The Orme family of Arizona has a long and distinguished history, making many of their descendants eligible for membership in the DAR and other patriotic societies.
Lindley Hogue Orme was born December 18/19, 1848, in Montgomery, Maryland. He was the fourth of eight children of Charles Henry Crabbe Orme and Deborah Brooke Pleasants.
When Lindley’s older brother, Charles Henry Crabbe Orme, enlisted in the 35th Virginia Cavalry (CSA) on March 1, 1863, Lindley accompanied him, although he was only about fourteen at the time. Military records say that the brothers served in White’s Battalion, known as “the Comanches”. Lindley was a private in Company B, while Charles was in Company D.
When Richmond, Virginia, fell to the Union Army on April 2, 1865, Lindley was taken prisoner. A few weeks later, he signed his oath of allegiance and was released.
According to his obituary, Lindley and his brothers drove a flock of sheep to California at some point thereafter. Lindley then settled in Phoenix where he acquired three sections of land in central Phoenix and raised over 600 acres of grain. He is credited with bringing the first threshing machine to the Salt River Valley.
Orme wed Mary Florence Greenhaw on March 15, 1876. Unfortunately, Mary Florence was suffering from tuberculosis, so she and Lindley had no children. She died on March 16, 1883. Lindley eventually married Mary A. Jeffries, with whom he had one son, Alfred.
Orme served as sheriff from 1880 to 1884. During this time he was also appointed a deputy U. S. marshal, not bad for a former Confederate. Henry Garfias was one of his deputies. In April of 1883, a smallpox epidemic broke out in Maricopa County. As sheriff, Orme was directed to quarantine the afflicted families to prevent the spread of the disease.
Water being essential to the future of Phoenix, Orme helped form the Agua Fria Water and Land Company in 1888.
In 1891 and 1893, Orme was again elected sheriff. The county was growing at such a rate that a new courthouse and jail equipped with electric lights were needed. During Sheriff Orme's last term, he became something of a media celebrity when he foiled a plot by Dr. J. M. Rose to murder three members of a Williams family in Mesa.
Lindley Orme died 24 September 1900, at the age of 52, having been in poor health for some months prior. He was buried next to his first wife in the IOOF Cemetery.
-By Patty Gault, Val Wilson, Donna Carr
Photos PCA Archives
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