Bio of TORRANCE, ELIAKIM (b.1844), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 4-8
ELL (ELIAKIM) TORRANCE
Ell Torrance, one of Minnesota's foremost citizens, has made his home in
Minneapolis for the past forty-two years. He is Scotch-Irish and descended from
patriotic stock. His great grandfather, Hugh Torrance, was a sergeant in the
English army at the Siege of Londonderry. His grandfather, Major Hugh Torrance,
served with distinction in the Revolutionary war, and his father, Rev. Adam
Torrance, was for eighteen months chaplain of the Eleventh Regiment Pennsylvania
Reserves. At the age of sixty-two years Chaplain Torrance followed the fortunes
of that famous fighting regiment, and at Gettysburg, mounted on his white horse,
accompanied the men into battle.
Ell Torrance was born May 16, 1844, in the village of New Alexandria,
West-moreland county, Pennsylvania, the seventh of ten children of Adam and
Eliza Graham Torrance.
The principal approach to the quaint village is by a wooden covered bridge
spanning the beautiful Loyalhanna Creek. This bridge, although more than one
hundred years old, is still in use.
For thirty years Judge Torrance's father was pastor of the New Alexandria
Presbyterian church, and for forty-two years his grandfather, the Rev. James
Graham, was pastor of Beulah Presbyterian church, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Judge Torrance has steadfastly adhered to the faith of his fathers, and now is,
and for the past forty years has been a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian
church of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is tolerant of those who differ with him in
religious faith, and maintains a broad and Catholic spirit on all subjects and
toward all classes of people. On one subject only is he inflexible, and that is
in demanding un­questioned loyalty to American institutions.
At the outbreak of the Civil war young Torrance was under military age, and was
attending Elders Ridge Academy, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, but with his
parents consent he offered his services to his country and was on June 26, 1861,
enrolled a member of Company A, Ninth Pennsylvania Reserves. This company was
known as the "Pittsburgh Rifles," and was composed of young men of unusually
fine type-more than forty of its members afterward receiving commissions in the
army. The company was armed with breach-loading Sharps Rifles, the gift of
Pittsburgh citizens. For al­most three years, the young soldier carried his
rifle, and with the rank and file did his full duty, participating in the
battles of Drainsville, and Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, Charles City Cross
Roads, Malvern Hill, Second Battle of Bull Run-where he was wounded in the right
hand-Gettysburg, Mine Run, and other lesser engage­ments. Of his eight
messmates, three were killed in battle, one died from the hardships of prison
life and three were wounded. On May 11, 1864, he with twelve other original
members of his company, was honorably discharged, and on July 19, 1864, he
reenlisted and was commissioned second lieutenant of Company K, One hundred and
ninety-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and October 15th of the same year
he was transferred to Captain William R. Jones Independent Company,
Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and was finally mustered out June
17, 1865, by reason of the close of the war.
He was the eldest of three brothers, all of whom served in the army, the
youngest entering the service at the age of sixteen years.
Eliza Graham Torrance, the mother of these soldier boys was a refined, beautiful
and heroic woman. At one period of the war the husband and sons were all in the
army at the same time. The eldest daughter was in South America, the wife of a
missionary, and the remaining daughter was with her sister. Five of the ten
children had died prior to the war, so this patriotic wife and mother was left
alone in the old home with no one to share her burdens, cares and anxieties.
Patiently and bravely she bore her trials, her faith unshaken in the
righteousness of the Union cause and when the war ended she had the joy of
welcoming home again an unbroken family.
At the close of the war Mr. Torrance entered upon the study of the law in the
office of White & Stagle (both of whom were afterward elevated to the Bench),
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to practice in the courts of
Pennsylvania in the fall of 1867.
September 22, 1868, he was married to Anna Mary Macfarlane, daughter of Isaiah
G. and Margaret Laird Macfarlane. Immediately thereafter Mr. and Mrs. Torrance
made their home in Brookfield, Linn county, Missouri, where all their children
were born, with the exception of Ell Torrance, Jr. For a time Mr. Tor­rance was
associated with Samuel P. Huston in the practice of law, and for four years he
served as probate judge of Linn county, and also as president of the county
court. He also held the office of city attorney of Brookfield.
