Flipside: William Morland Orr and Nancy Agnes Cannon Orr McCormick

I have spent the past week updating my alpha listing on Flipside. I stopped making additions the first year I blogged....2009. Back then, I figured that since I added a search engine feature, that the alpha list was obsolete. Lately, I have been looking for particular blogs to update or to grab a graphic, and I can't find them using the search engine. Other than getting the list up to date, I was able to find the "holes" in my family genealogy blogs. My maternal great great grandparents, William Morland Orr and Nancy Agnes Cannon Orr McCormick, are ancestors that I have neglected.

William Morland Orr was born on April 28, 1813 in Ohio. He was the son of Joseph Orr and Jane Kelso Orr. William was the second child born to Joseph and Jane. Ten additional children joined the Orr family from 1815-1837.

From the will of Matthew's father, Joseph Orr 1857

I do want to add a note here regarding Matthew's middle name. He is listed as Matthew Morland Orr in his father's will. I have also seen it written as William Morlan Orr. Of interest there was a well regarded Morland/Morlan family in Elkrun Township in the early 1800's. I have never been able to ascertain whether William's middle name was a family name or honoring neighboring friends.

The Orr's removed from Pennsylvania to town of Lisbon, Ohio, where Joseph was employed as the town's tailor. By 1828, the Orr's moved a short distance from Lisbon to sizeable piece of land in section 31, Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. The Orr property was not far from Cannon and Fife properties.

Nancy Agnes Cannon was born in April, 1817 probably on a farm in Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. She was the daughter of Lindsey Cannon and Elizabeth Fife Cannon. The Cannon's and the Fife's were early Columbiana County pioneers, both families relocating from Western Pennsylvania. Nancy' namesake, was her mother's sister, Nancy Agnes Fife Springer.

When Nancy was an infant, the family removed to St Clair Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. She was the youngest of three having two older known sisters. There are gaps between the known children, early in the Cannon's marriage and son, Thomas Cannon, who has no records other than he died at age twenty. Nancy had seven siblings.

1900 photograph of Cannons Mills

Nancy grew up in a village named for her family and the business her father ran, Cannons Mills, St Clair Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. Although the village was small, Nancy would have come in contact with families coming to the mill for flour and her father was also a distributor of homemade whiskey. In townships close by lived numerous Cannon and Fife families, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Unfortunately, most records for St. Clair Township have been lost for the years before 1840. It appears that the early settlers accounts are primarily based on Steubenville Land Records and recollections and stories of family members who were alive when The History of Columbiana County, Ohio was written in 1879 by Horace Mack. Lindsey Cannon and family had left Cannons Mills between 1840-1850.

Eighteen year old Nancy married twenty-two year old William Morland Orr, son of Joseph Orr and Jane Kelso Orr, in Columbiana County, Ohio on October 15, 1835. Reverend Clement Vallandigham, the Presbyterian minister from Lisbon, Ohio performed the ceremony.

How the newly weds met is unknown; however, Nancy's Uncle Matthew Cannon owned farmland in Elkrun Township, where William's father, Joseph Orr also owned a section of land. There was also Fife family nearby.

William and Nancy settled on a farm in Elkrun Township. The Orr's welcomed their first child, Matthew Thomas Orr, on September 8, 1836. Next, two daughters joined the family; Elizabeth Orr, born 1838 and Mary A. Orr, born 1840. The girls birth years are approximates determined from census records.

Wm M Orr

His name on the 1840 Elkrun Census is almost illegible--Wm M.Orr, transcribed as Everall Orr. He is enumerated with other land owners around his father's farm. In fact his father is enumerated near the bottom of the page. Six people were enumerated in the Orr household in 1840, two engaged in agriculture. As I will note further down in the blog, I believe that the Orr's were living on Nancy's widowed aunt's farm. Aunt Jane Fife Cannon was enumerated in Lisbon, Centre Township in 1840, not on her property in Elkrun Township. The family of David Carlisle is directly beside the Cannon property and in the 1840 enumeration Matthew Orr is enumerated directly under David Carlisle.

