ORR, Robert Ustain: A Short Biography

    Robert Orr was quite the character on the stage, taking mostly comedy roles. Adept at showing the humorous side of life, he was a good pantomime and had plenty of chances to use his talent. When they were able to have a stage curtain made, he was in charge of running the curtain up and down and kept the coal-oil lamps all clean and filled. The first play they put on was called "Ten Nights in a Bar Room", which Robert had a part. This play was a favorite for many years and they played it at the opening of each season. They also took their plays over to Camp Floyd, Eureka and Tooele.
    • July 21, 2022
    0 1
    Read Time:2 Minute, 12 Second

    Robert Ustain Orr was born August 2, 1803 at Kilburnie, Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the son of James Orr and Anne Houston. He was an engineer by trade, being employed at one of the large woolen mills where wool fabric was woven.

    Robert married Elizabeth McQueen in Scotland April 16, 1828, and they made their home at Kilburnie. It was here they were visited by Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They embraced the Gospel of the Church and Robert was baptized July 28, 1847 at Kilburnie.

    Robert and Elizabeth emigrated to America sailing on the ship “Falcon”, March 28, 1853. Robert was 49 years old and Elizabeth, 47. Robert signed on as an engine keeper on the voyage. Listed on the shipping records sailing with them were their children James, 20, Robert, 17, Matthew, 15, Elizabeth 12, Ann, 9, and John, 7. Elder Cornelius Bagnall was President of the Company and the trip across the ocean took 8 weeks. After landing in America they went directly to Nauvoo, Illinois. They crossed the Missouri River and headed across the Plains with the Appleton-Harmon Company arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on October 16, 1853. After arriving in Utah the family made their home in Salt Lake City where Robert and his older sons were employed hauling granite from the quarries in Little Cottonwood Canyon to the Salt Lake Temple Yard.

    The family moved to the Tooele Valley and settled in Grantsville in 1855. The years of 1855 and 1856 will always be remembered as the years of famine. Grasshoppers so thick as to darken the sun.

    Robert built a log house on the North-west corner of Clark and Cooley Street. Robert and Elizabeth opened a store which they operated for many years in Grantsville. Robert and his sons freighted to points both East and West.

    Robert Orr was quite the character on the stage, taking mostly comedy roles. Adept at showing the humorous side of life, he was a good pantomime and had plenty of chances to use his talent. When they were able to have a stage curtain made, he was in charge of running the curtain up and down and kept the coal-oil lamps all clean and filled. The first play they put on was called “Ten Nights in a Bar Room”, which Robert had a part. This play was a favorite for many years and they played it at the opening of each season. They also took their plays over to Camp Floyd, Eureka and Tooele.

    Robert died November 7, 1887, and is buried in the Grantsville Cemetery.

     

    About Post Author

    Brother Joseph

    randy@rkbaker.com
    Happy
    Happy
    0 %
    Sad
    Sad
    0 %
    Excited
    Excited
    0 %
    Sleepy
    Sleepy
    0 %
    Angry
    Angry
    0 %
    Surprise
    Surprise
    100 %

    Related Tags
    You May Also Like

      JOHN, Thomas & Margaret Thomas

      The first three nights on the trail were spent on the banks of the Elkhorn River, which was not far out of Winter Quarters. The river had many fish in it and some of the company fished a good deal while camped at that location. Others spent time harvesting grapes which were in abundance along the banks of the river. The company saw many buffalo herds and abundant antelope, deer, and elk along the trail. They only harvested one buffalo, but had many deer and antelope along the way. This journey was made before the white man exterminated the buffalo by shooting thousands and then leaving the carcasses to waste.This was not the end of the influence of the white man. Henry John documented the following: “The horse and the cow were soon to take the place of the buffalo; sheep were to replace the elk, deer and antelope. Domestic fowl claimed the place of the wild turkey; grouse and little prairie dogs were given wheat saturated with poison in order to move them out of the way so fields of grain could be raised. Wild plums and bending branches of wild fruit were to be rooted up and the more luscious fruits- peaches, pears, apples and others- were to take their place. The Indian wigwams were to be moved; white man’s cottages and beautiful residences were to take their places (2).” Henry Miller had a very stern reputation and lived up to that reputation on this journey as well. When the company came to the Green River, Captain Miller told them all to get out of the wagons and ford the stream on foot. The river was ice cold and one old man that had been very sick and worn out climbed on a mess box that was bolted on the back of a wagon. When Captain Miller saw this, he jumped into the river and pulled the old man off and threw him into the cold river. Twenty eight people died on the trip and many thought a good portion of those fatalities were attributable to Captain Miller’s harsh, unforgiving supervision
      View Post

