ORNE, Azor, patriot, born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, 22 July, 1731; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 6 June, 1796. Previous to the Revolution he was a successful merchant. He early became attached to the patriot cause, and in 1774 was a delegate to the Essex convention and the Provincial congress. He was also a member of the committees of safety, of military affairs, on the organization of forces, and on the collecting of arms and ammunition. He became a judge of the general court in 1775, and in January, 1776, was appointed by the Provincial congress one of the three major-generals of Massachusetts militia. On 11 November, 1780, he was a representative to the Hartford convention that assembled to propose, as a foundation of a safe system of finance, to provide by taxes or duties a certain and unalienable revenue to discharge the interest on the funded part of the public debt, and on future loans" and was one of the committee that prepared a circular letter to that effect to all the states. After the adoption of the state constitution in 1780 he was in the state senate and council for many years, refusing higher office on account of his lack of early education. He was an advocate of public schools and did much for the system.