The north and the south were bitterly fighting the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln had just been reelected President of the United States. It was at this time in , January 1, 1865, in Grantsville, Utah that a dark haired baby boy was born in the crude pioneer home of his great-grandparents James Orr and Elizabeth Jane Green, converts to the church from Scotland and Wales.
Grantsville was the small pioneer community on the edge of a very unfriendly and inhospitable desert in the Great Basin of North America. A new settlement with very few log and adobe houses. It was hot and dusty in the simmer and very cold with lots of wind and snow in the winter. Great Grandfather Orr was kept very busy keeping the fire going to keep this young man warn and well that first winter. Grandfather being the first born of the this young couple was given his father's name, James, and his great grandmother's maiden name of Copeland.
His grandmother and grandfather were Elizabeth McQueen and Robert Orr. His Great Grandparents were James Orr and Ann Houston, and Osbourne McQueen and Elizabeth Copeland. His grandparents on his mother;s side were Richard Green and Mariah Long, and Charles James Phillips and Rachel Rowland. He was born of goodly ancestors.
When this little boy was nearly six he started to school at Grantsville in a little one room school. My grandfather was six years older than President J. Rueben Clark Jr. President Clark was also born in Grantsville and he has since restored the old school building in Grantsville. This little James Orr must have been a brilliant boy as he always had a great love for books and also for music. His parents must have encouraged him to take every advantage of the opportunity that he had to go to school. James had a good voice and learned how to play the banjo. He liked to act in home dramatics and spent many hours acting in home shows. Movies and other entertainment were unknown then and people had the great advantage of entertaining themselves by entertaining others.
His boyhood days were spent on a farm in Clover Creek, Utah a little farm town close to Grantsville. Here they lived in a log house. And they had very few of the necessities of life and none of the luxuries. At the time my grandfather was growing up in Mercur, Utah, a mining town in the canyon fifteen miles from Clover was then the largest city in Utah. It was in Mercur that the farmers of Clover Creek and St. John's sold all their produce and did what little shopping they had to do.
James was well liked in Clover Creek and they had a very good time out in the little town in Skull Valley. They had dances and often James's father played for the dance with his violin. They rode horses and went sleigh riding. James had six brothers younger than him. There was Charles, Osborne, Malcom, Walter, Richard, and Ernest. They had a beautiful mother (Elizabeth Jane Green). She had lots of dark hair and dark eyes. She was never well after she had a little girl that died at birth. From then on she was practically ad invalid.
James was baptized but the rest of the family was not. Ernest was baptized when his cousin Zine was baptized. He went with his cousin without his parents knowing about it.
Early in 1888 James was called on a mission to the Southern States and a farewell was held in Clover Creek. His mother felt bad when he went on a mission and didn't know whether she wanted him to go or not. He was a good missionary and wrote home frequently. His cousin Zine still has some of the letters. He labored in Alabama and lived with a family by the name of White. He was a good preacher and was loved by all he labored with.
He had only been gone on his mission a short time when his brother Osborne married Emma Williams. They had the wedding supper at home in Clover Creek and when they set the table they found that they had exactly thirteen plates. Mother Orr was very superstitious and so she said that she would not eat dinner with only thirteen plates so she set another plate and put James' picture on the plate.
James had a picture taken in Salt Lake before leaving on his mission. He was a very good looking young man of nearly 22. He was very good looking and wore a mustache. He has a pleasant voice and spoke softly and clearly. His friends had a deep admiration for him. He had a strong dislike for drink. Maybe that was because he had seen his father drink and disapproved of it so heartily.
His father was a (James Copeland Orr, Sr.) good man and very talented. He played the fiddle well, and it is said that there was no one who could dance the Highland Fling and better. James Sr. had been ordained a deacon on July 23, 1851 by I Clements and came to Utah with his father Robert Orr and the family in 1853. He could play any instrument that he picked up. And it is supposed that he married Elizabeth in the Endowment house in Salt Lake City in 1864.
