool for generations as was done in the British County, Somerset to become part of a great financial backbone of England through generations of raw wool grown ever since William the Conqueror.
• Class Delineations: A class was inherited from the time of the Norman invasion. According to The Ancestry and Allied Families of Nathan Blake 3d and Susan (Torrey) Blake [1] "Torrey is a Baronial Norman name, and the English families of the name are descended from the De-Tury, Turi or Turri family of Normandy; Henry and Richard De-Tury were in Normandy in 1180-95; Barony and Castle of Tury in Normandy; Jordan and Simon Turri in England 1187 "God is a most strong Tower" [2] Norman People and their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States of America [3] [4]
• Names: Names and allied families defined your Profession and its parameters. Oxford Dictionary Family Names.

From the 1500s onwards, Somerset had an expanding woolen cloth industry. Farmers grew wool, supplied it to local clothmakers, who then sold their cloth to Bristol merchants to be shipped from the Port of Bristol.

Like many before him, Phillip Torrey self-identified in a will as a husbandman may seem strong evidence for being a tenant farmer, there is a plethora of clues to give us a clearer picture that identifies Capt. William Torrey as an animal husbandman, a sheep breeder & rancher not a tenant farmer. We believe that upon looking at all the evidence will give proof to clarify that the Torreys whose family's home was Somerset for centuries were a cog in the textile industry who left for Massachusetts in 1640 at the behest of King Charles to bring the textile industry to the Kings new colony in Massachusetts. These identifying clues better reveal how there were colonial families who brought resources from home to establish trade between Great Britain and the budding colony. Also important is objectively interpreting facts, both through science and sourcing from the standpoint of an academic rather than a descendant protecting their heritage whether or not that heritage is imagined.

According to Susan Torrey Blake, this branch of that family arrived in England at least in the wake of William the Conqueror. Some were still in Normandy in 1195. Apparently, then Torreys came from Norman lines both from Scandinavia and Southern Italy, as well as some from Scotland so it is possible for this study to expand at which point we can easily overhaul our directions. We are focusing primarily on the Torreys who emigrated to Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1640.

LINEAGE

Combe St. Nicholas England

torrey experts point to the immigration of Capt William Torrey and his brothers landing in Weymouth as the gateway ancestor from Europe. To make sense of this colonial family, we needed to follow the relationships beyond William.

William's profile shows us 3 marriages. His first 2 wives died before 1640. The second wife was Jane Haviland, granddaughter to the extremely wealthy Matthew Haviland, textile magnate and its on her profile that many projects attach. But I could not understand how a family this formidable would mix their DNA with the Torreys who seemed to be tenant farmers. This would important if we're exploring whether digging deeper into Torrey would be useful.
If we use William's mother, Alice Richards relationship with William the Conqueror, we find a 4th generation relationship with the Conqueror through the marriage between the sister of Agnes Littleton and the Conqueror's descendant John Aston [5]
Our contention was that such unions create well guarded pedigrees. If we did more than a cursory look at Alice, there is a high probability we would find strong Norman connections. But all we're trying to do at this point is see if there's reason to believe the Torreys were not tenant farmers, but prosperous businessmen. If the Havilands and even later, the Batts in the colonies married a Torrey, it was probably because Torrey had something significant to add to a dynasty which British nobility loved to build.

• Phillip Torrey: Phillip Torrey b. abt 1580 m. Alice Torrey (Richards)
• Phillip Torrey: [https://www.geni.com/path/Phillip-Torrey+is+related+to+William-the-Conqueror-king-of-England?from=6000000003397199031&path_type=blood&to=5597380726000028489''' William the Conqueror is Phillip's

Ancestor of Botanist John Torrey

9) Louisa (Torrey) Taft m. Alphonso Taft