The Autobiography of Ann Prior Jarvis

In 1890 Ann Prior Jarvis sat down with a new blank book and wrote out a clean copy of her autobiography. She got 33 pages in and then never finished, so years later her daughter Josephine copied the rest of her mother's history from another book, added some biographical information, added a history of her father, and donated the book to the Washington County DUP.

DUP President Jeanine Vander Bruggen kindly sent a copy of the book along with biographies for the other women in the Eminent Women of the St. George Temple project, a project I'm planning to resume once I finish my book on the slaves in Utah Territory.

There is a copy in the Church History Library in Salt Lake City, and several years ago I added a link to the catalog entry. The link became broken over time and a Jarvis cousin wrote to ask about the document, so I added the entire autobiography to Ann's FamilySearch Family Tree Memories section, split into three parts since it's so large. (Look in the "Documents" section and click "More..." The three files are near the end.)

Ann Prior Jarvis: Memories

Here are images of the first few pages.

Brigham Young in the Southern Settlements, 1864

One of the modern wonders of the field of documentary editing is the work of LaJean Purcell Carruth.

The Church History Library has recently released LaJean's transcription of remarks made by Brigham Young during a trip to Southern Utah in 1864. His remarks tended to be rather practical; in Fillmore he told the people about the continuing nature of revelation:

I say to you, as I can to the whole world, there has not yet been a revelation given to this people from the time Joseph commenced to receive revelation but what would be [altered] provided the people were capable of receiving more. The Lord has to speak to the people according to their capacity, not according to his capacity. We are not prepared to receive all the heavens has for us. The Lord gives revelation upon revelation, here a little and there a little. Those precepts he gives we should improve upon them. . . . The Lord is laboring and has been for long time to prepare a people to receive blessings. He sent his gospel, called Joseph, gave the Book of Mormon, to prepare us to . . . receive all the blessings the earth can bestow, and the blessings of eternity. You and I believe alike with regard to the fullness of his power and goodness. He has blessings and wants bestow them on the whole human family. We believe alike. Why are we not blessed then? We are not ready to receive the blessings.

In Beaver, the teams were all hitched up to leave when Brigham Young turned and walked into the bowery [1] and said, "I want the attention of the congregation. I shall not stop to have singing and prayers. Do your praying when you get home and sing when you please. I have a few words to say [and] I am going to say them."

He told the people of Parowan to beautify their town, and the children of Parowan to "learn your letters, to spell your single syllables, to learn to put together letters [and] syllables to make words, and words [to make] sentences, and then to make subjects, until you become [a] man and woman worthy of the character of intelligent beings."

On September 14, he told the people of St. George gathered in the new Bowery[2] to keep working at developing their water supplies.

It is the will and pleasure of the Almighty [that] he change the veins of this water in the mountains and causes them to come out in springs when he pleases. And if we will work with our might and in good faith the Lord will work and he will preserve us from those that would overrun. He had not the place for us to go to prepared, but he had these mountains, and until he has, he will preserve us in these mountains. He will withhold the [frost] and send the [rain] that the Latter-day Saints may not be afflicted.

The people of St. George were working hard to build the St. George Tabernacle, started the previous year as a public works project to keep the people from starving to death in the desert, and as Brigham Young spoke, they were moving into a period of great food shortages and severe hunger and malnutrition.

His comments the next day emphasized the fact that the people listening to him were new members of the Church. Several people in the congregation would have been members since the 1830s, but most had been baptized in the 1840s or 1850s, and needed to be trained in the practicalities of Mormon religious life. He said:

When you come to a meeting like this and one of servants of God get up to pray, let every man and woman be in silence. . . . When a man [is] engaged in praying and we are looking away, and they are looking at the bonnet of one, and how the collar of another sits [and thinking] I wonder where my cattle is, and how my meat is I put in the stove, and how the children are doing, and the mind[s] of the people are all over creation, the Lord can’t bless such a people. . . . Mothers: take this lesson and carry it home with you, and when the father is engaged in prayer have the children kneel down with you, and have them pray and teach them to pray as their father prays, and ask for the things he asks for, and when a word is spoken keep that in your heart. If the people can do this with their eyes staring around, they can do what I can’t do.

Charles Lowell Walker did not report on the conference at the time, but later he noted,

Bro Brigham and a number of the twelve Apostles and others paid us a visit about the last of Sept and spent three days with us and gave us some very good instructions and doctrine on our present condition, and future hapines. We had a time of rejoiceing and were comforted by the rich teachings they imparted unto us. And I must confes I felt sorry and even lonesome when they left us. I felt in my heart to bless them for their kindnes and good will towards us on the mission. (245)

After Brigham Young left St. George, he traveled through Gunnison and Manti.[3] His final comments were in Mount Pleasant on September 27. He said:

 [It is] a little over 500 miles that we have traveled from the north to the south to visit the saints this season. Settlement after settlement, [we have] gathered the people together under a bowery like this, and you would think you was in Salt Lake City at headquarters. [We] see the faces of those that is familiar to us, and see the large congregations of the saints. It cheers and comforts and stimulates the brethren, and they feel they are not forgotten. The elders went and preached to them in foreign lands and gathered them, and now they are not forgotten, [but] still [they are prayed] for and preached to and presided and led and guided and counseled and directed. What for? The building up the kingdom of God for the establishment of the kingdom that Daniel saw and wrote about.

Well, that was a lot of text of his remarks, and you can read the rest of them at the Church History website, but what a great addition to the historical record to have these comments, since they were taken down in shorthand and previously unavailable.

Notes
[1] A bowery was a temporary structure built of posts with a covering of tree boughs.

[2] Since the Saints had just begun construction on the Tabernacle, they would have met in the Bowery. The first St. George Bowery was directly south of the Tabernacle, but a new Bowery was built for Brigham Young's visit, as the short-lived newspaper Veprecula noted, "on the block north of the public square, between the tithing office and the St. George Hall. It is 85 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 14 feet in height. The center of the roof is a deck 11 feet wide, supported by stupendous cedar and pine pillars 8 feet apart, with sawed lumber joints bolted firmly to each one of them." (Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 244.)

[3] Things remained interesting in St. George for a few days after the visit: on Sunday Orson Pratt, Jr., publicly separated himself from the Church and was excommunicated. See more in Richard and Mary VanWagoner, "Orson Pratt, Jr.: Gifted Son of an Apostle and an Apostate," Dialogue 21:1. The VanWagoners note in the article that the portrayal of Pratt and his family in The Giant Joshua is off base. (Of course that can be said about many of the people in that book.)

The map is the 1870 Gamble map from David Rumsey Maps.

The Death of Willie Jarvis, 1881

When English immigrants George and Ann Prior Jarvis arrived in St. George, Utah, in 1861, they had seven children with them. An infant daughter had died in Boston. 

After they moved to St. George, they had three more children: Emmaline, Josephine, and Thomas William, named after his grandfather.

They lost Willie, as they called him, in 1881. Here are three accounts, plus a special anecdote Ann recorded in her diary.

From Diary of Charles Lowell Walker:

St George 5th April Tues 1881  At the Temple all day. About 2 P.M. we had a terrific storm [with] defening claps of Thunder which shook the earth and the Houses and the Temple windows, and water pipes shook very lively. The lightening struck 2 Boys killing Willie Jarvis nearly 8 years old, and wounding a little Son of Br D H Cannon's Which has spread a gloom over the town.

From the diary of David H. Morris:

On April 5 there was a terrible thunderstorm, accompanied with lightning which once struck the spire of the tabernacle running down the pinicle, part inside and part out, which also divided and run down the front part of the building and striking the steps. [Eugene] Schoppman was teaching school at the time, but his pupils being frightened at the thunder, dismissed school; four little boys being out at the time sought shelter in the door of the building, where they were all standing in a row, the one to the south, Willie Jarvis was instantly killed by lightning that came down the above mentioned shock and Angus Cannon (D. H. Cannon's boy) had his leg struck dum[b] for a while." [April 7, 1881; as quoted in Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 549.]

From “Short Sketch of the Life of Anne [sic] Prior Jarvis”:

Two more children were born to us in St. George, a daughter and a son – our last baby. 

When he was seven yrs. and six months old, he was killed by lightning on the tabernacle steps. Apr. 5 1881. O, that trial, I thought that would kill me. It helped to destroy my health. He was going to Martha Snow’s school. I tried to be cheerful, and tried to comfort my family. I knew it was wrong to be selfish even in grief. And, although I kissed the rod and thought the Lord wanted to chastise me, yet I knew that Lord did comfort me, and ruled it for my good. I had a dream, before he died, that I lost him in a crowd, and I knew I could never find him. Two little boys came to me to comfort me.

I told them they were dear boys – but not my Willie. He was very kind to me. Two nights before he was killed he jumped up out of bed, when I was groaning with the pain in my chest. He laid his hands on me, and prayed in the name of Jesus. He was an active, quick, intelligent child. Bro. Erastus Snow gave me great comfort, when he returned from S. L. City. He spoke about the accident in his fatherly manner. He said, The boys are in a higher school. He had lost one about Willie’s age by diphtheria. I realize all I had any claim to, is in the graveyard. I cannot say – he was mine. We do not own anything on this earth, only as our Father will bestow blessings upon us, yet we are selfish and think “This is mine.” Bro. Snow advised my husband to take a trip to Arizona, which we did leaving Mar. 1882. I felt I could not go unless my next youngest boy Heber went with us. He and my youngest daughter, Josephine, both went. [34-35.]

