San Joaquin County
Biographies
NELSON MILLS ORR
NELSON MILLS ORR, Treasurer
of the State Insane Asylum, and Secretary of the Buhach Producing and
Manufacturing Company, of Stockton, was born in Corinth, Orange County, Vermont, August 21, 1832, a son of William and Hannah (Towle)
Orr, both natives of that State. The father, by occupation a farmer, lived to
be eighty-nine, and the mother reached the age of eighty. Grandmother Nelly (Richardson) Towle was ninety-nine at her death, and the other
grandparents lived to an advanced age. Grandfather Brackett Towle, a native of Massachusetts, a soldier of the Revolution, and the son of a
soldier of the French war, rose to the rank of Lieutenant, and was engaged in
the battle of Bunker Hill, Bennington,
and others. His wife survived him many years, and was in receipt of a pension
in her old age. The Towles belonged to the Pilgrim immigration. Grandfather
Robert Orr, by birth a Scotchman, came to America on the ship that brought the fateful Boston
Port-bill. He was a radical Whig, and among the first settlers of Orange County, Vermont, grandfather Towle, the pioneer of the region, having
preceded him a few years. Robert Orr received a grant of land for building the
first saw-mill in Corinth, where he also erected a grist-mill.
The subject of this sketch, reared on his
father’s farm, was educated in the district schools and afterward in the local
academy, helping also on the farm when of proper age. Later he taught school a
few terms, worked in the copper mines of Orange County about a year at the age of twenty-two, and read law
two years, but never sought admission to the bar. He left home for California December 1, 1856, by the Panama route, and came at once to this city by boat, and went thence by stage
to Columbia, Tuolumne County. There he followed mining with moderate success until
1863. He was a delegate to the first Republican county convention in 1856,
helped to organize the first Republican club in that locality, and voted that
fall for the first Republican candidate for the Presidency, John C. Fremont. In
1859 he was nominated for the Assembly by the Republican party in his district,
and was defeated two to one. In 1860, again nominated for the same office, he
made, with Judge Cavis, now of this city, the nominee for Senator, a thorough
canvass of the district for the Republican ticket, and again failed of
election. In 1861 both were in the field, made a vigorous canvass, and were
elected, but were counted out on a fraudulent report of an alleged precinct in Mono County. Messrs. Cavis and Orr contested the claims of their
opponents, and Mr. Orr was seated, while Mr. Cavis, on precisely the same
statement and testimony, was defeated, one branch of the Legislature having a
Republican, and the other a Democratic majority. In 1862 both were elected, Mr.
Cavis for the Senate, and Mr. Orr for the Assembly, and served in the session
of 1863. After the close of the session Mr. Orr returned for a short time to Tuolumne County, and then moved to San Francisco to take the position of assistant assessor of
internal revenue. He served in that office for eleven months, when he was
appointed assessor for the third district of California, embracing eleven
counties in the San
Joaquin valley and
adjoining territory. He held that office from April, 1864, to September, 1868.
In the fall of 1868 he was nominated for State Senator for this county,
canvassed the county thoroughly, was elected and served in the session of
1860-’70. Immediately after his election he bought an interest in the Stockton Independent, becoming half owner early in
1869, under the style of Orr & Beritzhoff. About 1874 he bought out his
partner and conducted the paper as sole owner until 1879, when he sold out,
remaining here without being engaged in any particular business until October,
1880. He then went to eastern Oregon, where he
spent eight months. Returning to this city, he was chosen the first secretary
of the Stockton Board of Trade in 1882, and treasurer of the State Insane
Asylum in this city in 1883, holding the former position until 1886, and the
latter to the present time. In 1886 he was employed by J. D. Peters in his
Buhach enterprise, and since the incorporation of that industry, in March,
1889, has been secretary of that corporation.
Mr. Orr was married in this city in 1866
to Miss Ada Parker, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, a daughter of R. B.
Parker (see sketch of Mr. Parker). Mr. and Mrs. Orr are the parents of two
living children: Edna, now a teacher in the public schools of Stockton, and
Edith, born August 29, 1882. Mr. Orr is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. As secretary of the Board of Trade and
editor of the Independent, he gave evidence of unquestionable literary
ability. His four pamphlets descriptive of the manufactures, trade and
resources of this city and county, have contributed largely to placing Stockton and San Joaquin County in their legitimate position among the most favored
regions on this coast. These are not of the spread-eagle, vain-glorious, turgid
style of literature, but are thoughtful, laborious, and exact descriptions of
facts, conditions and resources, inspired by a love of truth and an earnest
desire to do justice to the natural advantages of the section with which he has
been so long identified.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 349-350. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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