1 male under age 5--Matthew Orr

1 male age 10-15--Unknown, perhaps a younger brother of William or Nancy or a hired farmhand

1 male age 20-30--William M. Orr

2 females under age 5--Elizabeth Orr and Mary A. Orr

1 female age 20-30--Nancy Agnes Cannon Orr

Two more daughters were born during the 1840's; Margaret C. Orr, born 1842 and Lucinda Bell Orr, born June 29, 1844. Lucinda is my maternal great grandmother.

William Morland Orr died at age thirty-five on February 11, 1849 in Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. He is buried in Carlisle Cemetery located near his father's land in Elkrun Township. There is a map below with a yellow star marking the cemetery. The photo on Find A Grave is mine and I seriously need to drive back to take better photos of all the Orr grave markers.

1850 Ohio Federal Census
Elkrun Township, District 25, Columbiana County
August 29, 1850

Nancy Orr was widowed at age thirty-one and had five children to raise alone. A year later it appears she is living with Jane Fife Cannon, widowed wife of Matthew Cannon, on a farm in District 25 in Elkrun Township. Jane is her aunt times two. Jane was her mother's sister and she married Nancy's paternal uncle, Matthew Cannon.

Jane Cannon, age 54, born in Pennsylvania, value of real estate owned $2,500

Nancy Orr, age 34, born in Ohio (age discrepancy)

Mathias Orr, age 14, born in Ohio, attended school

Elizabeth Orr, age 12, born in Ohio, attended school

Margaret Orr, age 8, born in Ohio, attended school

Lucinda Orr, age 6, born in Ohio, attended school

Elijah McCormick, age 27, farmer, born in Ohio

Mary A. Orr, daughter to Nancy, is enumerated with her Great Aunt Nancy Agnes Fife Springer and Great Uncle John Springer on the Springer Farm in Centre Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. Mary is age 10 and attended school.

1840 Elkrun Township

I'm going to address this here and with more detail in a blog about Matthew Cannon and Jane Fife Cannon. It has taken me countess hours scrolling through land records and wills to put the story of Matthew and Jane Cannon together. In the Horace Mack book, The History of Columbiana County, Matthew is listed as a single man. His tombstone mentions the same refrain. The will of Joseph Fife, 1817 and his own will, 1831, prove he was indeed married. The piece of property outlined in red is his and following his death, it was willed to his wife, Jane Cannon.

Perhaps fourteen year old, Nancy Agnes Cannon, either spent time or moved in to assist her widowed aunt between 1831-1835. This could have been how she met and married William Morland Orr in 1835. The Orr property is outlined in green. It think it has changed my original thought that William and Nancy were living on Orr property in 1840. Instead, I believe they were living on Aunt Jane Fife Cannon's land and William was working her farm.

You may have noticed that there was a farm worker living on Jane Cannons farm in 1850. Elijah McCormick married Nancy Agnes Cannon Orr after August, 1850. I have not found a marriage record for Elijah and Nancy. They had a daughter, Arabella McCormick in 1851.

The marriage was short lived, as Elijah died at age thirty, on September 6, 1853. He is buried in West Beaver Church Cemetery, Lisbon, Centre Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. The cemetery is on McCormick Run Road and numerous McCormick's are buried there. I have not been able to attach Elijah to his birth family.

On March 25, 1859, nineteen year old, Mary A. Orr, died. To date, the cause of death is unknown. She was buried near her father in the Carlisle Cemetery, Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio.

1860 Ohio Federal Census
Elkrun Township, Columbiana County
June 9, 1860

Nancy, again widowed, is raising her family in Elkrun Township. Was she able to continue to live on her aunt's property or perhaps on Joseph Orr's land? Is she living in the village of Elkton and her son Matthew is farming someone else's land while living with his mother?

