ORR, James Lawrence
About this object
1822–1873
Biography
ORR, James Lawrence, a Representative
from South Carolina; born in Craytonville, Anderson County, S.C., May
12, 1822; attended the public schools, and was graduated from the
University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1842; studied law; was
admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Anderson, S.C., in 1843;
engaged in newspaper work; member of the State house of representatives
1844-1847; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and to the four
succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1859); chairman, Committee
on Indian Affairs (Thirty-third Congress); Speaker of the House of
Representatives (Thirty-fifth Congress); was not a candidate for
renomination in 1858; resumed the practice of law at Craytonville;
member of the southern rights convention held in Charleston, S.C., in
1851; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Charleston in
1860; member of the secession convention in 1860; one of three
commissioners sent to Washington, D.C., to treat with the Federal
Government for the surrender of the forts in Charleston Harbor; Member
of the Confederate Senate in 1861; served in the Confederate Army during
the Civil War; special commissioner sent to President Johnson to
negotiate the establishment of provisional government for the State of
South Carolina in 1865; member of the State constitutional convention in
1865; elected Governor of South Carolina as a Republican in 1866;
president of the State convention at Columbia in July 1866; delegate to
the Union National Convention at Philadelphia in August 1866; judge of
the eighth judicial circuit 1868-1870; member of the Republican State
convention in August 1872; delegate to the Republican National
Convention in 1872; appointed by President Grant as Minister to Russia
in December 1872; died in St. Petersburg, Russia, May 5, 1873; interment
in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Anderson, S.C.