In August, 1881, he removed with his family to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and at
once took prominent place as a lawyer, and for the past forty-two years has
practiced his profession with unabated vigor. For several years he was
associated with George H. Fletcher under the firm name of Torrance & Fletcher,
and later with John P. Rea and John M. Miller. For the past thirty-two years he
has practiced law alone with offices in the New York Life building, Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
In addition to his professional duties he has given generously of his time to
the public welfare and to the advancement of education. For eighteen years he
was a member of the State Normal School Board of Minnesota, and for fourteen
years its president. Every movement looking to the welfare of society has
received his earnest and cordial support. His work in connection with patriotic
societies, and especially with the Grand Army of the Republic, has been
recognized through­out the country. Among Grand Army men as well as
ex-Confederates, he is most favorably known and highly regarded.
He is a charter member of John A. Rawlins Post, No. 126, Department of
Minne­sota, G. A. R., and has been its commander; was twice judge advocate of
the De­partment of Minnesota; commander of the Department of Minnesota in 1895;
a member of the National Council of Administration, and has enjoyed the
exceptional distinction of having held the office of judge advocate general
under three former commanders-in-chief of the G. A. R. He was chosen
commander-in-chief of that organization at the thirty-sixth annual encampment
held at Cleveland, Ohio, Septem­ber 13, 1901.
He has also manifested a deep interest in "healing the nation's wounds," which
included the "wounds" suffered by the south as well as the north. September 1,
1902, Commander-in-Chief Torrance addressed what he termed a "Letter of
Good-Will" to the Grand Army of the Republic, calling attention to the need of
more cottages to shelter needy Confederate veterans in the Confederate home at
Mountain Creek, Alabama, suggesting to his comrades the propriety, as well as
the privilege, of their assisting in making the last days of their former foes
more comfortable. In concluding his letter, he said:
"I know of no surer or shorter way to a complete unification of this country in
purpose and feeling than the highway of kindness, and I believe its extreme
out­posts should be jointly held by the surviving soldiers of the armies of
Grant and Lee.
"There was a time when the nearer we came together the worse it was for all, but
now the closer we come together the better for all.
"The old order 'to kill' has given place to the gentler command 'to make alive,'
and for the bitter contest forever ended at Appomattox has been substituted a
per­petual contest of goodwill and patriotic devotion to a common country. I
believe it is within the power of the surviving soldiers of the great war to
make fraternity a national anthem, loyalty a national creed and charity a
national virtue.
"My comrades, as we grow older our hearts become more gentle and tender and next
to the comrade who stood by our side is the brave soldier who faced us."
In response to this letter over three thousand dollars was contributed, with
which an attractive cottage was erected called, "The Blue and the Gray." For
many successive years generous sums of money were sent to the Mountain Creek
home for the purpose of making a "Merry Christmas" for the one hundred and more
veterans who occupied the Home. As an evidence of the friendly and cordial
feeling entertained for General Torrance by the Confederate veterans, it is
worthy of mention that he was the honored guest of the United Confederate
Veterans and allied associations at the twenty-seventh annual convention held in
Washington, D. C., in June, 1917. At that convention he was invited to deliver
an address at the memorial services held at Arlington Cemetery in commemoration
of the two hundred and sixty-seven Confederate soldiers who are buried there.
The exercises were most impressive and without precedent. In concluding his
address General Torrance said:
"If it were in my power I would put the vigor ,of youth in the old and bowed
frames of you, my Confederate friends. I would strew your pathway with flowers
and fill your hearts with happiness, and if my dust should finally rest in this
beautiful and sacred Arlington, I would be content if on my tomb are inscribed
these simple words, 'Here lies the body of a Union soldier who was a friend of
the Confederate.' "
Judge Torrance has the distinction of having had command of the guard of honor
that cared for the body of Abraham Lincoln as it lay in state in the Exchange
build­ing, Baltimore, Maryland. As commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the
Re­public, he led the escort that conveyed the body of William McKinley from the
White House to the national capitol, and accompanied the body on the official
train with President Roosevelt and his cabinet, to Canton, Ohio, where he
commanded the first division, composed of Grand Army men in the final funeral
obsequies.
In 1908 Judge Torrance was commander of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion
in the state of Minnesota. He is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars in
Minnesota, and was governor of that Society for two terms. He is also a member
of the Minnesota Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and has been
its president. He is a life member of the Society of the Army of the Potomac;
was a member of the Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy at
West Point in 1902-the centennial of the founding of the Academy; trustee of the
McKin­ley National Memorial Association; was a delegate to the National
Republican con­vention in St. Louis that nominated William McKinley for
President; was chairman of the National committee of the G. A. R. on the joint
celebration by the surviving Union and Confederate veterans of the fiftieth
anniversary of the battle of Gettys­burg; also chairman of the committees
appointed by the National organization of the G. A. R. to suitably commemorate
the respective centennials of the birth of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant,
also chairman of the Minnesota State War Memorial Commission.