They raised a family of very good looking well built healthy boys. In June 1889 Osborne and Emma were going up to Malad to visit Emma's parents, and Malcolm and Charles went with them. When they reached the Bear River it looked to cool and they were hot and uncomfortable so they decided to go for a swim. Charles was drowning and Mac (as Malcolm was called) tried to save him but to no avail. With sadness in their hearts they finally found his body and headed back to Clover to tell the sad news to his beloved parents. This was a great blow to the mother and she never got over it. He was only 24. Mother was nearly bed-fast from then on and suffered terribly form cancer. Without much medical help to relieve the pain she was very glad when she was finally called to her rest in heaven and the terrible suffering was over. She died the 1st of April 1890 and was buried in the cemetery at St. Johns. St Johns is about 2 miles from Clover Creek.
They did not call James home at this time but about 3 months later his father became seriously ill and they sent for the missionary to come home. It was a long way home from the southern states in 1890 and by the time he reached Skull Valley his father had died. There was a coffin on the station platform at St. John's station and the young missionary inquired who it was for and was told that it was for his father. Sadly he rode the short way to Clover Creek sitting on his father's coffin.
His father had been run over by a wagon and bruised very badly and was never well again. They always said that he died from cancer as well as his wife. He died the 5th of June 1890 and is also buried in the St. John's cemetery. This left the boys without their parents and they had to make their own way. Richard and Ernest were still very young (14 and 11) and went to live with an Aunt. Later, when Osborne and James lived at Avon Richard came up and lived with them and went to school at the A.C.
Young Malcom went to Nevada as a very young man to prospect for gold and said that he would not come back until he made a lot of money. James went into Salt Lake and started school at the old Latter Day University. It was while going to the University that he met Soobe Ferrell and a great friendship grew between the two and they had a great love for one another. They had a lot of fun attending classes and rooming together. In talking to Uncle Soobe who is now 84 years old (at the time of this writing) he said that he never met a finer man in all his life and one that had a more brilliant mind. They had lots of good times talking things over.
Uncle Soobe thought so much of this young man that when his sister Mary Francis (Fanny) had her wedding out in Alpine Utah he took James C. Orr out to meet the folks. James was introduced to Maggie who had just turned 17 and was a beautiful young girl with blue eyes and light brown hair. He sure must have decided that she was the only girl on the world for him before tht night was over.
Salt Lake was quite a distance from Alpine in 1891 and it was in the cold month of February when Uncle Soobe and James made their trip out to this lovely wedding of Jeff Vanoe and Mary Francis Ferrell. They had a lovely courtship, James and Maggie, when Maggie came to work in Salt Lake during the summer and in the fall they went by train to Logan to be married in the Temple Oct 14, 1891.
Young Richard took them by wagon over to Avon where they made their home with Osborne and his family and where James was employed as a school teacher. They had a very happy time together and were very much in love. James was a very good school teacher. The pay however was very small and in the spring James went to sheer sheep at t place called Three Mile Pass. My mother, a little black haired brown eyed miss, was born the next October 10, 1892, and they named her Maggie Elizabeth. She was named after two women who were most dear to him, his mother and his wife. **A note here about his mother: Elizabeth Green was an immigrant from Wales. She had come to America with her mother in 1862 from Mormouthsgure South Wales. Her parents had joined the church in their native land and her father came to America in 1853.**
James made a good school teacher and everyone liked him. He always planted a garden in the spring and raised wonderful vegetables. So his great love was seeing things grow ans he carefully tended his gardens and they grew. He liked very much to fish and anywhere he could find a stream he loved to bait a hook and sit by the side of the stream and fish for hours. He worked hard during the summer at all kinds of odd jobs to make a living for his family as a school teacher did not receive a very high salary for their hours of teaching.
In 1894 another little girl was born and she was named Althea Ferrell and was also blessed by her father. This little girl inherited a musical talent from her father and mother and she plays the piano and is a good singer. James and Maggie used to sing together a lot and he had many favorite songs to sing to his wife. He always said that young Maggie had hair like his mother, Her hair was very long and very dark and thick. She had soft hair and took very good care of it. In April 1896 a dark haired brown eyed boy came to bless their home. They called him Malcom after his Uncle Malcom who had disappeared (looking for gold).
