Caroline Frances Price Orr

By Mona Reno, Nevada Women’s History Project

Birth: June 5, 1862 Ruabon, Flint, Wales
Death: April 5, 1945 Pioche, Nevada

Role in Women’s Suffrage: President, Pioche Branch of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society; Chair, Lincoln County Suffrage Society; Fourth Vice President of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society; One of six Nevada delegates to the 1913 Washington, DC, National American Woman Suffrage Association Convention

Caroline Price was born on June 5, 1862 in Ruabon, Flint, Wales to Edward and Francis Price all from Wales. Her family immigrated to the United States in either 1873 or 1874, moving to Greenville, Utah by 1880, when Caroline was 18 years old. That same year she married Alexander Orr. They were married for 29 years when Alexander died in 1909. They were active in the Masonic and Rebekah Lodges in Pioche.

Caroline Orr owned and operated the Mountain View hotel in Pioche. In 1912 there was a Pioche branch of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society, but she is not listed as an officer. She is first listed as an officer in 1913 when she is elected the fourth vice president of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society at a state meeting in February in Reno, NV. She is listed in these suffrage activities as Mrs. Alex Orr, Pioche.  Also, in 1913 Caroline Orr is the President of the Lincoln County Equal Franchise Society and holds two meeting hosting Miss Anne Martin of Reno, at which over 200 people attend. In November of 1913 Mrs. Orr is elected one of six Nevada delegates to the “forty-fifth National Suffrage Convention at Washington, D.C.” She attends this Convention with Miss Anne H. Martin, Miss Bird M. Wilson, Mrs. Hugh Brown, Mrs. J.E. Bray and Mrs. E.E. Caine.

For 1914, the year of the upcoming vote for the Nevada Constitutional Amendment granting equal franchise for women, Mrs. Orr is again elected the fourth vice president for Lincoln County of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society. The final vote count for Lincoln County was 383 for the amendment and only 81 against. Anne Martin credits Mrs. Orr along with Mrs. C.L. Horsey, Mrs. C.P. Squires and Bird Wilson with carrying Clark County, 659 for to 214 against.

During the conversion of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society to the Nevada Women’s Civic League, Mrs. Orr continued to be active. In 1915 she gave the final report for Lincoln County to the last Nevada Equal Franchise Society meeting. The next day she was voted the fourth vice president of the new statewide League, representing Lincoln County. Anne Martin states that the Nevada Women’s Civic League continued an affiliated member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and was pledged to support the national suffrage amendment.

US Census records record that Mrs. Caroline Orr remained in Pioche until her death on April 5, 1945, at the age of 82. She is buried in the Pioche Masonic Cemetery.

Sources:

• Austin E. Hutcheson, “The Story of the Nevada Equal Suffrage Campaign: Memoirs of Anne Martin,” University of Nevada Bulletin, Vol. XLII, No. 7, August 1948.
• England Census, 1871
• Nevada death certificate 45-484, Caroline Francis Price Orr, April 5, 1945.
• The Pioche Record, “Wait for it! Watch for it!” Saturday October 23, 1909 page 9, col. 4.
• The Pioche Record, “Pioche Lady Honored,” Saturday, November 29, 1913, page 4, col. 3.
• Reno Evening Gazette, “Equal Suffrage News,” Wednesday, April 23, 1913, page 6, col.  3.
• Reno Evening Gazette, “Miss Martin League Head,” Tuesday, February 25, 1913, page 7, col. 3.
• Reno Evening Gazette, “Convention is Ended Today,” Wednesday, February 25, 1914, page 8, col. 4.
• Reno Evening Gazette, “Women Voters will Convene Tomorrow,” Wednesday February 17, 1915, page 1, col. 4.
• Reno Evening Gazette, “Women’s League Elects Officers,” Friday, February 19, 1915, page 2, col. 2.
• US Censuses, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920