Thomas W. Orr

As printed in 1910

HON. THOMAS W. ORR.

Prominent in the professional life of Wooster, pre-eminently distinguished for his splendid ability in carrying to completion important public enterprises and enjoying marked prestige in many things, aside from his pronounced legal talents, far beyond the limits of the community honored by his citizenship, Hon. Thomas W. Orr stands out a clear and conspicuous figure among the successful men of a part of the great Buckeye state noted throughout the commonwealth for its high order of intelligence and business and professional talent. Characterized by breadth of wisdom and strong individuality, his achievements but represent the utilization of innate talents in directing efforts along lines in which mature judgment, rare discrimination and a resourcefulness that hesitates at no opposing circumstances, pave the way and ultimately lead to great achievements. It is not the intention of the biographer in this connection to give a detailed history of his busy, influential and interesting life, but rather to note, incidentally, his connection with various phases of the development of Wayne county and his long and worthy practice of the law and to show the marked influence he has wielded in advancing the material interests of this locality by his strict adherence to the Golden Rule and his desire to promote the general good.

Hon. Thomas W. Orr is of Scotch-Irish and German ancestry and was born February 18, 1861, in Salt Creek township, Wayne county. He is the son of John and Agnes (Lisle) Orr, the latter the daughter of Robert Lisle, the mother dying when Thomas W. Orr was nine years of age. From the age of thirteen he was compelled to fight his own battles of life. His father was very solicitous regarding the future welfare of his son, but did not have the necessary means to assist him, and in such a school of discipline, hard and regrettable, he learned the enduring lessons of fortitude and courage that have stood him so well in hand in later life. He worked on the farm during the summer months in order to obtain means, and he attended the common schools during the winter months. He was ambitious to “leave his footprints on the sands of time,” and consequently was a persistent student. He attended the high school at Fredericksburg, also the Smithville Academy, and finally took a course in the Normal Academy at Ada, Ohio. When nineteen years of age he had obtained a sufficient education to enable him to begin teaching, which he did, alternating the same with going to school until he had finished the course. He taught in Wayne, Salt and Sugar Creek townships, and for a time was principal of the schools at Sterling. The last year of his school work was spent in North Dakota, as principal of the St. Thomas schools, in Pembina county. Red River valley. He won an excellent reputation as an educator and his services were in great demand, and had he continued in this profession he would doubtless have become one of the noted educators of the state. But he. had long desired to win a name at the legal profession, and ruhen he returned from the AATst he entered the law office of Messrs. Critchfield & Critchfield, in AAToster. and there completed his elementary studies of the law, which had been undertaken some years previous, he having devoted some of his spare moments to a perusal of Blackstone prior to his going to North Dakota. In March, 1895, he w'as admitted to the Ohio bar, and in the spring of that year he opened an office in Orrville, AAMyne county, and for a number of years was actively and successfully engaged in the practice of law at that place until elected to the office of judge of the probate court, which brought about his removal to AVooster, where he has devoted his energies to the duties of that office. AAdiile living in Orrville he was a member of and clerk of the board of education of the town for six years, and for a period of five years he was employed as solicitor of it, performing the duties of each with a characteristic fidelity that has marked all his public and professional acts, stand)- ing him as a man of unquestioned aliility and integrity.

Mr. Orr was married, in 1890, to Emma J. Smith, daughter of Air. and Mrs. Cyrus Smith, of Paint township, the representative of an old and highly honored family there. This union has been blessed by the birth of the following children: Maynard S. (deceased), Lucil. AAhilter S., Ruth and Paul S.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

Fraternally, Judge Orr is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.

As printed in History of Wayne County, Ohio (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.