Barton family

John Orr was born in Montreal, Canada, on February 4, 1841 of Irish immigrant parents, John and Rachel Matthews Orr. As a youth he ran away from home to go to sea, spending some time in South America and visiting his relatives in Coleraine, Ireland. In 1860 he lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, and worked with several newspapers until 1861 when he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private. When the 6th Louisiana Infantry was organized he was made Adjutant with rank of Captain. His regiment was in the first battle of Manassas, with Stonewall Jackson in the Valley campaign, in the Seven Days fights around Richmond, and involved in the capture of Harper's Ferry before the battle of Sharpsburg. In an engagement near the Culpepper courthouse in 1863, he was captured and spent seventeen months as a prisoner in the military prison at Johnson Island in Lake Erie.

He came to Texas in 1865, started a business at San Andres, and then later moved to Cameron. In 1867 he sold the Cameron business and formed a partnership with Major J. S. Hanna in Millican. In 1869 the firm of Hanna and Orr moved to Calvert. Major Hanna retired in 1872, and John Orr continued the business there until 1885. He sold this business, moved to Austin, and established a wholesale grocery business on Congress Avenue. He later started a branch office in Llano. He sold the Austin business in 1910, but continued to advise his sons on the Llano business.

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