Historical Hall of Fame: William Clayton Torrence (1884-1953) was an ordained Episcopal priest, bibliographer, editor and
corresponding secretary/director of the Virginia Historical Society from 1940/53
Virginia History Series
William Clayton Torrence was born 7 June 1884 in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of John Early Torrence and Katherine Winter Clayton Torrence.
Clayton Torrence worked as a bibliographer at the Virginia State Library in Richmond, Virginia, from 1906 to 1910; as secretary
of the Valentine Museum from 1910 to 1918; and as editor of the William and Mary Quarterly historical papers from 1915 to 1918. Torrence
graduated from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1919, and was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1920. He served various parishes
in Virginia and Maryland for the next twenty years, before returning to Richmond to serve as the corresponding secretary and director
of the Virginia Historical Society in 1940. Torrence held that position until his death thirteen years later on 8 April 1953 in Richmond.
In 1942, Rev. Torrence was elected as a "fellow" of the American Society of Genealogists.
Torrence married Elizabeth Green
Neblett 1 August 1912, and they had three children. He was buried at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church cemetery.
Selected Publications of William Clayton Torrence: