MySource:Tarbet/The Handbook of Waco & McLennan Co.

James Henry Torbett was born on June 10, 1823 at Greenville, Virginia, and grew up in Tennessee and Georgia. As a member of a company of Virginias equiped by his uncle to defend the Texas frontier against indians in 1842, he was one of the first white persons to come to Waco. The company made it's way to the frontier by way of the old Caddo Trail and forded the Brazos River between Waco Creek and Barron's Branch where it visited the Waco Indian Village. In 1845 Torbett volunteered for service in one of the regiments raised by the United States for the Mexican War, and served two years. He went from Corpus Christi to Brownsville then to Vera Cruz under General Zachary Taylor and was with the army of occupation in Mexico City under general Winfield Scott. After his discharge, he returned to Georgia where he married Sarah A. Herndon of Rome. In 1853 he moved to Texas, settling first in Wood County, then in Johnson County. During the Civil War he served with a Texas Regiment. He settled in Waco in 1865 and served as Deputy Sheriff of McLinnon County under Peter mcClelland during reconstruction. He also served as deputy district cleark under Charles Beatty, Recorder of the city of Waco from 1874 to 1878, Alderman from the First Ward for three terms, and engaged in various enterprises. In the 1880's he was the supervisor of the federal census of 1880 for his congressional district. Torbett died at Gunter on August 14, 1913, and was buried in First Street Cemetery at Waco.