Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/163

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TORREY
TORREY

by Dr. Edwin James, while with the expedition that was sent out to the Rocky mountains under Maj. Stephen H. Long, were submitted to him. His report was the earliest treatise of its kind in this country that was arranged on the natural system. Dr. Torrey, in the mean time, had planned “A Flora of the Northern and Middle United States, or a Systematic Arrangement and Description of all the Plants heretofore discovered in the United States North of Virginia,” and in 1824 began its publication in parts, but it was soon suspended owing to the general adoption of the natural system of Jussieu in place of that of Linnæus. In 1836, on the organization of the geological survey of New York, he was appointed botanist, and required to prepare a flora of the state. His report, consisting of two quarto volumes, was issued in 1843, and no other state in the Union has yet produced a flora to compare with it. He began in 1838, with Asa Gray, “The Flora of North America,” which was issued in numbers irregularly until 1843, when they had completed the “Compositæ,” but new botanical material accumulated at such a rapid rate that it was deemed best to discontinue it. Subsequently Dr. Torrey published reports on the plants that were collected by John C. Frémont in the expedition to the Rocky mountains (1845); those gathered by Maj. William H. Emory on the reconnoissance from Fort Leavenworth, Mo., to San Diego, Cal. (1848); the specimens secured by Capt. Howard Stansbury on his expedition to the Great Salt Lake of Utah (1852); the plants collected by John C. Frémont in California (1853); those brought back from the Red river of Louisiana by Capt. Randolph B. Marcy (1853); and the botany of Capt. Lorenzo Sitgreaves's expedition to the Zuni and Colorado rivers (1854); also memoirs on the botany of the various expeditions for the purpose of determining the most practicable route for a Pacific railroad (1855-'60). He also reported on the “Botany of the Mexican Boundary Survey” (1859), that of the expedition upon the Colorado river of the West under Lieut. Joseph C. Ives (1861), and, in association with Asa Gray, the botanical collections of the Wilkes exploring expedition. The last was in his hands at the time of his death, its publication having been delayed by the civil war. The Torreya taxifolia, an ornamental shade-tree in the southern states, was named in his honor, and the Torreya Californica of California, the Torreya nucifera of Japan, .and the Torreya grandis of northern China, bear his name. The association of botanists that originally met at his residence were chartered as the Torrey botanical club, and he was its first president. Besides being the last surviving charter-member of the Lyceum of natural history, he held its vice-presidency for several years, and was president in 1824-'6 and 1838, holding the same office in the American association for the advancement of science in 1855, and he was one of the original members of the National academy of science, being named as such by act of congress in 1863. The degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Yale in 1823, and that of LL D. by Amherst in 1845. His bibliography is extensive, including contributions on botanical subjects to scientific periodicals and to the transactions of the societies of which he was a member. A sketch of his life by his pupil and life-long associate, Asa Gray, was contributed to the “Biographical Memoirs” of the National academy of sciences (Washington, 1877).


TORREY, Joseph, clergyman, b. in Rowley, Mass., 2 Feb., 1797 ; d. in Burlington, Vt., 26 Nov., 1867. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1816, and at Andover theological seminary in 1819, and was pastor of a Congregational church in Royal- ton, Vt., in 1824-7. He was professor of Greek and Latin in the University of Vermont in 1827-42, of intellectual and moral philosophy in 1842-'67, and its president in 1862-6. (See illustration below.) Harvard gave him the degree of D. D. in 1850. He is the author of a posthumous volume of lectures entitled " A Theory of Fine Art " (New York, 1874) ; edited " Remains of President James Marsh " (1843) and "Select Sermons of President Worthington Smith " (1861), to both of which he prefixed memoirs ; and translated Neander's " General History

of the Christian Religion and Church," which may be considered the principal work of his life (5 vols., Boston, 1854). — His daughter, Mary Cutler, author, b. in Burlington, Vt., 28 May, 1831, was educated in private schools and by her father. She is the author of " America," a dramatic poem (New York, 1863), and has edited Joseph Torrey's " Theory of Fine Art " and his revised edition of Nean- der's "Church History" (Boston, 1872), herself preparing the index volume (1881).


TORREY, Joseph William, rajah of Amboy and Mavoodu, Borneo, b. in Bath, Me., 22 April, 1828 ; d. near Boston, Mass., in March, 1884. He was educated in Roxbury, became a reporter on the Boston " Times," and was subsequently connected with Benjamin P. Shillaber in the publication of the " Carpet-Bag." He became a clerk in a com- mercial house in Melbourne, Australia, in 1853, and went to Hong Kong in 1857, where he was a partner in the firm of Montgomery, Parker and Co., and editor and manager of the " Hong Kong Times" and the "China Mail." He was subse- quently appointed vice-consul in Siam, and prac- tised law with success in that country. He founded the American trading company of Borneo in 1864. At that time the whole of Borneo was under the absolute sway of the sultan, but the Trading com- pany settled upon about 20,000 square miles in the provinces of Amboy and Mavoodu. In 1865, the sultan's power being threatened by the encroach- ment of foreign nations, he made an ally of the company by recognizing Mr. Torrey as rajah or governor of all the territory that it occupied, the company paying him a small yearly tribute. As chief executive of the provinces, Torrey exercised the rights of an absolute sovereign, with power of retaining his office for life and of naming his suc- cessor. He occupied that post for fourteen years, and then became secretary to the U. S. legation in Siam. He returned to this country in 1883, and a few weeks before his death was appointed by the king of Siam his chief adviser, but died before de- ciding whether to accept or decline that office.


TORREY, William, colonist, b. in Combe, St. Nicholas, Somersetshire, England, in 1590; d. in Wevmouth, Mass., about 1075. He was descended from an eminent English family, and carefully educated. He emigrated to this country in 1632