Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/156

 ORMSBY

ORR

lie was a presidential elector on the Adams and JeflFersou ticket in 1797, and a representative in the 12th, 13th and 14th congresses, 1811-15. He was defeated for the 13th congress in 1813 by Jolin Simpson, who was killed at the battle of the River Raisin. Jan. 23, 1813, before taking his seat, and Ormsby succeeded him. He was active in promoting the educational welfare of the state, and died in Louisville. Ky.. Sept. 6, 1846.

ORMSBY, Waterman Lilly, engraver, was born in Hampton, Windluim county, Conn., in 1 809. He attended the public school of Hampton, removed to New York city, where he learned the engraver's art and devoted himself to bank note engraving. He invented several ruling machines, transfer presses, and the grammagraph for en- graving on steel. He was tiie founder of the Continental Bank Note company, executed large contracts for the U.S. treasury, and almost wljoily designed the five-dollar note, intended to prevent counterfeiting. He is credited with liaving aided S. F. B. Morse in preparing the Morse telegraphic alphabet, and in transmitting messages at the first public exhibition of the telegraph in New York city. He is the author of: Ormsby Bank Xote Engraving (1852). He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Nov. 1, 1883.

ORNE, Azor, patriot, was born in Marble- liead. Mass., July 22, 1731; son of Joshua and Sarah (Gale) Orne; grandson of Joshua and Elizabeth (Norman) Orne, and of Azor Gale, and a descendant of John Orne, or Horn, who emigrated from England, probabh- in the fleet with Winthrop, settled in Salem, Mass., in 1630, was made freeman in 1631, and was deacon of the First cliurch of Salem for fifty years. Azor Orne was a prosperous merchant at the outbreak of the Revolution, and earlj- joined the patriot cause. He was a representative to the General Court in 1773; a delegate to the Essex conven- tion and to the Provincial congress of 1774, and a member of the committees of safety, military affairs, organization of forces, and on the collect- ing of arms and ammunition. He was elected judge of the general court in 1775, and was appointed one of three major-generals of Massa- chusetts militia by the Provincial congress in January, 1776. He was a representative in the Hartford convention of Nov. 11, 1780, and was a member of the committee that prepared a circular to set fortli the necessity of providing for revenue by a sj-stem of taxation. He also loaned the government a large amount of money, and was a member of the convention that framed the state constitution in 1780. and of the convention that adopted the Federal constitution in 1788; was a member of the council. 17f^8-96, and a presidential elfctor in 1792. He served in the state senate where he strongly advocated the public school

system. He was married first to Mary Coleman, and secondly to Mary (Lee) Orne, widow of his brother. Col. Joshua Orne, and sister of Col. Jere- miah Lee. He died in Boston, Mass., June 6, 1796.

ORR, Alexander Dairy mple, representative, was born at Alexandria, Va., in 1765. He was a pioneer settler of Kentuckj-, and at an early period settled in Bourbon, afterward Mason county, on the Ohio river, where he built the first brick house erected in the county. He repre- sented Bourbon county in the Virginia legislature in 1790, was elected with Cristopher Greenup to represent Kentucky on its admission as a state, in the 2d, 3d and 4th congresses, 1791-97. He was also elected to the Kentucky senate in 1793. He died in Paris, Ky., June 21, 1835.

ORR, James Lawrence, governor of South Carolina, was born in Craytonville, Anderson county, S.C, May 12, 1822; son of Christopher and Martha (McCann) Orr; grandson of John and Jane B. (Chickscale) Orr, and a descendant of Humphrey Orr, a native of Ireland, who .settled in Plumstead. Bucks county. Pa., in 1730. James Lawrence Orr served as a clerk in his father's store; was graduated at the University of Vir- ginia in 1842, studied law under Judge Whitner,. and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He settled in practice m Anderson, S.C, was married to Mary J. Marshall, and became editor of the Anderson Gazette. He was a Democratic repre- sentative in the state legislature, 1844-46, and a representative in the 31st, 32d, 33d, 34th and 35th congresses, 1849-59. He served as chairman of the committee of the whole on the state of the Union, and of the committee on Indian affairs, and was. speaker of the house during the 35th congress. He opposed secession and the compromise measures of Henry Claj-. and in 1851, as a member of the Southern Rights convention in Cliarleston, S.C, succeeded in defeating. the secession ordinance framed by that body, al- though he maintained the right of a state to secede. He was a delegate to the state secession convention of 1800, and finally cast his lot with his native state. He was one of the three com- missioners sent to Washington in December, 1860, to treat for the surrender of the U.S. forts in Charleston harbor and of other property to the state. On liis return he raised a rifle regiment, and com- manded it in battle until 1862, when he was elected to the Confederate States senate, serving until the close of the Confederate government. He was elected governor of South Carolina by the Republican party, under President John-son's plan of recon- struction in 1865, and served until 1868. He was