52 
remain to strive that we may worthily replace them, and 
establish for this Academy a reputation for usefulness and 
science which their honored bearers have acquired for them- 
selves. 
Although there.may be many among us more capable 
than myself of doing justice to the memory of our departed 
colleague, I feel grateful that the lot has fallen to me- 
Placed under his command on my first entrance into the 
military service, —almost in my boyhood, — my relations 
with him, both personal and professional, have ever since 
been continuous and intimate. Under obligations to him o 
no ordinary nature, I could not do otherwise than regard 
him with reverence and affection. If I fail, therefore, it 
shall not be because my heart is unmoved, nor because I 
am insensible to the magnitude of my task. 
JosepH GiLBert Torren was born in New Haven, 
Connecticut, on the 23d of August, 1788. His grandfather, 
Joseph Totten, came from England before the war of the 
Revolution, and engaged in mercantile pursuits in New 
York. Attached to the cause of the mother country, be left 
that city, after the acknowledgment of our independence, 
for Annapolis, Nova Scotia. It would appear that his two 
sons remained in this country, since one of them, Peter G. 
Totten, married in 1787 Grace Mansfield of New Haven, ® 
very beautiful woman, who died a few years after her mee 
riage, leaving two children, —the subject. of this memo 
and a daughter, Susan Maria, who married Colonel Beatty; 
an English officer, and who is still living, a widow, in Lon 
don. After the death of Mrs. Totten, which occurred whe? 
her infant son was but three years old, the father, having 
been appointed United States Consul at Santa Cruz, West 
Indies, took up his future abode on that island, leaving bis 
son under the care of his maternal uncle, Jared Mansfield, 
