Robert Harvey Orr

1838-1911

Born 1838

Died 1911

Father: James Orr

Mother: Margaret Harvey

Children include Charles

Robert Harvey Orr was born on 2 May 1838. His family called him Harvey, after his mother's family. He was the son of James Orr and Margaret Harvey, who had married on 11 March 1828. They lived first in Topsham, Vermont, and later moved to Groton, where both died. His older sister Mary C. Orr, born in 1831, married David Whitehill. His brother William S. Orr lived in Peacham, and his sister Jane married Dugald Stewart.

The Orrs were among the first families of Ryegate, the next town north. His great-grandfather John Orr was born at Kilmalcolm, Renfrewshire, Scotland, in 1744. He reached Ryegate on 23 May 1774 with his brother Robert, as part of the Scotch-American Company of Farmers that settled the town. John served in Capt. Frye Bayley's company, which marched to Saratoga in 1777. His son William, Harvey's grandfather, built a stone house in the west part of Ryegate.

In December 1876 Harvey married Sarah Violet Whitehill of Groton, the daughter of William Whitehill and Anna McLam. He was 38 and she was 24. Their first son, Clarence Harvey, was born on 22 April 1878 and died on 16 October 1880, aged two. William James followed in 1880, Albert Faris in 1883, Grace Lillian in 1886, Charles Harvey on 1 March 1891 and Leslie Harold on 21 December 1893.

Two of the sons married sisters. William James married Grace Mary Crane of Barnet in 1902. Charles married her younger sister Edna Almeria Crane in 1913.

Harvey died in Groton on 9 April 1911, aged 72. He is buried in the Walter Harvey Cemetery in Ryegate under a tall granite monument cut with R. H. ORR on its base. The stone carries his name and Sarah's, and a small marker nearby stands for their son Clarence.

Parents

James Orr 1804-1892

Margaret Harvey (1802-1887)

Children

Charles Harvey Orr 1891-1963

Sources

Find a Grave, memorial 117239853, Walter Harvey Cemetery, Ryegate, Caledonia County, Vermont; photograph added by Jack Sanders, 2013.

Edward Miller and Frederic P. Wells, History of Ryegate, Vermont (St. Johnsbury: Caledonian Company, 1913), Orr genealogy, pp. 485-487.

Frederic Palmer Wells, History of Barnet, Vermont (1923), Orr entry, pp. 573-574.

Edward Miller and Frederic P. Wells, History of Ryegate, Vermont (1913), Orr genealogy, pp. 485-487 (HathiTrust hvd.32044025031204); Frederic Palmer Wells, History of Barnet, Vermont (1923), Orr entry, pp. 573-574 (HathiTrust wu.89067958520); Find a Grave memorials 117239853 and 117240005, with monument photograph.

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Cite: Heirology, "Robert Harvey Orr (1838-1911)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/robert-harvey-orr-1838-1911-7cb00f.