USA > Missouri > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. II > Part 30
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Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, viz., Charles D., who was born December 2, 1876 ; Ida F., born Decem- ber 1, 1878; Mrs. D. O. Brown, born July 7, 1880; Walter, who was born January 19, 1882, and died August 18, 1883; David A., born February 11, 1885; Granville E., born June 13, 1887 ; Roy V .. who was born October 21, 1889, and died July 13, 1891; Lillian E., born November 4, 1891; George E., born February 3, 1893; Selma I., born September 13, 1897, and Bernice A., who was born July 17, 1902.
Robert H. Jarboe, deceased, was born in Washington county, Kentucky, November 28, 1832, of his father's second marriage, his parents being Stephen and Susan M. Jarboe, nee French. The father of the former was a native of France and an early settler in Nelson county, Kentucky, where he became possessed of large landed estates, leaving his numerous family of children well provided for. Stephen Jarboe, the eldest son, was born in Bardstown, Ky., and first married Peggy Harberson, who bore him six children. Both he and his last wife (who was of French descent) died in 1849, leaving seven children. Mr. Jarboe was a soldier in the War of 1812 and took part in the battle of New Orleans. Robert H. Jarboe was the youngest son in the family, and at the time of his parents' death had only reached the age of seventeen. Brought up as a farmer's boy, he had but limited school advantages, though these were well improved, and in 1853 he left Kentucky for Sullivan county, Missouri, where he farmed until removing to Vernon county in 1857. His entire life almost was devoted to farming and stock raising, and with that success which only attends energetic, active efforts. He was one of the large land owners of the county. In 1884 Mr. Jarboe moved from his place in Dover township to Walker, purchasing the
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Walker flour mills. Mr. Jarboe was married April 24, 1854, to Miss Margaret A. Lee, whose birth occurred in Marion county, Kentucky, May 20, 1838. Seven children were born to them : Sarah C., Mary E., Margaret, Robert D., Thomas S., William and Cora. From June 24, 1861, until the close of the war, Mr. Jarboe served as a soldier in the Trans-Mississippi Department, C. S. A., under Price and other commanders, seeing much active service, and while in the war he suffered the loss of all he had except land.
Dr. H. C. Jarvis, a resident of Schell City and a prominent physician of Vernon county since 1882, is a member of a family who are able to trace their genealogy back, in an almost unbroken line to the eleventh century. In the latter part of the sixteenth. century, tradition, genealogical records and recorded history was collected, compiled and printed in book form, one copy only of which is known to now be in existence and held as a valuable treasure by one of the descendants now in Philadelphia, Pa.
According to this evidence, the house of "Jarvis" held a posi- tion of prominent influence in state questions, at least as early as the beginning of the eleventh century; it was contemporary with the houses of DeVere, Talbot, etc., long before the Plan- tagenets made English history. They heard the preaching of Peter the hermit, became Knights of the Cross and entered the Crusades, through which they and their decendants served with honor and distinction for over 200 years. The accompanying print of their "Coat of Arms" is builded upon that service, con- sisting of a shield of azure blue, upon which are six silver plumes, representing the different crusades in which they served. "Adversis Major Par Secundis." "Strong in Prosperity, Stronger in Adversity," is their escutcheon. They, crusaded with "Richard, the Lion Hearted." At his death they transferred their loyalty to his brother, John, loyally supported five Henrys, eight Ed- wards, three Richards, Mary, Elizabeth and James and, upon the accession of Charles the First, were his close adherents and supporters. They were firmly imbued with the doctrine of the divine rights of kings, and believed the first duty of a subject was to defend those rights.
