Henry Norton Torrey
American physician (1880–1945)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Norton Torrey (October 7, 1880 – December 29, 1945) was an American physician. He was eminent in Detroit, Michigan.
Henry Norton Torrey | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 7, 1880 Creston, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | December 29, 1945 (aged 65) Grosse Point, Michigan, U.S. |
Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan Johns Hopkins University |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Spouse | Nell Ford (m. 1909–1945; his death) |
Life and career
Torrey was born in 1880 in Creston, Iowa, to Dr. Bartlett Norton Torrey and Flora Reed.[1] He studied at Knox College at the University of Michigan[1] and Johns Hopkins University.[2]
In 1906, he moved Detroit to practice medicine.[1] Three years later, he married Eleanor (Nell) Blanche Ford, daughter of John B. Ford,[1] with whom he had two children: William (Ford) in 1911 and Eleanor two years later.[3]
During World War I, he served as a Major in the United States Army Medical Corps. He then became a surgeon and administrator at Detroit's Harper Hospital.[1]
In 1915, Torrey purchased Greenwich Place in Thunderbolt, Georgia, from Spencer Shotter. The family wintered there over the next six years.[4] At the time of the Torreys' purchase of Greenwich Place, it had "an elaborately furnished main house, a six-car garage, a laundry building, a superintendent's office and cottage, a gate lodge, a chauffeur's cottage, other servants' quarters, an artificial pond, and formal gardens."[5] It also contained "a ballroom, library, billiards room, reception room, drawing room, music room, butler's pantry, refrigeration pantry, twelve master bedrooms and ten baths."[6] Outside there were stables (which are still visible), a dairy farm, a 200-foot-long greenhouse (at the western edge of the mansion), a bath and pool house, and a yacht dock.[6] It was said to have rivaled the Vanderbilts' Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, as the most opulent in the South.[7] The house and grounds were used in several silent films, including Mice and Men (1916) and Stolen Moments (1920). The estate was destroyed in a fire on January 27, 1923.[4] A ten-year-old Eleanor jumped from the second floor to escape, and Dr. Torrey had to rescue his grandmother, Mrs. M. T. Garrison.[5][8] Instead of rebuilding, the family moved to Ossabaw Island,[4][9] where they built a house between 1924 and 1926,[10][11] taking with them the two large iron gates from Greenwich Place.[12][13]
In 1926, Torrey wrote The Story of Ossabaw.[14]
Death
Torrey died in 1945, aged 65.[2] He was interred in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery. His widow survived him by thirteen years and was buried beside Torrey.