The beautiful wood trim from the Torner home shown above was used in a new home built by Norris Torner.  The new home is near the site of the original home.  Shown are William V. and Jennie Greene Torner with their sons Norris (born in 1900) and Harley (born in 1902). Upstairs bedroom of the Torner home.  The lower oil painting is of pansies and was made by Florence May Torner Adams.  It is now in the home of her grandson, Robert A. Adams.  It is assumed the other painting was also by Florence.  I am J.V.H.Torner.  The information below is furnished by me, a son of William Victor Torner; and Mrs. Joeanna Winings, a Granddaughter of Elvira Torner Dye. My father told me that in Sweden his father's name was Baron Lars Tifield Victor von Torner.  When he came to this country, he used Victor Torner as his full name. He was born in Stockholm, March 29, 1815. He died in Newport, Ohio, December 29, 1891. He was the son of a Swedish clergyman and was educated in the University of Sweden. He married Charlotte Gustavia Weiss.  We do not have the date. Charlotte Gustavia Weiss was born in Gottenberg, April 21, 1824. She died in Newport, Ohio, June15th 1890. There were three children: John Samuel Hugo Torner, the oldest.  Born in Sweden. Elvira Torner, the second child.  Born January 23rd, 1850, in Westergothland near Gottenberg or Vanesberg and Lidkoping. William Victor Torner, the third child, was born at Jacksonville, West Virginia, January 25th, 1860.*  He told me he was born about a year and a half after his parents came to this country.  They must have left Sweden during the summer of 1858.*  We have been told that Grandfather Torner was a Minister.  He did not do any preaching in this country.  I have been told by men that knew him when he was superintendent of an Oil Company at Cow Run, Ohio, that he was a very religious man and was never known to use any bad language. My father told me that, in Sweden, Grandfather was Superintendent of all the King's estates.  My father also told me that Grandfaher was one of seven brothers.  He did not correspond with them after coming to this country.  J.V.H. Torner, son of William Victor Torner, and grandson of Baron Lars Tifield Victor von Torner Note:  The actual year of birth for William Victor Torner was 1859.  This is shown in other documents.  J.V.H. Torner was born in 1884. The Torner Family Interview with Norris Torner, source of this writing is unknown   Victor and Charlotte Torner came from Sweden in 1854.  Two of their children, Hugo and Elvira, came with them.  William was born in Lewis County, West Virginia, in 1859. Hugo married Lucy Dye and settled in Marietta.  Elvira married J.R. Dye.  William married Jenny Greene 20 Sept 1882.  William died at Newport, Sept. 1941.  They were the parents of seven children, Hugo, born April 24, 1884, settled in Iowa.  Florence, born May 10, 1886.  Elsie, born Lawrence Township, March 10, 1889.  Ruth, born March 20, 1892.  Glenn, born Oct, 8, 1896, settled in Iowa.  Norris, born March 3, 1900.  Harley, born Feb. 21, 1902.             During the 1884 flood, in February, their home washed away.  In 1890, a large two-story frame home was built on higher ground.  Norris inherited the home from his parents.  The home was torn down in 1959.  A smaller home was built on the lot, to which Norris and wife moved in the fall of 1959.             Victor was part owner in the Newport Mill Co.  Victor and son William were both millers by trade.  In 1889, William moved to Cow Run where he had an oil and land lease.  He spent a very short time there, returning to Newport in 1890.             William and son Norris built and operated a gas station in 1929, on route 7.  They operated this business together until the death of William in Sept., 1941.  When the gas was rationed during the war, Norris closed the station.  This was rented to Russell Vannoy, and Mike Vuick.  Later the building was a barber shop, renting it first to Lyle Beaver then to Leslie Kiggins.  In 1958, the property was sold to Main Star Oil Company.              Norris married Marjorie Nov. 6th, 1941.  They lived in Columbus for four years.  Norris worked in the Curtis Wright aircraft factory as a supervisor.  Mrs. Torner, a registered nurse, worked at the Columbus University Hospital.  At the end of World War II, they returned to Newport.  Norris worked as an electrician and school bus driver.  In the early twenties he carried mail by boat for seven years, as his father did before him. Andy Beaver built the last boat for them.*    *As remembered by William V. Torner, nephew of Norris Torner:  Bill recalled that he was allowed to use the skiff on Sundays when there was no mail delivery, but he was forbidden to swim in the Ohio River.  He’s sure they used the J. B. Greene binoculars from the Civil War in order to spy on him, but he found a spot hidden by trees from their view and swam there and dried out before returning home.      J.S.H. Torner               J.S.H. Torner, superintendent of the city water works, and an oil producer, of Marietta, Ohio, is one of the ablest business men of the city.  He was born January 6, 1853, at Stockholm, Sweden, and is a son of Victor Torner.              Victor Torner was born at Stockholm Sweden, and his wife, whose maiden name was Weiss, was born at Gothenburg, Sweden.  She was of a prominent Swedish family, and her brother, D.W. Weiss, who came to America when a young man, was one of the first presidents of the Lincoln Society of New York.  He was identified with the Ulster Iron Company, of New York, with offices at the corner of Broadway and Wall Streets.  Victor Torner was educated for the ministry, his father being a minister of the Lutheran Church, but instead of occupying the pulpit he became superintendent of the estate of the King of Sweden.  He brought his family to New York in 1855, but soon removed to Lewis County, (West Virginia), where he purchased a large tract of land and farmed for two seasons.  Not finding his farm as profitable as he anticipated, he moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia, and one year later, in 1861, located in Belpre, Washington County, Ohio.  He retained his West Virginia interests until 1884, when he disposed of them.  At Belpre, he engaged in the oil business, which he followed until near the time of his death, December 29, 1891.  He was also engaged in the milling business at Newport, Ohio, for some years.  Politically, he was an active Republican, having filed his declaration to become a citizen of the United States as soon as he arrived in this country.  His wife died June 15, 1890.  The reared three children, as follows:  Elvira, J. S. Hugo, the subject of the sketch; and William V.   Elvira Torner, who was born in January, 1850, married J. R. Dye, of Marietta, and died in July, 1890, leaving three children, viz: Lulu E., who was born in Washington County in 1872, and is the wife of R. J. Mechling, an oil producer, of Newport, Ohio; Victor Hugo, who attended Marietta College, is a graduate of the Baltimore Medical College, and is now practicing his profession; and Hilda W., aged 13 years, who is at school.  William V. Torner was born in January, 1859, and is in the milling business at Newport, Ohio.    As told by William V. Torner, the grandson and namesake William V. Torner, in September of 2006   Victor and Charlotte Weiss Torner lived in Belpre in the early 1860s. The family rented farm land on Blennerhassett Island from the owner, a family by the name of Neal [or Neil].   The parents obtained a slab of wood from a saw mill and placed son William V. on it to float him to the island while they swam to the island.