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Where did Torberts originate?

Where did Torberts originate?

Linda (View posts)
Posted: 3 Jan 2001 11:36AM GMT
I am an Arkansas Torbert by birth but know very little about the family history. My husband and I are planning a sabbatical trip to Ireland and I am wondering if there are any Torberts still in Ireland, England or Scotland. Any information would be appreciated.

Torbert origins

Eugene Torbert (View posts)
Posted: 3 Jan 2001 3:24PM GMT
Dear Linda,

I'm descended from Samuel Torbert and Elizabeth Lamb
who came to Newtown, Pennsylvania in 1726
from Carrickfergus, Ireland (now North Ireland).

You can read about their family history in
History of Bucks County Pennsylvania, by William W.H. Davis
2d edition. Vol.III. New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1905.
Another book with quite a few details is A Genealogical
History of the Rubel, White, Rockfellow, McNair and Allied Families.
Edited by Mrs. John Bennett Boddie. Baltimore:Gateway Press, 1977.
They were Ulster Scots at that time and strong Presbyterians.
Ulster was one of the names for the English/Scottish colony which was settled in Northern Ireland.
I do not know where they came from in Scotland. Don't know where they actually lived in or near
Carrickfergus. From histories of the time I discovered that the Scots who
came to the Ulster plantations in the 1600's were lowlanders from Counties of
Ayr, Renfrew, Wigton, and Lanark.
50% of the colonists of Ulster came from England. There is a possibility
that some of the Torberts came from there.
It was considered an English name, at least from 1080A.D. when it appears in
King William's Domesday Book, which was a census of all his kingdom.
At that time there were Torberts in several counties in the South of
England. They may have come from Normandy, or some may have been in England before 1066.
I used to do a lot of name research.
I believe Torbert is a modernization (Christianization?)
of Thorbjiorn, which was suggested to me by a Danish name researcher.
The progression was something like Thorbjiorn to Torbjorn to Torbern to Torbert.
Torbjorn was a common Scandinavian name in the 700's, 800's, 900's.
Some researchers say it means Thor's children. Others say it means Thor's Bears(i.e.warriors).
It is significant that we have always pronounced the name with the stress on
the first syllable and not the second, as they do in France.
You can find the name in the Icelandic Sagas.

English etymologists say the name is a hybrid developed on the Continent, from something like Thorbrecht,
meaning 'bightness of Thor.'

If you go there you might want to start with Carrickfergus, then the
Scottish Lowlands, and possibly Lancastershire, England, another reputed home of some Torberts.
Sincerely,

Eugene C. Torbert

Thorbrecht

Eugene Torbert (View posts)
Posted: 18 Jan 2001 5:24PM GMT
Addendum:

Thorbrecht or variations of it supposedly meant
"brightness of Thor."
I left out an "r" in the previous e-mail.

E. Torbert

Re: Thorbrecht

Posted: 23 Feb 2002 11:19PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 24 Feb 2002 12:01AM GMT
i enjoyed reading the history of the Torbert derivation. I, too, am descended from Samuel Torbert and elizabeth Lamb.
George torbert

Re: Torbert origins

Lisa (View posts)
Posted: 29 Jan 2004 10:24PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Torbert
HI....I am hoping you may be able to help...I have hit sooo many brick walls on this line of my tree.....I am researching the family member by the name of Jennie Torbert. She was placed in an orphanage in Pennsylvania, the Womelsdorf Orphanage, aka the Bethany Orphans Home. She was a little girl, (age 8,9, 10..?)and her father was George Washington Torbert, who was a Civil War soldier. he was killed one month after enlisting. I have NOTHING on her mom, and it is here where I need the help.......I am hoping you may be the first brick I can loosen in this huge brick wall......
Sincerely, Lisa of NJ
p.s.-we don't know, but her name may be short for Virginia. I have a cook book she gave my G-Grandmother, and she signed it from Aunt Jennie.........................

Re: Torbert origins

Posted: 20 Feb 2009 8:08PM GMT
Classification: Query
My Great grandmother was Marjorie Annette Torbert who married William W. Beasley in Americus, GA. William was the son of Benjamin Beasley and Mary Douglas. The Torbert's were living in Upson County, GA.

Re: Torbert origins

Posted: 27 Jul 2009 12:41AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Torbert and Tolbert
Eugene C. Torbert,

I too am related to Samuel Torbert and Elizabeth Lsmb. They were my 6th great grandparents. My 5th great grandparents were Thomas Torbert, Sr. and Elizabeth Crawford. My 4th great grandparents were Thomas Torbert, Jr. and Ruth Ferguson. My 3rd great grandparents were Samuel Torbert and Keziah Tracy. He was born Torbert and married as a Torbert, but sometime before 1870 his whole family changed their name to Tolbert. We have always pronounced it Talbert. His gravestone says Talbert but his wifes gravestone says "Wife of Samuel Tolbert". My 2nd great grandparents were Thomas R. Tolbert and Louisa Ellen Smith. He was born a Torbert and married as a Torbert. My 1st great grandparents were Isaac Jefferson Tolbert, Sr. and Alberta Hook. I am not sure if he was born a Torbert. My father was Isaac Jefferson Tolbert, Jr. and mother was Bonita Huston Hurley. I obtained a lot of my information from ancestry.com which carries several family trees on the Torberts. They traveled from Bucks County, Pennsylvania to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania to Loudoun County, Virginia to Belmont County, Ohio to Wayne County, Illinois to Elk County, Kansas to Reno County, Kansas.

Marvin D. Tolbert

Re: Torbert origins

Posted: 23 Nov 2009 8:29PM GMT
Classification: Query
I am Samuel Torbert and my family came from
Pennsylvania-My grandfather was Samuel Slack Torbert-

Re: Torbert origins

Posted: 11 Aug 2010 3:18PM GMT
Classification: Query
I am searching for information on Rachel Torbert . she m: Captain Peter Hawkins, the lived in De. Died in the first
of 1800s. I do not have any information on her parents. Would appreciate any help.

Re: Where did Torberts originate?

Posted: 11 Aug 2010 8:34PM GMT
Classification: Query
I am a decendant of the Pennsyvania,s Torberts-I can trace many of ancestry back to Ireland-I have one relative that was born in 1695 and immigrated to the USA. My ancesters crossed between the Keiths, Slacks and Clarks.
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