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Clara Barkley Dorr

Revision as of 02:04, 8 September 2016 by 104.138.68.147 (talk) (Removed her married last name - oops.)

Clara Garnier Barkley Vienne Dorr (1825-1899) was the daughter of shipping merchant George W. Barkley and wife of timber magnate Eben Walker Dorr who built the Clara Barkley Dorr House facing Seville Square with the wealth she inherited after her husband's death.

Clara Barkley Dorr
ClaraBarkleyDorr.jpg
Born 1825
Pensacola
Died 1899
Pensacola
Spouse Noel Armande Vienne (1840-?)
Eben Walker Dorr (1849-1870)
Parents George W. Barkley
Clara Louise Garnier Barkley
Children Clara Garnier Dorr Blount
Barkley Dorr
Hawkes Dorr
Walker Dorr
James Dorr
Mary Dorr Roberts

Clara Garnier Barkley was born in 1825 to businessman George W. Barkley and French native Clara Louise Garnier, who built their home overlooking Pensacola Bay the same year. She married Noel Armande Vienne in 1840, but was soon widowed without children.

She remarried on December 12, 1849 to Eben Walker Dorr, the son of Sheriff Ebenezer Dorr IV. Dorr had a disability that prevented him from fighting in the Civil War and instead managed the affairs of E. E. Simpson & Company in New Orleans. The company's Bagdad mill was damaged in the war; when it was rebuilt in 1866, Dorr was made a partner.

He died of yellow fever in 1870, and Clara received his share of the mill. With this wealth she purchased land by Seville Square and built a handsome two-story home, later dubbed the Clara Barkley Dorr House. She and her children moved into the house in 1872, and she remained until 1896, when Mrs. Dorr moved into a hotel until her death in 1899.

She is buried at St. John's Cemetery, along with her husband (who, having died before the cemetery was established, was interred) and children Barkley, Walker and Mary.

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