Orr Lawson, son of Commodore Perry and Martha (Hazelton) Rohrbough, was born at Buckhannon, Upshur county, Virginia (now West Virginia), April 15, 1862. He obtained his education at the public schools of Buckhannon and Clarksburg. At the age of fifteen years he entered the telegraph office at Clarksburg as a messenger boy and was taught telegraphy; he became night operator at Salem, where he remained one year, and went to Doddridge county, this state, where the central dispatcher’s office was then located. There he remained five years and then went to Grafton, as the dispatcher’s office had then been removed to that point. He was employed there four years, then was transferred to Salem again, in 1889, since which time he has resided there. He is now one of the directors of the board of trade; was mayor in 1907, and inaugurated several improvements under his administration. Politically he is a Republican. He belongs to the Masonic order, being raised to a Knight Templar and Shriner. In religious faith he is a communicant of the Baptist church.
He married, at Grafton, September 8, 1886, Hattie Ware, born at Grafton. Children: 1. Lottie L., born September 8, 1887; at home, assisting her father in his office as clerk. 2. Gay, born July 5, 1889; now Mrs. Charles Hathaway, whose husband is in the United States navy, on the battleship “Vermont”; they reside at Norfolk, Virginia; he is highly esteemed by his fellow comrades. 3. Robert, born May 27, 1898; attending school.”
Source: Genealogical and Personal History of the Upper Monongahela Valley West Virginia, by James Martin Callahan, Vol. 2, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1912, pages 746-7