        JOHNSON, Benjamin Franklin

        Every house was a hospital, but without nurses. There were hardly enough men to bury the dead. As Benjamin had cared for the sick at the Kirtland Poor Camp, he knew what should be done and was immediately called upon by Joseph to help. He reported: “I had come to Nauvoo on horseback and as the houses of the brethren were scattered for some distance up and down the river, I kept my horse under the saddle and rode from house to house giving medicines and caring for the sick, and for six weeks did not take off my boots or coat for one night of sleep.”
        View Post

          JACKSON, Elizabeth Horrocks: Handcart Pioneer of 1856

          “It will be readily perceived that under such adverse circumstances I had become despondent. I was six or seven thousand miles from my native land, in a wild, rocky, mountain country, in a destitute condition, the ground covered with snow, the waters covered with ice, and I with three fatherless children with scarcely nothing to protect them from the merciless storms. When I retired to bed that night, being the 27th of October, I had a stunning revelation. In my dream, my husband stood by me and said, 'Cheer up, Elizabeth, deliverance is at hand'. The dream was fulfilled.”
          View Post

            JENKINS, Jane: A Widow Supporting Her Family

            In order to support herself and her family of small children, Jane made cookies, cakes, and bread which were put into small home made baskets and the children would sell them to regular customers and at the Southern Down Resort. In order to have a variety of cakes, the mother and children would go down to the seashore when the tide was out and gather larva from the rocks. This substance looked somewhat like lettuce. They washed the sand from it and put it into baskets and buckets. It was later baked as part of the cakes. These children thought nothing of walking three or four miles and selling this food for a schilling a pound. Sometimes Cecilia and Ann worked as nurse girls and as ladies maids.
            View Post

              ALLSOP, Thomas Hill

              STORY COPIED FROM FILES IN SUP LIBRARYWhen more people came to Sandy, Mr. Allsop sold some of his land. Later he donated land for the Church site and cemetary. He gave Sandy a big bowery where large parties could go and dance and have weenie roasts. The bowery, the reservoir and Allsop's Lane was known to all the people of Sandy and surrounding communities.
              View Post

                ARMSTRONG, Francis

                From this humble beginning began the rise of one of Utah's greatest entrepreneurs of his day or any other day. He obtained his own saw mill, then a lumber company, then a construction company. As the years went by, he purchased a flour mill, several huge ranches, and developed sugar companies, banks, savings and loan operations, railroads, transfer companies, insurance companies, and eventually electric street cars (the second in the world) and the supporting electricity production company.
                View Post

                  James Henry Rollins, Faithful Pioneer

                  The San Bernardino colonizers were called back to Utah by Brigham Young when Johnson’s Army threatened. Henry and his family heeded the call, leaving behind still another home. In Utah, they settled in Minersville where he opened a lead mine and served as postmaster. He spent most of his life there serving faithfully in the church as a Bishop and in other callings well into his 80’s. He spent his last years in Lyman Wyoming to be near his children, where he passed away February 7, 1899.
                  View Post

                    MITCHELL, James Jr. & Anne Hull

                    Up north in the Upper Snake River Valley, the virgin soil was bringing forth bounteous crops. This land could be had almost for the asking, so James took advantage of the pre-exemption rights of the Homestead Act and secured 360 acres of virgin soil just two miles north of Shelley, Idaho. So it was that in 1885, James came to Idaho.
                    View Post