Jehu Amaziah Orr
Born: April 10, 1828
Birthplace: Anderson County, South Carolina
Father: Christopher Orr 1794 – 1864
(Buried: Zion Presbyterian Cemetery, Furrs, Mississippi)
Mother: Martha McCann 1798 – 1862
(Buried: Zion Presbyterian Cemetery, Furrs, Mississippi)
Brother: Governor James L. Orr 1822 – 1873
(Buried: First Presbyterian Church, Anderson, South Carolina)
Wife: Cornelia Ewing Van de Graaff 1833 – 1917
(Buried: Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, Mississippi)
Children:
Christopher Orr 1853 – 1913
(Buried: Gardner Cemetery, Zolfo Springs, Florida)
William Gates Orr 1856 – 1901
(Buried: Odd Fellows Cemetery, Okolona, Mississippi)
Martha Corrine Orr Harris 1861 – 1946
(Buried: Collinsville Cemetery, Collinsville, Alabama)
Pauline Van de Graaff Orr 1866 – 1955
(Buried: Mount Hope Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York)
Political Party: Democratic Party
Education:
Attended Erskine College
Attended College of New Jersey
Occupation before War:
Attorney in Houston, Mississippi
Secretary of Mississippi State Senate
Mississippi State Representative
United States Attorney for Northern District of Mississippi
1856: Mississippi Delegate, Democratic Party National Convention
1860: Mississippi Delegate, Democratic Party National Convention
1860: Supporter of Stephen A. Douglas Presidential Campaign
Civil War Career:
1861: Member of Mississippi State Constitutional Convention
1861: Filled in vacancy of William S. Wilson in Provisional Congress
1861 – 1862: Mississippi Delegate Confederate Provisional Congress
1861 – 1862: Worked to strengthen the army and economy
1862: Unsuccessful Candidate for Confederate regular congress.
1864 – 1865: Confederate States Congressman from Mississippi
1864 – 1865: Member of House Foreign Affairs Committee
1864 – 1865: Member House Quartermasters and Commissary Committee
1864 – 1865: Worked to strengthen the army and economy
Introduced bills to end exemptions, to punish speculators
Lacked the confidence of President Jefferson Davis
Voted against most of his nominees and Presidential Powers
1864 – 1865: Prominent leader in the Peace movement
1865: Blamed Hampton Roads failure on Jefferson Davis.
1865: Spent last month of the war in Mississippi arraigning Davis
Occupation after War:
Believed in the Philosophy of accommodation to the stronger party.
Advised for the enfranchisement of negroes on a limited basis.
1870 – 1876: Circuit Court Judge in the State of Mississippi
Participated in the movement against the carpetbag regime
Trustee of University of Mississippi for more than thirty years.
Elder in the Presbyterian Church for fifty years
Attorney in Columbus, Mississippi
Died: March 9, 1921
Place of Death: Columbus, Mississippi
Age at time of Death: 93 years old
Burial Place: Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, Mississippi
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