Nancy McCormac, age 44

Matthew T., age 23, farmer

Elizabeth, age 22

Margaret, age 18

Arabella, age 9

My maternal great grandmother, Lucinda Bell Orr, was enumerated with the family of Robert Glen Bell and Dorothy Betz Bell in Elkrun Township on the 1860 Ohio Federal census. She was age 15 had attended school during the year. She may be helping with housework, but is not listed as having employment in the home. I have been told by Frederick family, that Lucinda's mother, Nancy, was very good friends with the Bell family. Lucinda married Alfred Frederick whose ancestors were Betz. Lucinda must have been also been fond of the Bell family since she honored them by naming her third son, Robert Bell Frederick.

Like many mothers and spouses, Nancy spent the first portion of the 1860's worrying about her son, Matthew while he served in the Civil War. Matthew was a private with Company C, 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry from August 7, 1862 to June 11, 1865.

The first of Nancy's children to marry was her youngest, Lucinda Bell Orr. Twenty-four year old Lucinda married thirty-two year old, Alfred F. Frederick, on October 22, 1868 in the Probate Court of Columbiana County, Ohio. Lucinda and Alfred are my great grandparents.

The second Orr sibling to marry was Matthew. On December 30, 1869, thirty-three year old Matthew Thomas Orr married twenty-four year old Mary Ellen Smith in Columbiana County, Ohio. Mary Ellen was the daughter of lawyer, James L. Smith and Elisabeth Roff Smith, who lived in Lisbon, Centre Township, Columbiana County, Ohio.

1870 Ohio Federal Census
New Lisbon, Centre Township
June 1, 1870

Nancy and her daughter, Arabella, have relocated to the town of New Lisbon in the township to the west of Elkrun. Her son, Matthew Thomas Orr, was living there with his family. Perhaps the reason she moved there.

Nancy McCormic, age 53, keeping house, $100 in personal property

Arabell McCormac, age 19, at home, $900 in real estate.

Nancy and Arabella are living in a house. Arabella owns real estate. Either the house they are living in or perhaps she was willed property in Centre Township since her father, Elijah McCormick's family owned property in the township near New Lisbon.

Nancy's daughter, Elizabeth Orr is not enumerated with her mother. I have not been able to trace her. Either she has married or has died between 1860-1870.

November 10, 1870 brought a joyous event as Nancy's daughter, Margaret C. Orr, age twenty-eight married James F. Groomes, age thirty-four at New Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio. James was the son of James Grooms and Nancy Frederick Grooms.

Nancy's father, Lindsey Cannon, age ninety-two, died on his farm in Elkrun Township the day following Christmas, December 26, 1870. He was buried in Carlisle Cemetery, almost across the road from his property.

On September 14, 1873, Nancy's mother, Elizabeth Fife Cannon, age eighty-four, died on the Cannon farm in Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. Elizabeth was buried in Carlisle Cemetery beside her husband.

During the 1870's, Nancy became the grandmother to twelve grandchildren, all living in Columbiana County, Ohio.

Lucinda and Alfred Frederick

Albert L. Frederick--1869
William Walter Frederick--1871
Robert Bell Frederick--1873
Edna May Frederick--1876

Matthew and Mary Ellen Orr

Effie Orr--1870
Annie Orr--1872
Hattie Orr--1874
Marie Orr--1876

Martha and John F. Groomes

Addie Groomes--1871
Myrtha Groomes--1873
Harriet Groomes--1875
Achsah Groomes--1878

On December 13, 1879, Matthew Thomas Orr lost his wife, Mary Ellen Smith Orr age thirty-four. Mary Ellen is enumerated in an Elkrun Township death record. She was attended to by Dr. F. P. Moore and died from dysentery. She is buried in Lisbon Cemetery, Lisbon, Centre Township, Columbiana County, Ohio.

1880 Ohio Federal Census
Centre Township, Columbia County
June, 1880

Nancy McCormick, age 64, widowed, employed as a tailoress

Arabella McCormick, age 27, at home

A new family member was welcomed into the Orr family when Matthew married Libbie Elizabeth Keck on December 18, 1880 in Columbiana County, Ohio. Elizabeth was the daughter of Charles and Dorothy Keck.

