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
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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.