In the year 1632, during the reign of Charles, the colony of Maryland, in North America, was ceeded to Cecelius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore. In 1634 his brother, Leonard Calvert,
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with about 200 immigrants, came over and attempted to organize a. colonial government, with Leonard Calvert as governor of the province. With this body of immigrants came three Jarvis brothers, Daniel, James and John. These followers were ceded large bodies of land, as was then the custom, and began the development and improvement of the country. Three years prior to this time one William Clayburn, with some followers from Virginia, had entered the territory and made settlement. They therefore looked upon Calvert's adherents and followers as intruders and interlopers. Clayburn protested, petitioned the crown with no avail, and then appealed to his friends and the native Indians of the country; headed an insurrection in 1645, which succeeded in deposing Governor Calvert in 1652 and scat- tering his followers. Daniel Jarvis moved across the line into the colony of New York, and settled at or near the junction of the Neversink river and the Delaware. He became the ancestor of a numerous progeny, among whom may be mentioned Capt. Samuel Jarvis, of military fame, who was the father of Abraham Jarvis, a noted clergyman and bishop. Abraham J. was living at Nor- walk, Conn., at the time of the Revolutionary War, when that port was blockaded by a sloop of war commanded by Sir John Jervis, earl of St. Vincent, and the latter, during the blockade, sent a message to the bishop that a visit of his relative on ship- board would be highly appreciated. The visit was made and many pleasant hours spent together (the name is spelled in history, both Jervis and Jarvis). Another descendant of Daniel, a great grand- son, is John B. Jervis, chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, after whom Port Jervis was named. James, for the reason probably, had not been an offensive partisan, was allowed to remain in Maryland, near where they had laid claims to lands, but was dispossessed. John moved west, over into Virginia, near where Grafton, W. Va., now is. These two latter brothers raised large families and, as they grew to manhood, moved by short and easy stages westward, developing the country and assisting in building large and prosperous cities; numerous descendants are found in and around Baltimore, Harpers Ferry, Charleston, Graf- ton, Clarksburg, Parkersburg, Va., and Marietta, Ohio. When the roads became better and methods of transportation improved, the stages of migration became marked by states rather than by set-
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DR. H. C. JARVIS.
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tlements, and they soon invaded Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, and now, after nearly three centuries, the descendants are found in every state in the Union, and it is a remarkable fact, that all so far communicated with, trace their genealogy and origin back to Maryland.
About the year 1840, an attempt was made by some of the descendants of James, to recover the lands ceded to them near Baltimore and Gun-powder Falls, and while the records prove beyond a doubt that such cession was legally made, and the laws of settlement and improvement were fully complied with, the ces- sion had never been properly acknowledged by the crown; a defect sadly neglected in those early days, and even much later, as was manifested in Kentucky with the disposition of Daniel Boone and his followers.
The primary, and subsequent teaching of the divine rights of kings, the close adherence and strict loyalty of this family of so many centuries, found them divided at the time of the Revolu- tionary War. The descendants of Daniel were strongly in the majority for the king, those of James were more divided, while John's descendants, having led a more extended frontier life, were almost unanimous for the colonies as the records in the archives of the state of Virginia show, among the many Virginians, John in the fourth generation, and grandfather of this subject, with three brothers, Thomas, James and William, campaigned from Bunker Hill to Yorktown.
This John Jarvis, the paternal grandfather of Dr. H. C. Jarvis and a direct descendant of the original John Jarvis who came over with Cecelius Calvert, a grandson of the fourth generation, was born near Grafton, Va., July 28, 1754, was married to Mary Fields November 22, 1780. From this marriage was born but one child, Fields Jarvis, January 17, 1782; the mother, Mary (Fields) Jarvis, died some time in 1795. In 1803 John Jarvis, with his son, now a young man, came to the territory of Illinois, settling on land near Turkey Hill, about fifteen miles east of the city of St. Louis, when that metropolis was but a small French village. In 1813 he moved ten miles further north, entered a large body of land and erected a lumber and grist mill run by horse power, probably the, first mill in Illinois. Immigrants settled around him and a small town was started, which they called Columbia; in 1819 it had grown to such dimensions that it was incorporated and the
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name of Troy given to it. The township bears his name, and the city of Troy has about 2,000 inhabitants, largely made up of busi- ness men from the city of St. Louis.
John Jarvis was married the second time, January 1, 1809, to Mrs. Sarah (Gillahm) Waddle, she having two sons from her former marriage, Andrew and Thomas Waddle. From this mar- riage was born John G., who married Elenor Brown, and after her death some twelve years later, her sister, Emily. Lucinda Jarvis, November 12, 1812, married John Hayes. Wesley Jarvis, August 16, 1813, married Polly Kinder. Fletcher Jarvis, January 24, 1816, married Ann Eliza Brown. These brothers, half-brothers and one sister raised large families, which are scattered over the whole nation, some few yet residing at Troy, Ill., except the oldest, Fields, who imbibed a love for a frontier life.
