Education
He attended the common schools and Indiana University at Bloomington. He studied law and was admitted to the Barometer
United States representative politician
He attended the common schools and Indiana University at Bloomington. He studied law and was admitted to the Barometer
Continuing westward, he spent the last five decades of his life in Colorado. He moved to Jefferson, Iowa, in 1856. From 1861 to 1863, he served in the Union Army as captain of Company H, 10th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
That year, (when Iowa had six seats in the United States House), he fell two votes short of winning the Republican nomination to represent Iowa"s 6th congressional district.
Based on the 1870 census, Iowa received three more seats in the House, and Orr"s home county was then included in Iowa"s new 9th congressional district. He served in Congress from March 4, 1871 to March 3, 1875.
Orr was not a candidate for renomination in 1874, but instead moved to Silverton, a mining town in a newly opened area of southwestern Colorado Territory, in 1875. In Colorado, Orr was elected county judge and served for three years.
He moved to Denver, Colorado, and engaged in the practice of his profession and also in the real estate business.
In 1882, President Chester A. Arthur appointed him as one of three commissioners to implement a treaty between the United States and the Ute tribe. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for Colorado"s at-large Congressional seat in 1884. He served as president of the Denver Fire and Police Board in 1893 and 1894.
He died in Denver on March 15, 1926.
He was interred in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver.
He engaged in mercantile pursuits in the City of Montana (now Boone), Iowa, and served as member of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1868.