Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
NameMarion TORRANCE 
Birth15 May 1803, Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland3858
Death1863, Tours, France3861 Age: 59
FatherThomas TORRANCE (1778-1818)
MotherElizabeth ORR (1779-)
Individual Notes
• The witnesses for Isaac and Margaret [Torrance] are James Gibb, Margaret’s brother-in-law, married to Marion (later to be a wealthy lumber merchant).3855
Spouses
Individual Notes
• Witness to the marriage of Isaac Roberts Eckart and Margaret Torrance.22
• Later to be a wealthy lumber merchant.3855
• Nothing is known of James Gibb’s childhood or of the circumstances bringing him to Lower Canada. He arrived at Quebec in 1814 at the age of 15 and went to work as a clerk for William Torrance who, like his brothers John and Thomas of Montreal, traded in foodstuffs, wines, and spirits. Gibb was given board and lodging by Torrance, and received £30, £40, and £50 for his first three years of service. As well as teaching him trade practices, the Torrances played an important role in Gibb’s life and his initial endeavors in business. He became linked by marriage to this family, which had a strong hold on commercial operations in Lower Canada. In 1815 his sister Isabella married William Torrance, and seven years later Gibb himself married one of William’s sisters. Like the Torrances, he was to make his fortune by the importing of foodstuffs and liquor, a trade he engaged in all his life at Quebec.3856
• Gibb’s landed property and real estate, valued at about £15,000 in 1855, constituted an important part of his investments. In 1837 he had acquired the Jolliet seigneury in the Beauce. As for his places of residence, they were among the most magnificent at Quebec. Towards the end of the 1830s, like other prominent citizens, he moved to the suburbs, fleeing the unsanitary streets of Lower Town. He first lived on the estate of Bellevue at Sainte-Foy, which he made over to his brother Thomas in 1848 in exchange for the estate of Woodfield on the Chemin Saint-Louis at Quebec.
An energetic entrepreneur, James Gibb, having made a favorable marriage and established a diversity of business relations, succeeded in making the most of the commercial prospects at Quebec in the first half of the 19th century. The fortune he left more than sufficed to ensure that his descendants would be well-to-do. By the terms of the will he drafted a few weeks before his death, Gibb, among other things, left Woodfield to his wife, £15,000 to each of his seven remaining children, and £500 to each of two Protestant institutions.3856
• Later to be a wealthy lumber merchant.3855
• Nothing is known of James Gibb’s childhood or of the circumstances bringing him to Lower Canada. He arrived at Quebec in 1814 at the age of 15 and went to work as a clerk for William Torrance who, like his brothers John and Thomas of Montreal, traded in foodstuffs, wines, and spirits. Gibb was given board and lodging by Torrance, and received £30, £40, and £50 for his first three years of service. As well as teaching him trade practices, the Torrances played an important role in Gibb’s life and his initial endeavors in business. He became linked by marriage to this family, which had a strong hold on commercial operations in Lower Canada. In 1815 his sister Isabella married William Torrance, and seven years later Gibb himself married one of William’s sisters. Like the Torrances, he was to make his fortune by the importing of foodstuffs and liquor, a trade he engaged in all his life at Quebec.3856
• Gibb’s landed property and real estate, valued at about £15,000 in 1855, constituted an important part of his investments. In 1837 he had acquired the Jolliet seigneury in the Beauce. As for his places of residence, they were among the most magnificent at Quebec. Towards the end of the 1830s, like other prominent citizens, he moved to the suburbs, fleeing the unsanitary streets of Lower Town. He first lived on the estate of Bellevue at Sainte-Foy, which he made over to his brother Thomas in 1848 in exchange for the estate of Woodfield on the Chemin Saint-Louis at Quebec.
An energetic entrepreneur, James Gibb, having made a favorable marriage and established a diversity of business relations, succeeded in making the most of the commercial prospects at Quebec in the first half of the 19th century. The fortune he left more than sufficed to ensure that his descendants would be well-to-do. By the terms of the will he drafted a few weeks before his death, Gibb, among other things, left Woodfield to his wife, £15,000 to each of his seven remaining children, and £500 to each of two Protestant institutions.3856
Family Notes