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The information for this page was submitted by Harold Wright, one of our long time submitters. Additions, corrections, or comments should be submitted to Betty Miller or Betty Phillips, your hosts for Pickens County, AL. Typographical and transcription errors will be happily corrected, however, no alterations will be made to the original document, additional information will be added as submitter's notes or as additional informational material.
Samuel ORR submitted by Harold Wright
Samuel Orr was born in the state of South Carolina in 1824. He married Jane Clarke Stokes (b. Dec. 12, 1828) in Greenville County, South Carolina about 1845. According to official census data, which records the state of birth of his children, he apparently moved to the state of Alabama around 1847 from South Carolina and settled in the Palmetto Community of Pickens County, AL. before 1855. He was listed in the special census of Pickens County, AL in 1855. Samuel and Jane Orr had 9 children born in AL. which were (1) Mary A.E. b. 1847, (2) Eliza Melvina b. Nov. 7, 1848, (3) William D. b. 1850, (4) Sarah Evaline b. 1852, (5) George Washington b. Apr. 8, 1854, (6) John H. b. 1856, (7) Nancy Isabella b. Sept. 20, 1959, (8) Thomas Jefferson b. Sept. 4, 1860 and (9) S.B. (Alice) b. 1862.
In February, 1861, the State of Alabama seceded from the Government of the United States and formed the Confederate States of America(CSA). The call to arms in the South and patriotism was strong so on March 27, 1862, Samuel Orr enlisted in Company D, 41st Alabama Infantry Regiment, CSA Army as a Private by COL. Henry Tailbird. Thus, at age 38, Samuel Orr left his wife and 9 children ages 1 to 15 to answer the call to arms of the CSA. His unit, the 41st ALA Infantry Regiment was composed of companies from Blount, Fayette, Greene, Perry, Pickens, Tuscaloosa and Washington Counties of Alabama. After proceeding to Chattanooga, TN. for its first duty, it operated in middle Tennessee before joining the Army of Tennessee. This unit went on to fight in battles at Murfreesboro, TN., the relief of Vicksburg at Jackson, MS. then Chickamauga, GA. and Petersburg, VA. It surrendered at Appomattox, VA. in April 1865.
Before any battles of the 41st ALA Infantry, Samuel Orr died on August 20, 1862 at Chattanooga, TN. from disease which was presumed to be Typhoid fever that killed 12 members of the unit in August 1862 as reported by his commanding officer in the official Archive files. His burial site is unknown but presumed to be in the Silverdale Confederate Cemetery which was near the hospital in Chattanooga, TN. His widow, Jane C. Stokes Orr applied for final pay and allowances and received $78.16 from the Confederate States Government on December 27, 1864. On April 11, 1887, she applied under the "Application for Relief by Widows of Confederate Soldiers Act of Alabama of February 25, 1887". Then, on June 13, 1889, she applied under a similar Act by the State of Alabama approved February 28, 1889.
Jane C. Orr died August 11, 1890 and is buried in the Old Salem Cemetery near the Palmetto community in Pickens County, AL. Also buried in the Old Salem Cemetery are four of her children, S.B. (Alice) Orr (no date), Eliza Melvina Orr (d. July 17, 1889), Nancy Isabella Orr (d. November 10, 1881), and William D. Orr (d. 1901). In June 2004, a Veterans/CSA tombstone for Samuel Orr was placed next to his wife's in the old Salem cemetery to honor his service to the Confederate States and Alabama.
SOURCES: (1) 1855 Special Census of Pickens County, AL # 2131, (2) 1860 Census of Pickens County, AL, page 78, (3) 1870 Census of Pickens County, AL, page 15-Palmetto (4) 1880 Census of Pickens County, AL, pages 515 and 546, (5) Official Records of Civil War Veterans and Applications for Pension, Department of Archives, Montgomery, AL. .(6) Pickens County, AL. History and Families, 1998, page 502.
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