Torrey Family, Papers, 1863-1913 (C4036)

.3 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

The papers of H.R. Torrey and his second wife, Martha Hard Torrey, include bills and receipts, correspondence, postcards, photographs, and cemetery records. The collection also contains material from other family members, including Martha Torrey’s brother, William H. Hard.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Torrey Family Papers were donated to the State Historical Society of Missouri by Nancy Farmer, Office of the Missouri State Treasurer – Division of Unclaimed Property on 10 April 2003 (Accession No. 5981).

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Hamilton R. Torrey, the son of Henry Jackson Torrey and Julia Webster of central New York, was born on October 4, 1829. H.R. Torrey pursued a career in the railroad industry, working in a variety of capacities at several different railroads over the years. In 1854, he married Eliza Ann Hadlock in Elgin, Illinois. They had three children: Henry, Charles, and Irene. Irene married Horatio F. Turner. Eliza Torrey died on May 11, 1874.

On December 21, 1875, H.R. Torrey married Martha E. Hard in Coldwater, Michigan. The family settled in St. Joseph, Missouri, and they had two daughters, Zelia H. and Ethel Max. Both H.R. and Martha Torrey were heavily involved in the Order of the Eastern Star. H.R. Torrey died on October 9, 1899. Zelia H. Torrey married Jonathan J. Fuqua and they had two daughters, Martha Luella and Zelia Virginia. Ethel Max Torrey married John William Moore and they had two children, Elizabeth and John.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Torrey Family Papers, which were recovered from a safety deposit box, consist mainly of H.R. and Martha Torrey’s personal papers, including bills and receipts, photographs, and cemetery records. Much of the correspondence dates from 1910 to 1911 and mainly concerns the health of Martha Torrey’s brother, William H. Hard. The railroad and steamboat tickets in the collection belonged to him.

The miscellaneous ephemera includes an address book which belonged to Clarence D. Ussher, author of An American Physician in Turkey, and one of the main eyewitnesses to the Armenian Genocide during World War I. While his relationship to the Torrey family is unclear, at some point he mailed the address book to Martha Torrey, apparently for safe keeping.

FOLDER LIST

f. 1-2	Bills and receipts, 1892-1913, n.d.
f. 3	Cancelled checks and registers, 1881-1913
f. 4	Cemetery records, Aurora, Illinois, 1863-1913, n.d.
f. 5-7	Correspondence, 1896-1913, n.d.
f. 8	Order of the Eastern Star, 1897-1913
f. 9	Photographs, c. 1890s-1910s
f. 10	Postcards, 1899-1911, n.d.
f. 11	Railroad and steamboat tickets, 1880-1895, n.d.
f. 12	Miscellaneous ephemera, 1888-1913, n.d.

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff

Accounts--Household	f. 1, 2
Accounts--Plumbing	f. 1, 2
Allen, R.W.	f. 1, 2
Cemeteries--Illinois, Aurora County	f. 4
Denham, Claude	f. 6, 7
Denham, Cora Van Orthwick	f. 6, 7
E. Hildebrandt Wall Paper and Decorations, St. Joseph, Missouri	f. 1, 2
Feeney & Downey Plumbing and Gas Fitting, St. Joseph, Missouri	f. 1, 2
Fuqua family	f. 5, 12
Greeting cards--Showers (Parties), 1910	f. 6
Hard, William H.	f. 1, 5-7, 10, 11
Influenza--Michigan, Quincy, 1911	f. 7
M.W. Jackson Plumbing Co., St. Joseph, Missouri	f. 1
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota	f. 6
Morphine abuse, 1910s	f. 7
Order of the Eastern Star	f. 8
Parrish-Erickson Hardware Co., St. Joseph, Missouri	f. 1
Postcards--Easter	f. 10
Railroads--Tickets, 1880s-1890s	f. 11
Steamboats--Tickets, 1880s-1890s	f. 11
Torrey family	f. 1-8, 12
Torrey family	f. 9 (pictorial image)
Torrey, Hamilton R. (1829-1899)	f. 1, 3-5, 8, 12
Torrey, Martha E. Hard (1850- )	f. 1-8
Ussher, Clarence D. (1870-1948)	f. 12