The writer of this sketch has said that on one subject only Judge Torrance was
inflexible, and that is "in demanding unquestioned loyalty to American
institutions." His own record is one of the highest patriotism. And that
patriotism was not only manifested years ago in fighting for the Union and later
in perpetuating the prin­ciples and influence of that union through the Grand
Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion, but no citizen of Minneapolis did
more than he by word and deed in the great World war to uphold the government
and to inspire its soldiers. At a great meeting in the auditorium about the time
the United States went in, he said: "It is the solemn duty of each one of us to
give our instant, cordial, patriotic and individual support to the President of
the United States in the action he has taken by virtue of his constitutional
authority and his oath of office, to protect the lives of our people and the
nation's honor." Later, he declared: "The war came to us, we did not seek it;
but one thing is certain, we are in the war and can tolerate no dis­loyalty." At
the great gathering, on the Parade, when the boys started for the trenches,
Judge Torrance addressed them: "With malice towards none and with charity for
all, you will take up the mighty task assigned to you, and you will not lay it
down till the divine right of kings to rule shall give place to the divine right
of the people to rule." On the same spot, he welcomed the survivors home. When
the American Legion was formed, it was Judge Torrance who gave them the official
greeting: "As the remnant of the rear guard of the old Grand Army of the
Republic is now crossing the final fording place, it turns to the new Grand Army
of the Re­public and salutes it in fraternity, charity and loyalty. Our work is
well-nigh done and we welcome you gentlemen of the American Legion to the great
duties and responsibilities that lie before you." When the Victory Drive was
opened, with its memorial trees for those who did not come back, Judge Torrance
spoke the words of dedication. No one has given more freely of his time and
thought, and always without pecuniary compensation, to the public service than
he; no one has more frequently been the spokesman of the city on great and
important occasions, patriotic, political and civic; no one has exemplified more
completely than he, the virtues which make an American citizen. With
undiminished vigor and purpose, he faces the future, ready as in the past for
every form of noble service. Clear and direct in his mental processes, strong
and simple in his utterance, deeply religious in his nature, devoted to his
family, faithful to the friends whom his kindly personality has won, Judge
Torrance has won "golden opinions from all sorts of people/' and his influence
is proof
"....... 'gainst tooth of time
And razure of oblivion."
For the past thirty-five years Judge Torrance has given a great deal of time and
incurred much expense in collecting a military library relating to the Civil
war, and is the possessor of one of the most complete libraries on that subject
that can be found in the country.
In 1922 Mr. and Mrs. Torrance celebrated their fifty-fourth wedding anniversary
by visiting the Glacier and Mt. Ranier National Parks, including a trip of two
thousand five hundred miles in Alaska. Of this happy marriage six children were
born, four of whom survive, with twelve grandchildren and two
great-grandchildren.
Of the surviving children Alice Torrance Fiske and Ell Torrance, Jr., reside in
Minneapolis; Graham Macfarlane Torrance, an attorney, and for many years
prose­cuting attorney of Baltrami county, resides at Bemidji, Minnesota; and
Hester Tor­rance Stuart, widow of Harry Harlan Stuart, lives in Seattle,
Washington.
The grandchildren are: Torrance Fiske, major in the World war, and Lois Fiske
Peppard, children of Douglas A. and Alice Torrance Fiske. Dorothy Torrance
McMillan, wife of Archabald Noble McMillan, only child of Graham Macfarlane and
Cora Webster Torrance.
Alice, Charlotte and Margaret Torrance, children of Charles Murtaugh and Bertha
Regnier Torrance, who reside with their widowed mother at Heidelberg, Germany.
Patricia, Margaret and Harry Harlan Stuart, Jr., who live with their widowed
mother in Seattle, Washington. Margaret, Anna Mary and Ell Torrance, the 3rd,
children of Ell. Jr., and Mar­garet Gillies Torrance.
The three generations of "Ell's" were each baptized Eliakim, and significant as
the name is, and much as the subject of this sketch would like to use his full
Christian name, he has never received any encouragement from either children or
grandchildren to do so.
Judge Torrance has one sister living-Martha Torrance Wallace, widow of Rev. T.
F. Wallace for fifty years a missionary in Mexico and South America; also one
brother-Elisha Swift Torrance, for many years judge of the superior court, San
Diego, California. Three great-grandchildren have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Torrance, two of whom are living, Lois (Polly) Fiske Peppard and Alice Torrance
Peppard.
A grandson, Douglas Harlan Stuart, and a great-grandson, Torrance Fiske, Jr.,
have passed on, with Claribel Eustis Fiske, the sainted mother of the child.