Baldwin County GaArchives History .....History of Baldwin County - Torrance Biography 1925
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 7, 2004, 7:42 pm

p. 454-457

TORRANCE

    Among the pioneer settlers of Baldwin County came Andrew Nickolas Torrance,
from South Carolina. He was a native of Scotland, emigrating to the Colony of
Virginia in 1766.

    It is said he was a man of liberal education.

    Soon after the Eevolution broke out, he entered the Continental Army, and
was appointed quartermaster, in which capacity he served until the close of the
war.

    A legend is handed down to his posterity that he saw part or all of his
eleven brothers give up their arms at York Town, Va., when Cornwallis
surrendered to General Washington at the close of the Revolution.

    After the war he moved to South Carolina and in 1789, married Miss Hester
Howard, sister to Maj. John Howard, of Milledgeville.

    In the spring of 1811, he moved with his family to Baldwin County, Ga., and
the 1st of July the following year, he departed this life. He reared seven
children, three boys, William Howard, Amelius, and Mansfield; and four girls,
Harriett, Clara, Maria, and Matilda.

    William and Mansfield became famous lawyers, the former serving in eastern
Georgia and the latter in the western part of the State.

    William was among the first to volunteer for the War of 1812, but was
prevented from going at first by the death of his father on the day his company
marched. In 1813 he volunteered for the Creek war, and served part of the time
as secretary to Gen. Floyd.

    In October, 1814, he again volunteered for the defense of Savannah. Soon
after his arrival, he received an appointment in the brigade-staff, the duties
of which, he performed to the entire satisfaction of Gen. Floyd until the close
of the war.

    He married a Miss Crawford, of Columbia County, and they both died in 1837,
leaving three children, one boy and two girls. They were taken in charge by
their maternal grandmother. Amelius followed the vocation of his father, that of
agriculture. He married Miss Mary Curry and they both died between 1850-60. To
them were born eight children, three boys and five girls, one boy and one girl
dying in early life.

    Eliza, the oldest married William Rice, and they reared to manhood and
womanhood two,boys, Augustus, and William, and four girls, Mary Eliza, Anola,
Helen, and Caroline. In this family there are now only two survivors: William
and Anolo, and the children and grand-children of Augustus, and William.

    Mary and Cordelia Torrence never married. They lived to old age but are now
gone. Caroline Torrance was married to Henry Stevens, the founder of Steven's
Pottery Works, in 1865. He had children by a former wife, but she never had any.

    William H. Torrance, the oldest boy married Miss Julia Lucky, of Columbus,
Ga. They were the parents of six children, one boy, who died in childhood, and
five daughters: Annie, Augusta, Emma, Eva, and Ludie. The parents and Ludie are
gone. The survivors are the four oldest girls together with their children and
grandchildren also Ludie's three children.

    Robert Bruce Torrance, the youngest of the children, was born July 15, 1834,
was married to Miss Martha Gibson, of Baldwin County, 1859.

    From this union came eleven children, three of whom died unnamed. Eight grew
to be men and women, five brothers and three sisters. The names are: William
Amelius, James Robert, Andrew Nicolas, Charles Richard, Thomas Augustus, Clara
Patience, Mary Eliza, and Sarah Carolina.

    The father died Jan. 6, 1900; the oldest daughter, Clara, died, 1910, Andrew
N. died in 1920; the mother, 1923.

    Six children, thirty grandchildren and some great-grandchildren still survive.

    This is a brief and scattering sketch of the Torrance family in Baldwin
County, but the older members of the family are all gone and I have no written
records in my possession, so it is the best I could do from memory. The first
part of this I obtained through the kindness of Mrs. J. L. Beeson, in lending me
a volume of the "Bench and Bar of Georgia." To her I owe many thanks. If this
poorly gotten up sketch is of any interest to any one at any time, I will feel
repaid for the effort.

            MARY E. TORRANCE.



Additional Comments:
From: 

Part V

HISTORY of BALDWIN COUNTY GEORGIA

BY MRS. ANNA MARIA GREEN COOK

ILLUSTRATED

ANDERSON. S. C.
Keys-Hearn Printing Co.
-1925—


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