The Salt Lake Temple was to be dedicated the 6th of April 1892 and James and Maggie decided they would take a trip down to Salt Lake for the dedication. There was still snow on the pass, but after a hazardous trip over the pass they reached Brigham City and went form there down to Salt Lake on the train that was crowded with other saints. Little Maggie was just six months old and they bundled her up nice and warm and she enjoyed the trip along with her parents. In Salt Lake Aunt Sally tended her while her mother went to the dedication.
On July 1898 James proudly announced to his little family that there were two babies instead of the usual one. My how happy they all were to have twins in the family. A boy and a girl and they were called Elwin and Ella.
Diptheria struck in the little town of Avon and fear crept into all their hearts. My mother tells of the night her father was called out to administer to a little boy named Willie Bankhead who had diphtheria. After her father administered to him he went to the school house and built a fire and then after heating the water took a bath and put on clean clothes before coming back to his home. He was very careful to try and keep the disease from his beloved home.
However, Maggie and Althom did get this dreadful disease at one time in Avon and nearly died and Grandmother Orr has always said that they were healed by faith and prayer. In the spring of 1899 Anut Sarah and Uncle Ben (Maggie's brother and sister) came up to Avon and helped to move mother and the other children to Alpine. James stayed at Four Mile Pass to sheer sheep and came down later. He had a job teaching school in Highland in the fall. Here in Alpine a little girl was born at the home of her grandparents John and Francis Ferrell.
They named this daughter Ethel. Shortly after this they moved to the Hyrum Healey home in Highland and that fall James started teaching school in the red brick school house on the bench. This school house is now part of the highland ward church. Maggie and Althea had started school at Avon and Mother tells of the mornings she walked down the road above our home with her father to school. It was more than 3 miles from where they lived down to school and they walked it every morning.
My father has told us many times how he used to sit behind my mother and her sister Ethel and put their long think hair in the ink wells. He said they were the prettiest girls in the school and had the prettiest hair and that grandmother Orr had dressed them better than anyone that went to school in Highland. He has said many times that James C. Orr was the best school teacher that he ever had and that he kept the best disciplined room he had ever been in. He never was cross of yelled at the students but they knew that he would not tolerate any foolishness. My Grandfather Beck sent his family up to Alpine school and one morning my father said that he was not going to school in Alpine any more but that he was going over to have James C. Orr for his teacher. He said that he always was glad that he went.
They lived in the Hyrum Healey home for a while and then moved down closer to the school to live inthe old Winn place. Buelah was born in 1902 and in 1904 James Ferrell was born. When he was 8 months old he took sick with bronchitis and died. They had Dr. Hooves come up and they tried very hard to get him well. Grandmother Ferell came down from Alpine to help nurse him and put all kinds of plasters on him. His father administered to him but all to no avail and the little boy died. They buried him in the Alpine cemetery.
James walked to school faithfully and did his teaching job well. He also worked in the church. After Bro Rob Bolin resigned as Presiding Elder, James C. Orr took his place and did the work of presiding over the Highland Branch very well. He was a very good speaker and could deliver a real good gospel sermon and many a time he taught a lesson in Sunday School. I suppose he used to lead the sigfing and bless the sacrament and pass it too. Mother said sometimes their family were the only ones to church.
Charley Glenn, another boy, was born 1906 and then two little girls Leona and Lucille. In the summer James planted a large vegetable garden and raised lots of melons and kinds of fruit. Mother and the others had to help pick raspberries and other fruit. This fruit and lots of the garden were sold to help with the living expenses of the large family.
When James and his family lived in the Winn place it was owned by Matthias Cowley (an apostle) and often they would take a wagon of produce up to the Cowley home and they always took a load of watermelons at the end of the summer. When my grandmother was to church Matthew Cowley said that he could still remember the wonderful melons that they used to bring up to the Cowley home and that he never since tasted such good melons. They were so large too.
Later the family bought the Walker home up by the mountain. James was teaching school up in Alpine and his health was not very good. The hard work he had always done was not good for him. One morning after he had finished his breakfast he stood up and raised his arms up above his head and stretched really hard. Then, to the fright of the young members of the family he fainted and fell to the floor. My mother tells how they all fled and left dear grandmother to take care if him. James had a bad stomach and heart trouble and soon it became impossible for him to continue teaching school.
