Davidson County TN Archives Biographies.....Torrey, John D. 1870 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com November 13, 2005, 8:46 pm

Author: Will T. Hale

   JOHN D. TORREY. The progressive and efficient incumbent of the responsible

office of manager of the business of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company,

his territory comprising Tennessee, Mr. Torrey is known as one of the

successfully and essentially representative life-insurance men of the South, and

in his chosen profession he has won advancement and distinctive prestige through

his own ability and well ordered endeavors. He maintains his residence and

executive headquarters in the city of Nashville and is here held in high esteem

in both business and social circles, the while he is deeply appreciative of the

manifold advantages and attractions of his adopted city.



   Mr. Torrey claims the fine old Wolverine State as the place of his nativity

and is a representative of one of the sterling families of that commonwealth. He

is descended from William Torrey of Combe St. Nicholas in the county of

Somerset, England, of the year 1557, and from whom President Taft is also

descended. He was born on a farm near the village of Armada, Macomb county,

Michigan, on the 18th of August, 1870, and is a son of Ezra P. and Louisa

(Eaton) Torrey, the former of whom was born at Richfield, New York, and the

latter at Olmstead, Ohio, the lineage of both being traced back to stanch

English origin. Virtually the entire active career of the father was one of

close identification with the great basic industry of agriculture, and in this

connection he won for himself independence and definite prosperity. The father

died March 3,1907, and the mother died July 26,1907, in Armada, Michigan. He

whose name initiates this review gained his early experience under the

conditions and influences of the old homestead farm and soon found fellowship

with practical and productive industry. In the meanwhile he attended the local

schools, and after completing the curriculum of the high school he went to the

city of Cleveland, Ohio, where he took a commercial course in the Spencerian

Business College. For one year thereafter he held the position of streetcar

conductor in that city, on the lines controlled by the late Hon. Marcus Hanna.

who formed the acquaintance of his young employe and encouraged him to seek a

broader and more promising field of endeavor. While thus identified with the

street-railway service Mr. Torrey employed his leisure time in learning the art

of photography, and with this line of enterprise he was identified for two years

in the Ohio metropolis and one year at Montgomery, Alabama. In 1895 he located

at Anderson, Indiana, and engaged in the life-insurance business. Here he found

a vocation that aroused his ambition and enthusiasm and that proved the means by

which he has attained to marked success. He entered earnestly into the work and

his ability and application brought forth large and tangible results, so that

his consecutive advancement was assured. For ten years Mr. Torrey held the

position of special agent for the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company, with

headquarters in the city of Mobile, Alabama, and so excellent was his record in

this connection that in 1909 he was promoted to the responsible executive office

of manager of the company's business in Tennessee, with official headquarters in

Nashville. He has greatly expanded the business of his company in his territory

and has shown marked discrimination in the selection of subordinate

representatives of ability and sterling character,—agents who have earnestly and

effectively co-operated with him in his work.



   In polities Mr. Torrey is aligned as a supporter of the cause of the

Republican party, and in 1911 he had the distinction of being appointed

aide-de-camp on the military staff of Governor Hooper, of Tennessee, with the

rank of colonel, and reappointed in 1913. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity

he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite,

besides being affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the

Mystic Shrine. He is an active and valued member of the Nashville Board of

Trade, and is identified with the Business Men's Association and the Hermitage

Club of his home city. He is a member in the Baptist church, while Mrs. Torrey

is a member of the Methodist church.



   The year 1893 recorded the marriage of Mr. Torrey to Miss Elizabeth Mills, of

Montgomery, Alabama, and she was summoned to eternal rest in 1910, leaving no

children. In 1911 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Torrey to Miss Anita F.

Osuna, of Saltillo, Mexico, a woman of most gracious personality and one who is

a popular factor in the social activities of Nashville. The one child of this

union is a winsome little daughter,—Anita Thurza.



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