Jackson Orr

Who was Jackson Orr?

Jackson Orr was a lawyer, Civil War officer, businessman, and two-term Republican U.S. Representative from western Iowa. Continuing westward, he spent the last five decades of his life in Colorado.

Born at Washington Court House, Ohio, Orr moved with his parents to Benton, Indiana, in 1836. He attended the common schools and Indiana University at Bloomington. He moved to Jefferson, Iowa, in 1856. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. From 1861 to 1863, he served in the Union Army as captain of Company H, 10th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment . He engaged in mercantile pursuits in the City of Montana, Iowa, and served as member of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1868. That year, he fell two votes short of winning the Republican nomination to represent Iowa's 6th congressional district.

In 1870 Orr won the Republican nomination, and was elected to represent the 6th district in the 42nd United States Congress. Based on the 1870 census, Iowa received three more seats in the House, and Orr's home county was then included in Iowa's new 9th congressional district. Running in the new district, Orr won election to the 43rd United States Congress, where he chaired the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior. He served in Congress from March 4, 1871 to March 3, 1875.