When the Alpine school district was consolidated he was one of the first trustees. His name is engraved in the big marble slab that is on the wall in the American Fork High School. Proudly I read his name James C Orr every time I took a drink of water from the fountain in the main hall. Because this memorial to those first trustees did so much for the schools hung just above the fountain.
In 1901 when the Alpine Stake was organized grandfather was one of the first President of the Seventies Quorum and took a very active part. Always they went down to conference in American Fork either in a sleigh or a wagon. And mother has told us many times of the good dinners they had at the homes of the good people in American Fork who were kind enough to invite them to dinner as it was quite a ways to Highland in those days and people couldn't drive home and have dinner and then go back to the afternoon meeting. Grandfather loved the people of American Fork and liked to go down and visit with them.
The 2nd of March 1915 he was ordained a high priest. At this time they went to American Fork 3rd ward church. When the Highland branch was disorganized the people from Highland went to Alpine and the AF 3rd ward. In 1915 when the Highland ward was finally organized and a Bishopric put in my grandfather was sustained as the first Mutual President and lots of times walked down to church when he was not well to see that this work was done.
He did everything that he could to run his small farm and of course he worked at odd jobs to make a living for his large family. He still enjoyed his fishing very much and spent many hours catching fish for dinner.
Two more lively children came to bless their home, Carol and Ivan Copeland. They were more than welcome to their father who loved them very much and done all that he could for them. My mother recalls how her father always sat in his chair by her mother's bed and held her hand whenever she was sick and did everything in the world he could do to help her. He loved her very much and he was very kind to all his family. He never once spoke crossly to his wife or disrespectfully to her and he did not allow his children to speak angry or to sass their mother. He gave all he could to his family and taught them the principles of the gospel.
He loved to sing the song, "When You and I Were Young Maggie" he also liked "When It's Springtime In The Rockies" and "The Men of Earlech." He was ten years older than grandmother and my mother says that he was very good looking.
His oldest daughter Maggie married Stephen F Beck in 1911 and they lived down the road about half a mile south of her parents home. He loved to walk down the road and visit with her. And often would take Roma and Feryl his two granddaughters and his own children on his knee and rock them all at once and sing to them. He loved to laugh and play with them. He always took the time to play with the children.
When my mother was expecting another baby and was not very well the doctor told her that she should have some fish and fresh vegetables to eat. Her father brought the vegetables and some melon down to her and spent quite a bit of time fishing in order that she might have some fish to eat. In January this baby was born on the 6th day of the new years of 1917 and my grandmother came down to take care of Mother and brought Ivan and Carol with her. Every morning Grandfather walked down to see how they were and to visit with his own loved ones.
But the joy was short because on about the 26th of January Grandfather took sick and the Doctor advised them to take him into Salt Lake to the L.D.S. Hospital and he was operated on for appendicitis and they found that it had ruptured. Mt father went with grandfather on the train to Salt Lake City, he was so bad that he had to ride on a bed in the baggage car and dad stayed with him. He rode on the same car that took the milk from my grandfather Back's dairy dairy farm and while they were in the car they noticed that the employees on the train were helping them selves to the milk in the cans for their lunch. My father said that Grandfather Orr thought that it was awful for the train employees to steal the milk.
Grandfather lived eleven days after the operation and they all thought that he would get well, but on the 8th day of Feb. he passed away and my father brought his body back on the train to American Fork. It was a cold and snowy day when they brought his body back to his home and their was a sadness in the hearts of his beloved family when they saw the body of the father that they loved so much.
One can not even imagine the heartache that was in this humble home that day. This wonderful father was only 53 years old and he had 11 young children that needed him badly. His wife must have wondered over and over what she could possibly do to make a living for the children and to ever teach them the things that their father would have done.
The funeral was held in Alpine and it was a lovely funeral. He was buried in the Alpine Cemetery by the side of his small son James Farrell Feb 11, 1917. Beloved by all and greatly missed by his loved ones. It could be well said of him, "This noble man was one of God's most precious souls and he had gone back to his Father's Kingdom."
He had fought a good fight,
He had finished the work God had sent him to do
His work here had been well and faithfully done
Jesus said,
"Enter into my joy and sit down on my throne."
Written by his granddaughter, Cora Beck Adamson, October 15, 1954.
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