Being of age when he came with his father from Virginia, he soon became acquainted and associated with kindred spirits and spent the greater part of his life among the Indians, trappers and hunters ; he never married. Among his first adventures was with Perry Chouteau on a western trip, which lasted five years, during which time he was no doubt at Hallies Bluffs, in Vernon county, and on many subsequent trips. He was with General Pike as scout and interpreter more than once far up the Missouri river.
An incident that seemed to impress him, and of which he talked most during his old age, occurred in the fall of 1812 when. in company with some trappers and Indians, he was traveling across southeast Missouri, from a trading post in Arkansas to St. Louis, when there happened a great earthquake, when the ground around them opened in great fissures, closing again and spouting the water many feet in the air. Great trees were inclined from the perpendicular to different degrees of angle, many falling down.
The river along which they were traveling overflowed the land, and it was with difficulty that they found their way, and delayed them very much in their journey. Two Indians were lost, supposed to have been swallowed up in the inundation or drowned. This family all died at or near the old homestead in Illinois : John Jarvis, Sr., October 27, 1823; his wife, Sarah Jarvis, December 24, 1858; Fields Jarvis, August 2, 1859; Andrew Waddle, January 12, 1869; Thomas Waddle, August 10, 1860;
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John G. Jarvis, March 16, 1881; Wesley Jarvis, February 18, 1851, and Fletcher Jarvis, January 9, 1861.
There is one other, who, perhaps, deserves honorable mention more than do any others for his faithful devotion and servile attention to this family, whom he loved and served with devoted faith and trust. This is an old negro slave, Steve. Steve was purchased and given to John by his father, when he was just entering manhood, as his special slave and attendant, as was the custom in Virginia at the time. His exact age was not known, but - he was near the age of his young master, possibly a few years his senior. Steve lived with his young master, attended him faith- fully, campaigned with him when possible during the war, cared for the family after his master married and carefully watched the steady growth of the young son, Fields, who attained the heighth of six feet seven and weighed, after maturity, near 250 pounds. When Virginia was first ceded, in 1606, it contained 400 miles Atlantic water front, and extended entirely across the continent to the Pacific. Three years later slavery was introduced by the Dutch. The Paris treaty, a few years later, limited the extent of Virginia to the Mississippi river. After the Revolu- tionary War, in the attempt to form a government of the colonies, there was a fear and a suspicion that Virginia, with her numerous population and extensive territory, would prove so powerful in the near future as to command more favorable the legislation thereof than was her due; so, in order to quiet that objection, Virginia ceded all that part of her territory west of the Ohio to the general government, stipulating in the transfer that slavery should be forever prohibited in that territory, and when John Jarvis migrated to Illinois with his son it was necessary to leave Steve at the old home. This negro, now a middle-aged, able- bodied man, worked faithfully for them for years, until all the older ones with whom he was more intimate and most interested died.
Communication had been kept up during those long years as well as circumstances and conditions would admit of, young men of the family had grown up and taken charge, whose ways were not all that old Uncle Steve could desire, and there was a longing to see again his old master, whom he knew lived in a country called Illinois, and near a city called St. Louis. He had learned that this city was nearly on a straight line toward the setting sun.
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The longing grew for years, his days of usefulness had passed, there was none to object, he yet belonged to John, so this old negro left Virginia late in the spring of 1823 and walked to St. Louis, and from there easily found his way to Troy, twelve miles east. No one is able now to tell of all the adventures, the weary days, sleepless nights of that old man; country without roads, wild animals, wild Indians, and occasionally rude settle- ments; but in the next September he arrived to find the master for whom he had done so much and whom he loved with such fidelity, an invalid and near death. Steve at once installed him- self as chief attendant and special nurse of his sick master, faith- fully watching at his side through the day and sleeping upon a cot at the foot of his bed at night, the master could never so much as move but this old slave was at his side ready to attend to the least desires. The master died the latter part of the follow- ing month, and the poor old negro was again left alone, broken- hearted, but not without friends.
Steve died the following January with a last request, that he might be put in a grave across the feet of his old master. This request was fully carried out by the sons of the master. Master and slave lie together in the old homestead burying ground, just outside the corporation of Troy. A substantial stone was raised at the head of the master's grave with the usual inscription, one more humble at the negro's, inscribed, "Steve, once the faithful slave of John Jarvis."
