James Paul Orr was one of four children of Henry Clay Orr and Mary L. Cherry. Before marrying Jessie Cochran, he sowed wild oats by searching for gold in California. While there he served as a sparring partner for Jim Jeffries, who was the world heavyweight champ from 1899-1905. Jim Orr also went to Greeley, CO and (in 1904) to Smith Center, Kansas. He and Jessie had nine children.

Jim Orr was a farmer in Lawrence County, who was known to have "stomped a varmit" to death. He loved to play softball, and was known as a tough pitcher. His mother, Mary Cherry Orr, had given Jim a farm. However, the legal paperwork was not filed, so after her death he lost the farm. He and his family moved several times as he rented land to farm.

Jim became ill and was in the hospital in Nevada, MO for the six months preceding his death. Because he knew he would die soon, he joined the local Odd Fellows Lodge. The I.O.O.F. had a home for children in Liberty, MO, and he was looking for a way to provide for his family even when he could not be there. Jim Orr died at age 42 in Nevada, MO. He is buried in the cemetery of Ozark Prarie Presbyterian Church, 4 miles from Mount Vernon, MO. His great grandparents and grandparents [William and Jennie (Adams) Orr and Paul and Sarah Jane (Poage) Orr] were among the founders of that church in 1854.

His daugher Marguerite Orr remembers one of the things they said at his funeral was that he was a generous man who would "give you the shirt off his back." She also remembers that there was a wooden, oak chair with wide arms, and she and sister Elizabeth (Lib) would each sit on one arm. He would entertain them by singing and telling stories. He had a beautiful voice.