Orme, William W.

Born: 1832-02-17 Washington, DC

Died: 1866-09-13 Bloomington, Illinois

Orme's parents died when he was an adolescent, and he made his own way before attending Mt. St. Mary's College. After graduating, he became a cabinet maker and moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1849. He lived there for a short time and studied law under J. Young Scammon. Orme moved to Bloomington in 1850 and opened his own law practice. Shortly thereafter, he took a position working for County Clerk William McCullough. He married McCullough's daughter, Minnie L., in 1853, with whom he had four children. In 1860, Orme was living in Bloomington's First Ward with his family and owned $7,000 in real property, with a personal estate valued at $1,000. He formed a law partnership with Leonard Swett in 1861 but left it in 1862 to join the Union Army. Orme earned commission as a colonel in the Ninety-Fourth Illinois Volunteer Regiment and won promotion to brigadier general in 1863. Due to poor health, Orme was removed from the front and placed in command of Chicago, including Camp Douglas, but he soon resigned as his health declined. Abraham Lincoln then appointed him supervising agent of the Second Agency of the Treasury Department at Memphis, Tennessee.

The History of McLean County, Illinois (Chicago: William Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 808-9; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 1, Bloomington, McLean County, IL, 150; Gravestone, Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, Bloomington, IL.