Fletcher Jarvis, youngest son of John Jarvis, married Ann Eliza Brown January 1, 1834, a daughter of Collier Brown, who was a son of George Brown, a native Virginian. George Brown married at the place of his nativity at the age of 21, and moved immediately with his young wife to Kentucky, settling on lands twelve miles west of Frankfort. He raised a family of twelve children, of which Collier was the youngest, born July 12, 1796. At the age of 19 years Collier Brown married Nancy Atkinson, four years his senior, left Kentucky and moved to Illinois, settling near the town of Carlyle, where they stayed but one year, when they entered and settled upon lands three miles west of Troy. His father, George Brown, died November 27, 1842, at the age of 89 years, the mother having preceded him many years. A son, George Henry, was born to Collier and Nancy (Atkinson) Brown August 1, 1817; Ann Eliza, October 27, 1819, which constituted
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their family. George H. married Daphne Moore, lived on lands adjoining his father's farm, and died without issue November 23, 1853. Collier Brown remained upon his farm until 1858, when he and three of his grandchildren, sons of Fletcher Jarvis, came to Henry county, Missouri, settling on a farm one mile east of Johns- town, Bates county, in 1858. In 1862 he and his wife returned to Illinois on account of unsettled times arising out of the Civil War. His wife, Nancy, died December 9, 1863, and in January, 1865, he married Mrs. Delilah Taylor, of Miller county, Missouri, which place he made his home until his death, April 10, 1879.
There was born to the marriage of Fletcher and Ann E. Jarvis eleven children, John C., October 29, 1837; George W., February 26, 1840; Andrew W., February 5, 1842. These three brothers came to Missouri with their grandfather in 1858, and when the war came the eldest, John, enlisted in the Union army in 1862, remained in the service about one year, and was discharged for disability. George and Andrew, in 1861, joined the state troops, served through the campaigns of Wilson Creek, Carthage, Dry- wood and Lexington. When the troops left the state and entered the Confederate service they failed to enlist further, and came back to Illinois, remained during that period and returned to Missouri, John and Andrew in 1865, George, not until 1872. They all left Missouri with their families in 1884, going west, George and John to Washington, settling near Colville, where John still lives, George having died in October, 1909. John C. married Indianna Ridgway in 1862, George W. married Sarah Oneal in 1864. Both raised large families, who are all on the west coast. Andrew W. married Elizabeth Shelton, who, having died in 1871, he went west to California and died in Los Angeles, May, 1907, without issue, his only child having died in infancy.
The next child in order of Fletcher and Ann E. Jarvis is Nancy L., born March 12, 1844; died March 14, 1845.
Lucinda J., October 6. 1846, married John Garret, lives in Kansas City, Mo. Henry C., the subject of this sketch. Winfield S., July 11, 1851, married Anna Martin, of Troy, Ill. His wife died in 1895. He is now living in Kansas City, Kan. Mary S., August 29, 1853, married J. H. Fletcher, died October 15, 1908. Margaret E., August 14, 1855; was drowned in Grand river, near Dayton, Cass county, while attempting to ford in high water, August 9, 1871. William H., April 5, 1857, killed by wild Indians
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in New Mexico some time during the fall of 1873. James M., October 10, 1859, married Harriett Moore, of Collinsville, Ill. ; came to Vernon county, 1882 ; his wife died 1885, and he went to Colville, Wash., where he now is. Fletcher Jarvis and wife, Ann E., remained upon their farm in Illinois until their death, she having died January 16, 1860, he following June 10, 1861.
Dr. H. C. Jarvis was the sixth child and the fourth son of Fletcher and Ann E., Jarvis, born February 19, 1849, near Troy, Madison county, Iillinois. He came to Missouri first in October, 1860, when a lad of 11 years, lived with his grandfather near Johnstown, Bates county, until April, 1861, during which time he attended two terms of public school, one of three months in Bates county, and one of three months in Henry county, terms at that time being short and for convenience, and at different periods so as to give children opportunity of two terms. The remainder of his education was acquired in the public schools of Illinois and the high school of Collinsville, near where he was raised.
