The Valley of Heart's Delight
HORATIO W. ORR
MAYFIELD PIONEER
REAL ESTATE SALES
HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY 545
SURNAMES: PICKETT, TOMPKINS, PEERY,
A prominent resident of Palo Alto whose wide experience, thorough
knowledge of realty conditions, and valuable connections make him
invaluable as a representative, influential dealer in real estate, is
Horatio W. Orr, a native son of Santa Clara County, having been born at
Mayfield on January 21, 1867. His father, Horatio Orr, was born in
Vermont; and having come out to California by way of Panama in 1859, he
first located at San Francisco, where he married Miss Mary G. Pickett,
a native of Ireland of Scotch descent. From the Bay City he came to
Mayfield, and in 1862 he rented land from Mr. Seale, the acreage being
the site of South Palo Alto. He bought the first town lot sold in
Mayfield, and in going in and out between San Francisco and the new
town, he traveled over an old Spanish horse-trail. For many years he
engaged in farming and dairying, and he spent the last years of his
life at Mayfield, dying in January, 1920, at the age of eighty-three.
He was always an active member of the Methodist Church, and having long
marched with the Republican party, he eventually joined the ranks of
the Prohibitionists. Four children had been granted this worthy couple.
Horatio W. Orr is the subject of our review; Electa is the wife of
Joseph Birkett and lives in Grass Valley; James Orr lives at Mayfield,
and Newton in Colorado.
Horatio W. Orr attended the public schools of Mayfield, and studied for
a year at Stanford. Then, until 1897, he engaged in contracting the
building, still residing at Mayfield, but carrying on his extensive
operations in Palo Alto and opened an electrical establishment; and for
ten years he continued there in that field of activity. In 1907, he
embarked with T. J. Floyd in the wall paper and trade; but in December,
1917, he sold his interest to Mr. Floyd, and he is now engaged
exclusively in buying and selling real estate. With his long residence
and continued activity in one line or another having to do with the
development of this section, Mr. Orr is particularly qualified to
advise the person seeking either town or country property.
Mr. Orr was married at Boulder Creek in Santa Cruz County, on August
10, 1904, to Miss Julia E. Tompkins, a native of Santa Cruz County and
a step-daughter of Joseph W. Peery, who died at Boulder Creek, March
14, 1910, being one of Santa Cruz County's most honored pioneers and
business men. He had been very active in building up the tannery, the
saw mill and the shingle mill at Boulder Creek. He was born in Caleb
County, W. Va., (Then Virginia) October 2, 1830. 'His father, Hiram
Peery, was in the War of 1812, and at its close engaged in farming in
West Virginia, later moving to Kentucky, when he became a planter. In
1850 Joseph W. Peery crossed the plains and tried his luck at mining,
but in 1853 returned to Missouri. In 1859 he went to Nebraska and in
1862 returned to California and spent three years at Stockton, then
removed to Santa Cruz County. In 1869 he settled at Boulder Creek and
bought out the sawmill and became a large land owner. Mr. Peery's first
wife died crossing the plains in 1862. His second marriage in Santa
Cruz County, united him with Mrs. Alvira Mercy Tompkins, who had seven
children by her first husband, Daniel D. Tompkins; Willis E.,
Josephine, Jennie, Walter, Julia, Alice and Elmer. She died at her home
at Boulder Creek in her sixty- sixth year.
Mr. and Mrs. Orr have one daughter, Dorothy Jane. The family belong to
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Orr is a Royal Arch Mason and a
Native Son of the Golden West.
Transcribed by Marie Clayton, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 545
RETURN TO Palo Alto History and Genealogy
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT
Santa Clara-The Valley of Heart's Delight