This page is a stab at trying to list the forefathers of the known lines. This is, of course, an impossible task! Certainly several lines are well documented back to one source ancestor in Ireland or Scotland. Where these lines are well documented I will try to list them here.
Also very relevant to such a list are immigrant ancestors. Many of the American lines trace with a good deal of certainty back to one immigrant forefather and I am trying to list all of these.
Lines in most other countries trace back to their Scottish/Irish ancestors but where such a connection has not been established these immigrant forefathers are worthy of inclusion here.
Clearly such a list is no small task and it is one with which I would gladly accept help, so if you have anything useful to add to this page, please contact me!
Many GEDCOM data files are available on the various branches of the family - some are available as trees on this site, some are linked to below, others please contact me.
Most of the GEDCOM files on this site have been transcribed from data in the two books:
Mayoughill is in Bann Valley, Ulster. This is my own line so a full tree of the descendants of Hugh and Eleanor Torrens and of Mayoughill is on site. The data was initially compiled by my father and it is also listed in RMT's book. It has since been expanded considerably.
The tree has copious notes which may be turned off/on as you wish.
Jean is known (from the three letters) to be the daughter of Hugh Torrens (Mayoughill) but John's father is as yet unknown. We have been doing a lot of work on this line which is written up on The Torrens families of Culnamen. There is also a full tree of the descendants of John and Jean Torrens on site.
The descendants include lines in:-
This line has been well documented by Don Chambers and a full tree of the decendants of Hugh and Magaret Torrens of Drumsara is on site. Hugh is No. 41 in Cooleman in the 1821 census for Parish of Desertoghill (Bann Valley). Drumsara is a farm between Cooleman and Kilrea. The main tree consists of the descendants of Hugh's son Robert (c. 1822-30 Dec 1902) and his son Hugh Thomas Torrens who emigrated to New Zealand in 1875.
Probably the best listed line of the name and certainly the most famous.Thomas Torrence of Dungiven (Londonderry) Listed in RMT and includes lines in
Several members of this line are keeping genealogical records. The line mainly (exclusively?) American and is unusual in America for the spelling -ens. It if however well documented and a huge GEDCOM file is available. Contact is Robert C Torrens.
This was once on David Torrens' www site where he listed this branch of the family, including much documentation. The site has disappeared.
Shelley Prelusky's ancestor. She says 'married Mar. 8, 1798 in Channelkirk, Berwick to Margaret Bertram b. abt 1778. Most of their kids were bapt. in Borthwick. Others were in Stow, Crichton and Cranston, Midlothian. Descendants in Canada.'
There has been much crossing from USA into Canada and back so many of the lines are interlinked. However the Scottish lines of Henry Torrance (Borthwick, Midlothian) [b. abt 1778] and Thomas Torrance (Larkhall, Lanarkshire) [c. 1750] both have strong Canadian contents.
RMT (p 125) lists him as a son of James Torrance of Clogher, Tyrone. See Cedar Grove for information on this line.
Hugh Torrens of Gaston County, USA. as listed in RMT.
A note written by Doris Torrance Coleman says ”He was born in Curdsville, Daviess County Kentucky in 1846 or 1851. At the present time I do not know who his parents, siblings or grandparents are.
James married Louisa Isabel (Lou Belle) Hoskins, and she was born in 1855 in Daviess County. They had one child, my grandfather Joseph Alvin Torrance, also born in Daviess County, in 1870. He married Margaret (Maggie & Margaret were her nicknames, and she used them almost as often as her given name. They had eight children, one of which was my father Frank Thomas, born in Georgetown, Texas in 1903.•
Robert's father is known to be Hugh Torrens (Mayoughill). Robert's lineage is discussed and listed in Jared Sidney Torrance's 'The Descendants of Lewis Hart and Anne Elliott' and is well documented.
Few facts are certain about this Alexander but he was first mentioned around 1713 in Massachusetts. It is not clear whether he was born there of was an immigrant. He married Mary Cannon on Sept. 26, 1738 in Dartmouth, MA and we do not have the date of his death. His son was William Torrance who begat Jeduthan Torrance who begat William Sinclair Torrance (all of MA) who was the first to migrate west via the Oregon Trail in 1846.
Since records are so inexact, it seems possible that he was not born in America but is a first generation immigrant, if so possibly the self-same Alexander (brother to David) who were mentioned in the 1748 will of Archibald Torrence of Carnroe, parish of Aghadowey, Co. Londonderry as being' abroad'. This Alex is the only known Irish Alexander to have emigrated. The other possibility is that the line came direct from Scotland and not via Ireland.
Information on this line has been compiled by Danna Torrance Mongoven and her husband who is a professional genealogist. His ancestry.com name is janealogy50. He can supply information on this line.
There is much work to do on the Australians: those who have contacted us seem to have very small documented families which do not connect.
The line of Thomas Torrens of Dungiven has many connections with Australia - but it is not known how many descend from this line.
The main New Zealand line is descended from the Bann Valley group and is well documented back to Hugh Torrens of Drumsara c (1822-30 Dec 1902). He is descended from John and Jean of Culnamen.
Little is known about how the Spanish lines connect: it could be a separate origin or the lines could have originated with an itinerant Scottish soldier.
Supporting this second theory is Robert Torrens, born in Spain in June 1833; resident in Carrigaline, County Cork, Ireland, in 1847; seaman who settled in Birkenhead and died there in 1903. Contact Bill Torrens, who is a descendant, with/for information.
In all probability most of these descend from the Spanish/Basque families,though I have seen no documentary records. Much work remains to be done therefore and it would be interesting to trace this line back as far as possible!