He returned to Henry county, Missouri, in October, 1867, and began teaching school in that county at the age of 18 years, which occupation he followed for ten years. He took up the study of medicine during this time and first graduated from the St. Louis Electric Medical College in the spring of 1880, then from the Bennett Medical College of Chicago, 1882, took a post graduate course and a course in electro therapeutics at the Post Graduate College, New York City, 1899, a course and the degree of M. D. in the University Medical of Kansas City, and a degree as a grad- uate in electro therapeutics, 1900. He is a past president of the Vernon County and John T. Hodgen Medical Associations, a mem- ber of the Missouri State Medical Association and past representa- tive of the same, also a member of the Southwest Medical and Mississippi Valley Associations. Has served two terms as mayor of his city, five years as president of Schell City Bank, and twenty- one years president Board of Education. Is well known in the I. O. O. F., having been a member of the Schell City Lodge, No. 355, for twenty-two years, during which time has served in all the subordinate offices; six years as deputy grand master of his district, and twelve years as representative to the Grand Lodge. He has been a member of the encampment branch of the order for twenty-one years, filling the subordinate encampment offices : District deputy of the encampment district four years ; representa-
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tive of the grand encampment two terms; was elected grand junior warden at the grand encampment meeting, 1906; installed as grand patriarch of the state encampment, 1909, and served as representative of the grand encampment of Missouri in the Sovereign Grand Lodge, which met in the city of Atlanta, Ga., in 1910. Is a member of the Rebekah Lodge, No. 56, and Canton, No. 14, Kansas City, Patriarchs Militant.
Dr. Jarvis has been in the practice of medicine for thirty-two years, thirty years in Schell City. The last ten years has been confined to office work principally, and the treatment of chronic diseases, for which he is well fitted and very extensively equipped, having one of the most extensive and well supplied offices in southwest Missouri.
On September 24, 1871, Dr. H. C. Jarvis was married to Judith Ann Bills, daughter of Dr. Alfred M. H. Bills. Dr. Bills was a native Tennessean, who came to Miller county, Missouri, with his father in early youth, was raised on a farm and married Mary F. Taylor, daughter of J. D. Taylor, also a Tennessean, a member of the Tennessee family of recent celebrity. Dr. Bills and family were living at Ft. Scott, Kan., at the breaking out of the Civil War, when they moved back to Miller county, where his wife died December 28, 1861, and the doctor entered the Confederate service, remaining through the war, filling important positions in the medical department. There were three daughters and three sons born to them: Cynthia J., wife of Moses Brown, living in Oklahoma City ; Malinda, widow of Price Bond, now at Versailles, Mo .; Judith A., wife of Dr. Jarvis, born March 20, 1853; Dr. J. T. Bills, Ration, N. M .; James B., Clovis, N. M., and a son, who died in infancy at Ft. Scott, Kan. Dr. Bills married the second time in the fall of 1867 to Miss Nancy Jane Cox, of Monateau county. From this union was born Dr. Robert L., of Magnolia ; Alva B., of Nevada; Lillie, who married William Crowder, and is living at Raton, N. M .; Alfred and William, living in Johnson county, Missouri; Luella, married James Carroll, now in New Mexico ; Lucy, died in infancy, and Luella, married Olliver Logan, of Johnson county.
Dr. Bills met with accidental death August 3, 1880, at his home in Miller county. A saw log rolled unexpectedly from a wagon, caught and crushed him, causing instant death. His wife remained upon the farm in Miller county until 1893, when she
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came with her family to Vernon county, living in Nevada until her death, 1895.
The children born to the marriage of Dr. Jarvis with J. Annie (Bills) Jarvis were one son and five daughters: Nellie M., Sep- tember 13, 1872, the wife of Rev. George W. Prewitt, son of Judge William Prewitt, of Walker, Mo., now of Shawnee, Okla .; Laurine J., wife of John W. Dade, son of John Dade, of Schell City, and grandson of Baldwin Dade, St. Clair county, Missouri; John W., in company with his father, is engaged in the hardware business at Schell City ; Alfred B., May 16, 1879, at his home in Schell City ; Lucy L., March 10, 1883, died February 28, 1886 ; Cynthia O., July 9, 1888, at home; Joe H., November 3, 1893, died March 9, 1896.
ADVERSIS
MAJOR
Jartiš.
Benjamin F. Jent, one of the early settlers in Vernon county. Henry Jent, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in North Carolina March 8, 1796, but grew to manhood in Ten- nessee, moving thence to Illinois, and, later on, in 1834, to
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