JOHN CORNELIUS TORBETT

 

 

     John Cornelius Torbett, b 1840, d 1919 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin, Falls County, Texas- settled in Coryell County, Texas in 1873, and subsequently moved to Marlin, where so many of his children lived. He had served with the 11th Georgia Regiment of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War, was wounded twice, and captured at Gettysburg.

     John Cornelius Torbett married Mary Elizabeth McCauley, b 1846, d 1931 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin; and they were the parents of seven children:

     Sarah Ellen Torbett, b 1866, d 1955 - married John William Cook, M.D., b 1856, d 1924, and settled in Marlin in 1894.

     James Samuel Torbett, b 1868, d 1940 - was a singing teacher and composer of many Gospel songs. He married Eugenia Wicker and had four children: Eugene, Edwin, Anice, and Annez Torbett. He did not settle in Marlin, Texas.

     John Walter Torbett, M.D., b in 1871 in Gum Creek, Texas (near Jacksonville), d August 9,1949 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin - came to Marlin to join his brother-in-law, Dr. John William Cook, in the operation of Bethesda Bath House and Infir- mary. In 1908, Dr. Torbett established the Torbett Sanitorium - the forerunner of Torbett - Hutchings - Smith Memorial Hospital and Clinic. He married on December 26, 1900 to Nannie King, b 1870, d 1961 and buried in Calvary Cemetery, and they had John Walter Torbett, Jr., M.D., who married and had John Walter Torbett, III; Donald Park Torbett, and Karen (Torbett) Pike. Dr. Walter published several volumes of poetry, and his autobiography. He was Chairman of the Board of the First United Methodist Church (1905-1949), a founder and Board member of Southern Methodist University; and Chairman of the Board of the Methodist in Waco for twenty-eight years. He was a very prominent citizen of Falls County, and was one of the first to practice medicine which included use of hot mineral water and baths. None of his descendants now reside in Falls County, Texas.

     Oscar Lee Ashby Torbett, M.D., b 1875, d 1935 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin - came to Marlin 1902. As a pharmacist, he established the Majestic Pharmacy in 1906; and then received his medical degree in 1908. He married Emma Schneider, b 1894, d 1971 and buried in Calvary Cemetery; and they had two children: Oscar Lee Torbett, Jr., who married Virginia Ruth Hays, and had three sons, Oscar Lee Torbett, III, Jon Ashby Torbett, and Michael Glenn Torbett; and a daughter, Joy Audine Torbett who married Earl C. Cunningham, and had four daughters: Frances Lee (Cunningham) Hensley, Joy Darnelle (Cunningham) Morgan, Lynne Earle Cunningham, and Jocelyn Ann Cunningham.

     Franklin Monroe Torbett, b 1878, d 1961 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin - married Eula May Williams, b 1877, d 1966 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin. He came to Marlin in 1910, and he and his wife were employed near fifty years in the Torbett Hospital - he as Chief Engineer for the medical complex, and she as Laboratory Technician. Their son was Frank Thurston Torbett.

     Ada Council Torbett - came to Marlin in 1908 and taught school for several years. She married Will Arm- strong, and had five children: Torbett Armstrong, Stella Armstrong, Monroe Armstrong, Margaret Arm- strong, and Bert Armstrong.

     Bert McCauley Torbett, M.D., b 1883, d 1916 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin - came to Marlin in 1904. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Spanish-American War. After his arrival in Marlin, he joined the Bethesda Bath House staff, and later studied medicine - graduating from Vanderbilt Medical School, Cum Laude, in 1916. He married Allie Clemens Griffin, b 1884, d 1978 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin. Their daughter, Bertie May Torbett, married first to James Dennis Sullivan, and had a daughter, Suzanne Claire Sullivan who is the mother of John Michael Sullivan, Jr., Corbin Elizabeth Sullivan, and Suzanne Marie (Sullivan) Connolly. Bertie Mae subsequently married William Allis Hiles of Cleveland, Ohio, who died in 1982.

     A cousin of the Torbetts, Drusha Torbett, came to Marlin, where she taught Elementary Education in the Marlin Independent School District for thirty years, until her death in 1933.

     John Cornelius Torbett had reason to be proud of his "singing Methodist" children. He was a church song leader himself, for thirty years; and of the large number of his family who dedicated their lives to others in the medical field. He was the father-in-law to one doctor, father of three, grandfather of one, great uncle to one, and great, great uncle to one - all residents of Marlin, Falls County, Texas in their time. Howard Owen Smith, M.D., b 1898, d 1977 and buried in Calvary Cemetery, was a son of John Cornelius' nephew, and he served for over fifty years as one of Falls County's most distinguished physicians. Dr. Smith's son, Howard Lee Smith, M.D., was reared in Marlin, and continues the family tradition in his surgical practice in Marlin.

 

 

 

 

Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of these Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical Commission, page 457 column 1 and 2 and page 458 column 1.  
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.