Five additional grandchildren were born in the 1880's. Nancy was now a grandmother to seventeen children.

Martha Marie Frederick--1880 (My maternal grandmother)
William M. Orr--1881
Julia Orr--1883
Frank Groomes--1885
Della Orr--1885

A time of great sorrow and grief for Nancy came in February 1889. Her youngest child, daughter Arabella McCormick, age thirty-five, died. Arabella and her mother had lived together since her birth in 1851. I have found no death record or burial place for Arabella; however, she did have a probate record. The only family mentioned were, her mother, Nancy McCormick, her half sister, Lucinda Frederick and her half brother, Matthew Orr.

Without a 1890 census report or any documents from that decade, it is unknown where Nancy lived. Did she live alone in Lisbon or move in with one of her three children?

Seven years after losing her daughter, Arabella, Nancy lost another daughter. Margaret C. "Maggie" Groomes, age forty-four, died in1896. She is buried in Mt. Zion Evangelical Church Cemetery, Centre Township, Columbiana County, Ohio.

1900 Pennsylvania Federal Census
Esplen Brough, Allegheny County
June 7, 1900

This was a fun little find for me. My maternal great great grandmother, Nancy Agnes Cannon Orr McCormick is enumerated with her daughter (my maternal great grandmother), Lucinda Bell Orr Frederick and my maternal grandmother, Martha Marie Frederick is living at home and on the census.

Alfred Frederick, Head, born May, 1836, age 64, married 32 years, born in Ohio as were his parents, employed as a switch tender, has worked for 12 months, is renting a house at 614 River Avenue, Esplen, Pennsylvania.

Lucinda Frederick, Wife, born June 1854, age 55, married 32 years, mother of five, four alive, born in Ohio as were her parents.

Robert Frederick, Son, born September 1873, age 26, single, born in Ohio as were his parents, employed as a railroad flagman.

Mary Frederick, Daughter, born April 1880, age 20, single, born in Ohio as were her parents, employed as a "scool" teacher for all but two months.

Nancy McCormack, Mother-in-Law, born April 1817, age 83, mother of six, two alive, born in Ohio, father born in Scotland, mother born in Ohio. I only know of five children.

The Nancy questions continue. Was she living with the Frederick's and moved to Pennsylvania with them when they left Columbiana County circa 1895. I have been unable to locate a death certificate in Pennsylvania or Ohio and no burial place. She probably was buried without benefit of a grave marker. I would imagine she and her daughter, Arabella are buried in the same cemetery in Columbiana County, Ohio, either Lisbon Cemetery or Carlisle Cemetery in Elkrun Township.

Children of Matthew Morland Orr and Nancy Agnes Cannon Orr

Matthew Thomas Orr born November 8, 1836 in Columbiana County, Ohio, died December 22, 1909, Lisbon, Centre Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. Married Mary Ellen Smith on December 30, 1969 in Columbiana County, Ohio. Married second, Libbie Elizabeth Keck in 1880, Columbiana County, Ohio.
Elizabeth Orr born 1838 in Columbiana County, Ohio. No further knowledge.
Mary A. Orr born 1840, Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio, died March 25, 1859, Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio.
Margaret C. "Maggie" Orr born in 1842, Columbiana County, Ohio, died in 1896, Columbiana County, Ohio. Married November 10, 1870 John F. Groomes, Columbiana County, Ohio.
Lucinda "Lou" Bell Orr (my maternal great grandmother) born June 29, 1844, Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio, died December 15, 1909, Bellevue, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Married Alfred F. Frederick (my maternal great grandfather) on October 22, 1868 in Columbiana County, Ohio.

Child of Elijah McCormick and Nancy Agnes Cannon Orr McCormick

Arabella McCormick born in 1851, Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio, died February, 1889 in Lisbon, Centre Township, Columbiana County, Ohio.

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