Orr, John Dalrymple
Birth
Death
Occupation
First Name
John
Middle Name
Dalrymple
Last Name
Orr
Person Title
Doctor
Biography
John Dalrymple Orr was born in 1771 in Leedstown, Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father, John Orr, was a merchant born of an ancient Scottish family. The elder John Orr moved to Virginia and married Susanna Monroe Grayson of Colchester, Prince William County, and purchased Walnut Hill, where he became a planter. Active in local politics, he signed Richard Henry Lee’s Westmoreland Resolutions, or the Leedstown Resolves of 1766, which was a protest of the 1765 Stamp Act.
One of eight children, John Dalrymple Orr became a physician and studied at the University of Edinburg before returning to Virginia to practice medicine. His wife, Lucinda Lee, was the daughter of Thomas Ludwell Lee and the two met while Orr’s uncle, Colonel William Grayson, and Lee’s uncle, Richard Henry Lee, served together as the first United States Senators from Virginia.
In 1792, Lucinda was willed a piece of property at Duke and St. Asaph streets in Alexandria by her late uncle Dr. Arthur Lee. She would have been approximately twenty years old and about to marry John. Lucinda gained popularity when Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia, a book written in 1787 about correspondence with her friend Polly, was published in 1871 by Emily V. Mason to raise funds for Confederate veterans of the Civil War.
Although John and Lucinda called Alexandria home for a majority of their lives, Orr practiced medicine for a brief time before becoming a planter. They had six children. Eleanor, the only one to marry, settled down with General Asa Rogers and became a belle of Washington.
In 1793, after the hotly debated Proclamation of Neutrality of April 22, Orr, along with five others, sent an invitation to citizens of Alexandria and President George Washington for a celebration of American independence on the anniversary of the day to which Washington accepted warmly.
John Dalrymple moved his family to North Hill in Frederick County in 1813 where they lived until May of 1816 when Orr died at the age of forty-four. John’s brother Colonel Benjamin G. Orr, with whom he had been living during an extended illness, was named executor of his will. Col. Orr was also mayor of the City of Washington from 1817 until 1819. Orr granted Benjamin oversight in settling his debts, selling his estate and guardianship of his children Mary, Eleanor, and Thomas. His will emphasized that the children’s education was a priority.
Orr’s will provided an allotment of two thousand pounds of beef or pork and six barrels of flour per year to his sister Susannah Elizabeth Powell. He gave the sum twenty dollars per year to his mulatto woman Jenny and fifteen dollars each year to his negro man Jack.
An obituary in the National Intelligencer called John Dalrymple Orr a gentleman and philanthropist adding he stopped practicing medicine to devote himself to educating his children, tending to his farm, and the greater good of society.
One of eight children, John Dalrymple Orr became a physician and studied at the University of Edinburg before returning to Virginia to practice medicine. His wife, Lucinda Lee, was the daughter of Thomas Ludwell Lee and the two met while Orr’s uncle, Colonel William Grayson, and Lee’s uncle, Richard Henry Lee, served together as the first United States Senators from Virginia.
In 1792, Lucinda was willed a piece of property at Duke and St. Asaph streets in Alexandria by her late uncle Dr. Arthur Lee. She would have been approximately twenty years old and about to marry John. Lucinda gained popularity when Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia, a book written in 1787 about correspondence with her friend Polly, was published in 1871 by Emily V. Mason to raise funds for Confederate veterans of the Civil War.
Although John and Lucinda called Alexandria home for a majority of their lives, Orr practiced medicine for a brief time before becoming a planter. They had six children. Eleanor, the only one to marry, settled down with General Asa Rogers and became a belle of Washington.
In 1793, after the hotly debated Proclamation of Neutrality of April 22, Orr, along with five others, sent an invitation to citizens of Alexandria and President George Washington for a celebration of American independence on the anniversary of the day to which Washington accepted warmly.
John Dalrymple moved his family to North Hill in Frederick County in 1813 where they lived until May of 1816 when Orr died at the age of forty-four. John’s brother Colonel Benjamin G. Orr, with whom he had been living during an extended illness, was named executor of his will. Col. Orr was also mayor of the City of Washington from 1817 until 1819. Orr granted Benjamin oversight in settling his debts, selling his estate and guardianship of his children Mary, Eleanor, and Thomas. His will emphasized that the children’s education was a priority.
Orr’s will provided an allotment of two thousand pounds of beef or pork and six barrels of flour per year to his sister Susannah Elizabeth Powell. He gave the sum twenty dollars per year to his mulatto woman Jenny and fifteen dollars each year to his negro man Jack.
An obituary in the National Intelligencer called John Dalrymple Orr a gentleman and philanthropist adding he stopped practicing medicine to devote himself to educating his children, tending to his farm, and the greater good of society.
PersonID
Orr
Name in Index
(not listed in index)
