By Meredith Stanton Vaselaar
Adrian Branch Librarian
The email I received on February 27, 2017, was brief – the writer, a woman from Wisconsin, said that she had a plate from 1911, from a business in Adrian, MN; included in the email were two photos of the plate. On the bottom of the plate were the words: “Compliments J.E. Orr, Adrian, Minn.” The writer wanted to know if I could find any information on J.E. Orr.
I love “History Mysteries,” so I got to work immediately. The name “Orr” rang a bell, but I had to do more digging before I could place it. I found this article in the March 20, 1908, Worthington Advance newspaper:
“[Originally published in the] Nobles County Democrat: J.E. Orr of Ruthton, Minn., and F.J. Forkenbrock, of Adrian, have formed a partnership under the name of Orr & Forkenbrock, and about the first of April [1908] the new firm will open a general store in the Jones building, two doors north of the post office.”
According to the “Adrian Centennial Book 1876-1976,” Mr. Forkenbrock sold his share to Mr. Orr, who took over the entire ownership and management of the store from that point on. From what I have found, it appears that Mr. Orr had operated that store until 1912, when he purchased The Big Store, which had formerly belonged to A.M. Becker. The Big Store had remained closed since Mr. Becker moved to Spokane, Washington, in 1909. The Big Store – or Orr’s – was a department store that sold dry goods as well as grocery items.
J.E. Orr was otherwise known as John Erskine Orr, was born c1865, in Canada He married Amy Idatha Odett on June 4, 1894, in Delevan, Faribault County, Minnesota. They had two children: Margaret Lucille Orr, born on April 17, 1896, in Faribault County, Minnesota; and John G. Orr, born May 27, 1902, in Murray County, Minnesota. Daughter, Margaret, married Earl Moses Marston (sometimes spelled “Marsten”) in Adrian on July 31, 1918.
On October 12, 1917, Mr. Orr sold the store to J.A. Bratsberg and V.A. Entwistle from Ellsworth. Mr. Orr retired and the family moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That is where the Orr’s only grandchild, Mary M., was born on October 9, 1919. Shortly thereafter, the entire family – John & Amy, son, John, daughter, Margaret and her husband, Earl Marston, and baby Mary – moved to San Mateo County, California. All are now deceased; buried in California.
It appears as if the plate owned by the woman in Wisconsin was most likely a holiday giveaway, likely a Christmas premium given to customers, at the end of 1910. The current owner found it at a rummage sale, liked it, and purchased it. How it got to Wisconsin is anyone’s guess.
I relayed the information to the lady from Wisconsin. She was considering giving the item to descendants, if any. I was able to track down information on the descendants of John & Amy Orr. When I relayed that information to the woman, I told her that if the descendants were not interested in the plate, or if she decided not to pursue that angle, that I would be interested in procuring the plate as an archival piece of Adrian history.
I did not think too much about the plate once I gave all the information I had gathered to the Wisconsin woman. About a week or so ago, the woman contacted me. She said, “After giving it some thought, I decided it would be a good thing for this plate to make its way back to Adrian . . . Thanks again for all your help on finding the history on this plate!” I was thrilled and responded quickly, and we made arrangements to have the plate returned to Adrian.
I received the plate in the mail on Thursday, March 16, carefully wrapped, and in pristine condition. Inside was a nice, handwritten note from the donator (who wishes to remain anonymous): “I am so happy this plate is returning to a place where it will be treasured and appreciated!”
Although we do not really have a good place to display the plate, I am working at finding a way to do so that people can see it. Please stop by the Library’s temporary location (old hardware store building on the west end of the New Vision Coop business), and see this piece of Adrian history.
If you have an interesting piece of local history, I would love to photograph it and record its history. Most people do not want to part with items of sentimental value – it would just be nice to make a photographic/historical record of items with ties to the area and/or Nobles County.
If you have anything interesting to share – be it a story, a photo (scanned for free at the library), or an item (that can be photographed), please contact Meredith at the Adrian Branch Library: 507-483-2541; mvaselaar@plumcreeklibrary.net
