Charles Estel Orr (1882 - 1967)

Descendants

Died 17 Jan 1967 at age 84 in Hendricks, Indiana, United States

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Biography

Charles was born in 1882. He passed away in 1967.

Sources

• http://www.hendcogen.org/obituaries/year_review_results.php
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64470573/charles-estel-orr
• https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/charles-estel-orr-24-2qr8nk
• http://www.jonathanpaul.org/chenoweth/d0007/g0000023.html#I021988

A hand written letter by Harlan E. Orr, Sept. 1981

To my grandchildren, great-grandchildren and any others who might be interested:

When I first thought of writing this, I had planned to tell you something of my life----not that I have made any claim to fame, nor have I done anything spectacular, but just the fact that I have lived from "horse and buggy" days to seeing the first man to walk on the moon. Then after my Aunt Mabel Orr died and left me with a few names and dates of my great-grandparents, I decided to start my story with them. I really have very few facts of their lives so I did a little research on the history of the times and put together as a story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

(Thomas Orr-circa 1830-????) married Catherine O'Gary {presumed to be miss-spelled from O'Grady} Orr. Both were born in Londonderry County, Ireland. In the year of 1845 there was a potato famine in Ireland caused by a fungus that spread incredibly fast and much of that year's crop of potatoes was inedible. Since they didn't know what to do to eradicate it, the famine continued on into 1846 & '47. Miserable, starving people rapidly became ill and thousands of them died. More than a million emigrated overseas from 1846 to 1855.

It was at about that time that Thomas Orr and Catherine O'Gary were married and after gathering up their few clothes in a cloth bag, they joined others who set out for America in a sail boat, trusting that the winds would fill their sails and that their sea captain would successfully get them to the shores of the "land of opportunity". We don't need much imagination to know some of the misery of that journey which took them six weeks to complete. Between being hungry, often seasick and eventually homesick, I'm sure that some doubted the wisdom of starting such a venture. Some may have even died on the way. When they finally arrived on shore they learned they were in New York. I do not know how many made the trip in that boat nor how many stayed there where they landed but probably some, including Thomas and Catherine Orr, traveled on up the Hudson River to Albany, New York and then westward on the relatively new Erie Canal which took them to Buffalo, New York. Canal boats were usually towed by horses or mules driven along the bank of the canal. Thomas and Catherine Orr lived in Buffalo for some time and their son, William Thomas Orr, was born there October 10, 1851. This was my grandfather.

I don't really know just why they decided to leave Buffalo and go west, but because of the gold rush of 1849 in California, many people headed west in covered wagons in hopes of finding gold and becoming rich. It was slow, dangerous and grueling journey and I think that they were like many others by the time they reached southern Indiana, tired and discouraged. Also by that time the gold rush was about over and the word was coming back that people were already leaving the area. They apparently liked the hills and beauty of Brown County, Indiana and so they settled there and stayed until their death. They are buried in Lick Spring Church Cemetery in Brown County. As far as I know, William Thomas Orr was an only child and in 1874, at the age of twenty three, he married Mary Chenoweth on September 10. I don't know very much at this time about Mary Chenoweth. She was born July 30, 1857 at Lebanon, Indiana. Herfather was John Chenoweth, a Civil War soldier who was wounded in the battle at Chickamauga, Mississippi and was buried there at sea. Her mother was Harriet Bills Chenoweth and after John Chenoweth's death she married another Civil War soldier, John Dragoo. They had one son, and one grandson who is Lyman Dragoo of Franklin, Indiana. Lyman and Mabel Orr are half cousins.

In this chapter I will write the names and dates of their (Thomas and Catherine's) children and grandchildren in Chronological order, as far as I know and later will tell you some of the things I remember and things that my father so faithfully recorded in his diary which he kept from the year 1911 to about 1965. Everett Clarence Orr, William Elmer Orr, Estel Charles Orr, Ernest Ellsworth Orr and Mabel Katherine Orr where their children.

Everett Clarence Orr, born Sept. 12, 1875; died Sept. 6, 1932. He married Charity ________ and had one child that I know of, Donald Orr. There may have been another child. William Elmer Orr, born May 29, 1879; died Nov. 11, 1954. He was married to Nettie _________ and they had two sons, Hershel and Byron Orr. Hershel married Virginia Howell and they had two sons. Byron married Mabel Harris and they had one girl, Donna Joan. Later Byron divorced Mabel and remarried and moved to Florida where he died. Estel Charles Orr, born Nov. 8, 1882; died Jan. 17, 1967. He married Katie Marie White, born Feb. 10, 1886; died Apr. 30, 1976. Estel and Katie had nine children. Harlan, born Sep. 11, 1902 and married Mick Humphrey; Herbert, born Jan. 27, 1907, married Verna ________, and died 1942: Helen, born Jan. 27, 1909, married Paul Wade and died 1966; Clarence, born May 7, 1911, married Phyliss Robbins and died 1975; Frances, born Jul. 28, 1913, married Oliver Blake; Emerson, born Jul. 8, 1915, married Lucille Pyles; Floyd, born Oct. 245, 1917 and married Jean ________; Mildred, born May 16, 1918and married Charles Henry Blake. Ernest Ellsworth Orr, born Nov. 1, 1855, died Sep. 9, 1967; married to Jessie Bradshaw, born Aug. 21, 1885, died May 28, 1972. They had three children; Dorothy Vivian, born Sep. 13, 1907, married to William Walter Orr (no relation), born Apr. 24, 1896, died Mar. 1952. They had no children; Virginia Katherine Orr, born Oct. 23, 1914, married Oct. 8, 1932 to Luther Davis Litton, born Jun. 21, 1912, they had four children. John Shelby, born Jul. 25, 1944 and married Thu-Cuc and they have two girls, Kim and Michelle; Luther Joseph, born Jan. 18, 1946; James Richard, born May 4, 1947 and married to Sherry Gregg and they have a girl, Louvina Jean, and a boy, Loren Daniel; Jerry Lee, born Apr. 5, 1951 and married to Donna Jean Halcomb and they have a boy and a girl, Coby and Rinda. Mabel Katherine Orr, born Sep. 4, 1891 died Sep. 6, 1980. She was married to Ross Hiatt, Aug. 9, 1915 and divorced him a short time later.

Note: Retyped by Charles W. Murphy, Argos, IN from a hand written letter given to me from my father Roger Murphy, Sr. while I was starting genealogy research for my family. I retyped it on May 6, 1998.