Torrey family has a long, rich history in agriculture

By Laura Love

One doesn’t have to go far in Kawartha Lakes to see that farming and agriculture is a key part of the landscape. According to the 2021 census there are 1,146 farms averaging about 242 acres in size. Nearly 200 years ago, when the former Victoria County was first surveyed in 1827 into 100 acre lots, settlers were promised cheap land, some for as low as $1 an acre – hard to fathom today. Over the course of 150-plus years these farms were improved and treasured, and there are many residents whose families go back to these early settlers. Some are even fortunate enough to still be in the same family, and the Torrey-Dale Farm is one of them.

The Torrey family have lived and farmed on the same property since before 1851, well before their Crown Land Deed was signed on July 10, 1864. I was invited to speak with Reid and Helen Torrey, the fourth generation to own Torrey-Dale Farm, and had the pleasure of learning about Reid’s family’s history, and a getting a glimpse of life on the farm over the years.

Reid took me for a drive through Eldon Station, sharing stories about the area’s families and buildings, both standing and gone. We then headed down Sandringham Road to the Torrey family farm, where we met Reid and Helen’s son, Mark, who now lives in the 1904 brick farmhouse and farms the land.

Reid recalled his early years as a farmer: “Mom didn’t want me to farm; she knew how hard it was. But I did.” Reid began helping his father in 1951 and took over operations in 1963 after his father passed.

Sifting through family papers at his kitchen table, Reid tells me of his family’s origins in Scotland and the life they made for themselves in Kawartha Lakes.

Reid’s great-grandfather George Torry was born around 1803 in the Isle of Islay, Scotland. As a widower, he immigrated to Canada with his two children John and Nancy ‘Ann’ from Scotland in 1834. Shortly after settling in Port Perry in the 1840s, George, his second wife Mary Kerr, and their now family of eight, moved to Woodville in Eldon Township. According to family stories passed down, the family left Woodville because clearing the oak trees proved difficult. The family found property north on Concession 5, where the pine trees were easily removed and it was here that George built a log shanty on the west side of Sandringham Road for his large family.

The 1851 agricultural census for Victoria County, Eldon Township, records that George had 30 acres cultivated and 70 wooded.

George died at 50 in 1853, and the farm was inherited by his eldest son, John, and for the next 11 years John managed the land. By the end of 1864, John had not only purchased the farm’s 100 acres for $200, and replaced the shanty with a log cabin (located just west of the current brick house), but he also married. John married Ann MacDonald, whose parents also came from Scotland.

John and Ann welcomed two boys and six girls. John became John Sr with the birth of his youngest son John Alexander (John A.), Reid’s father.

Over the next 40 years the Torry farm continued to prosper. By 1898, 100 acres were cleared, a barn was built for $100 and a horse. It was around this time that an ‘e’ was added to the Torry name, forever making the spelling ‘Torrey.’ In 1904, for the cost of $843, a two-storey brick house was completed. Reid notes that “the bricks were transported by train to Balsam Station and then by horse and wagon to the farm.”

After his elder brother’s unexpected death in 1896, John A. inherited the farm when John Sr. died in 1915.

Reid recalls his father describing the tough early years on the farm. Facing challenges during both world wars and struggling through the depression, losing the entire cattle herd to tuberculosis. Eventually, John A. had to work off the farm.

During the First World War, John A. rented out the farm and temporarily moved to Toronto with his sister Isabella. While she taught, John A. built Jeeps for Willys-Overland.

In 1925, John A. returned to the farm and in the autumn of 1927, he married Mary Reid from Reaboro. Mary, a teacher at the local school, was boarding with the McEachern family, whose farm neighboured the Torreys.

Between 1927 and 1941, John and Mary welcomed five children, John ‘Reid’ was the middle of those five.

At the wake of the Second World War, John A. went to work at the arsenal in Lindsay, as many people did at that time to make ends meet. Reid remembers, “we kept the farm and hired Archie D. McEachern to work the land for us.”

Reid and his four sisters, Jean, Alda, Ruth and Donna spent much of their childhood helping around the farm: milking cows, looking after the hens and pigs, cutting wood. Everyone had a part, “we were all raised but it wasn’t the wealthy things or the money things that we gained, it was the honesty and integrity as our parents taught us.”

Reid remembers “in the earlier days when a pig was slaughtered the pork would be fried, put into a crock and leftover melted fat would be poured over the meat to help preserve it… mom sometimes would use some of the leftover fat to fry doughnuts.” When asked if she made them for special occasions, Reid replied with a smile and short laugh. “It was always a special occasion when she made them.”

When asked how they met nearly 60 years ago, Helen smiled at Reid, prompting him to share a familiar story. He began, “I was at Jack Little’s wedding in Udney, and she was serving. I asked Bob Robertson, her first cousin, if he knew her.” Helen added with a smile, “A stroke of good luck.”

The couple married at Udney United Church and headed to Ottawa for their honeymoon. “I sold one sow to pay for it,” Reid chuckled. Helen remembered buying their first chesterfield on the way home. When they returned to the farm, Reid tried to carry his new bride over the threshold, saying, “I almost made it,” while his mother Mary held the door. We all laughed.

Reid and Helen were blessed with four children: Carol, Ian, Dwayne and Mark.

Growing up on the farm everyone had a role. “The farm was a family operation, the kids knew when they were getting off of the bus in the evening and mom (Helen) had hot chocolate on the stove, they were headed to the storage to bag potatoes.” Pride, love and hard work was instilled in everyone, “but there was also so much fun,” remembers Reid.

At the height of farm operations, the family cared for 25 to 30 cows and calves and grew, sorted and bagged 300 tones of potatoes, per year. Reid sold and hand delivered potatoes to local general stores in Cannington, Woodville and Oakwood. It was around this time that Reid started calling the farm Torrey-Dale. “Torrey-Dale is what Dad named it when he started marketing potatoes in the 60’s…it just stuck” commented Mark. Helen proudly stated that, “there was not one accident on the farm!” Both Helen and Reid attribute no accidents to how well their help was treated, “two hot meals a day, with coffee breaks at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and paid $1 an hour, that was 20 cents more than what others could pay. The Township of Eldon paid 80 cents.”

The proud farming tradition continues with Mark. Like his father, Mark wanted to farm. Mark is a graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College – University of Guelph, and with all of his jobs, every one of his endeavours were to get him back to the farm. He is now the proud owner-operator of Torrey-Dale Farms, as the fifth-generation of Torrey’s. He is joined by his wife Michelle and their children. In addition to the farm, Mark is the Member Services Representative for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA).

Reid and I spoke briefly about the pride he has that his family farm hasn’t left Torrey hands. Humbly, Reid remarked “that’s what you hope will happen, but you never do know.”

With thanks to the Torrey family. Has your farm/land been in the family for over 100 years? We’d love to hear your story and recollections. Please contact Laura Love at or visit kawarthalakes.ca/en/business-growth/moments-and-memories.aspx