Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 962
BRUCE A. ORR

Specific mention is made of many of the worthy citizens of Harrison county within the pages of this book who have figured in the growth and development of this favored locality and whose interests are identified with its every phase of progress, each contributing in his sphere of activity to the well-being of the community in which he resides and to the advancement of its normal and legitimate growth. Among this number is Bruce A. ORR, one of the leading farmers of La Grange township.

Bruce A. ORR was born on October 29, 1881, in La Grange township and is the son of John A. and Ellen (CROSSLEY) ORR. John A ORR was born in Ohio, July 25, 1851, and died on October 15, 1882. He was brought to Iowa early in life and reared on a farm in La Grange township, where he became a very extensive farmer and stockman and well known throughout the state of Iowa as a breeder of Duroc-Jersey hogs and Durham cattle. He was one of the first to exhibit Duroc-Jersey hogs at the Harrison county fairs. At first the farmers made a great deal of sport of the red animals but, eventually, the breed became very popular in this county. Mr. ORR served as clerk and assessor of La Grange township and, at the time of his death, owned two hundred acres of land. His wife, Ellen CROSSLEY, was born on June 26, 1849, in Lincolnshire, England, the daughter of William and Susan (HAND) CROSSLEY, the former of whom was born on December 2, 1807, in England, and the latter in 1810 in Lincolnshire, England. She died in 1862 and her husband in 1882. Ellen CROSSLEY was reared under the parental roof and secured her education in the public schools of Council Bluffs, where she taught after her graduation. She was married to John A. ORR in 1876 and to them were born three children, William L., in 1878, now living in La Grange township and managing the home farm; Fannie, who died at the age of nine years, and Bruce A., the subject of this review.

Bruce A. ORR received his education in the common schools and has devoted his entire life to farming. He now controls and operates two hundred and forty-five acres of splendid land in La Grange township.

Bruce A. ORR was married in 1913 to Eva Mae POORE, who was born in Logan, Iowa, on June 23, 1894, the daughter of James D. and May (MCINTYRE) POORE. Her father, a native of Indiana, was born on May 12, 1865, and her mother on December 22, 1873, the latter of whom is now living at Harris Grove, La Grange township. They were the parents of the following children Edward James, Rupert Harry, Eva Mae, Golda Pearle, Raymond Charles and Carrie Louise. No children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. ORR. Mr. ORR is a man of sound and practical intelligence, keenly alert to everything relating to his interest and, in fact, to all that concerns the prosperity and advancement of the community. Because of his splendid personal characteristics and his genuine worth, he enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him and is eminently entitled to representation in a work of the character of the one in hand.

Return to 1915 Biographical O Surnames Index

Back to 1915 Biographies Index