Owners and Tenants, 1819-1956

• Decatur
• Hyde de Neuville
• de Tuyll
• Clay
• Van Buren
• Livingston
• Vaughn
• Gadsby
• Dallas
• Gales
• John & James King
• Appleton
• Orr
• Benjamin
• McBlair
• United States Army
• Edward Beale &
  Mary Beale
• Truxtun Beale
• Marie Beale

TIMELINE OF OWNERS AND TENANTS
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James L. Orr (tenant, 1858-1859)

Decatur House became home to yet another congressman in 1858. James Orr, a Democratic representative from South Carolina since 1844 and Speaker of the House from 1857 to 1859, was educated at the University of Virginia and had practiced law and run the local newspaper in Anderson, South Carolina.

Though Orr initially opposed the withdrawal of South Carolina from the Union, the inevitability of secession finally prompted Orr to leave Washington and return home. During the Civil War, Orr served as a member of the Confederate Senate.

After the war Orr continued his public service - he was first elected Governor of South Carolina and was later appointed Minister to Russia by President Ulysses S. Grant. The new ambassador died of pneumonia in St. Petersburg less than two months after his arrival.

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