And, last, here is a dream that a recent Scottish immigrant, Jessie Cunningham Gray, shared with the grieving parents, and which Ann recorded in her diary.

A Dream to Jessie Cunningham Gray 

I entered a large house East, a house of the Lord, and I entered a room on the right hand. there were three men in the room. One was our Savior, the other Bro Jarvis, the third person I do not know. There was a large table and a glass pitcherful of clear water and a box. There was two clear stones in the box of a square shape. Our Savior took the two stones from the box and gave one to Bro Jarvis and one to the other man. Both men looked through the glasses. Bro. Jarvis said “I would like to see my Willie [.”] Our Savior called, “Willie, come forth.” Willie came forth and stood before his father. Bro Jarvis said, “Willie you do look pretty.” Our Savior answered, “Yes, he looks pretty.” Our Savior said “Willie, go rest in peace, and you shall be called forth in the morning of the first resurrection, a king.

Faith in a Time of Cholera

Originally posted at Keepapitchinin on February 19, 2014.

Ann Prior was born into a prosperous family in East London, but the family was reduced to poverty through a series of misfortunes including the death of her father. When Ann was eleven, she acted against her Scottish mother’s wishes and left school to become a dressmaker so she could help support the family.

East London, 1856.

She worked as a dressmaker for several years, and then when she was almost seventeen, she married George Jarvis, a sailor who had traveled around the world several times.

Between ocean voyages, George took care of ships in harbor. He and Ann were living on board a ship with their two children when George heard the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preaching on an English street-corner. He hurried back to the ship to tell Ann what he’d heard about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the Gospel. Ann heard his explanation and replied, “George, it’s true!”

They were baptized in the Thames on Christmas Day, 1848. When George sailed on a voyage not long afterward, Ann moved in with her mother, Catherine Prior. She told about her subsequent experiences in her autobiography: [1]

I will write a few lines about the cholera. I was home with my mother when it was so bad that cards where posted about warning you that if any one was [taken] with it and you did not send word to persons apointed to take them to the pest house, you were under a heavy pena[l]ty. You were not allowed to have a docter at your home. [2]

The Journal of Ann Prior Jarvis, 1884-1899

Ann Prior Jarvis. Picture from Washington County DUP.

Ann Prior Jarvis (1829-1913) started a diary in 1884 [1] and kept it regularly for several years and then sporadically through 1899. Ann and her husband George Jarvis were English immigrants and members of the original 1861 Cotton Mission to St. George, Washington County, Utah Territory.

Ann's diary includes autobiographies, business notes, addresses, patriarchal blessings, and other contents. 

Many entries are brief and repetitious, but can be used in conjunction with other existing records to help create a vital record of the community, provide a glimpse into the day-to-day life of the family, and provide historical context. For example, the question came up in the Jarvis Family Organization whether the Jarvis family had been present in 1899 at Lorenzo Snow's well-known tithing speech. A glance at her diary suggested that members of the family had indeed attended. (George and Ann Prior Jarvis and "The Windows of Heaven.") In another case, another family had not kept a careful record of the death of their ancestor's first wife, but Ann had noted the occasion of the woman's funeral. (Jennett Potter Oxborrow.)

Over the next several years, I will be serializing and annotating her diary, a few entries at a time. [2] Many entries are not earth-shattering. For example:

19 [May 1884] Mon[day] Weather changable

One of the first things you will notice as you read her entries is that she was in poor health. Her health was often so poor that she couldn't get around, but the family had somehow managed to have a horse and buggy for her use and that provides some of the folksy drama and social interactions during the first years of the diary.

So, single entries might be underwhelming, but taken altogether, her diary is an intimate portrait of an immigrant family, not wealthy by any means, but fairly secure two decades years after they were the first settlers to drive their wagon onto their newly assigned town lot in St. George.

Notes

[1] The original copy of Ann's diary is not known to be in existence. There are various photocopies held by family members and archives and a digital copy has been kindly provided by Mark Jarvis on the family web site. (Jarvis Family Web.) This copy of the diary is called "Book C" so it is possible that she created other diaries previous to this one.

[2] I will begin with the March 10, 1886 entry since that's when she started keeping her diary reliably and go from there. I will add the autobiographies and other materials later. I will be preserving her spelling but will add light punctuation as needed. I will index the diary separately from Ann Prior Jarvis's main index entry, so these diary entries will be found under "APJ Diary (year)."

Sources

Jarvis, Ann Prior. Journal of Ann Prior Jarvis, Book C, 1884-1899. Digital scan of photocopy of holograph, George and Ann Prior Jarvis Family Web Site, accessed February 29, 2012, http://george-and-ann-prior-jarvis.org.

George Travels the World

A Brief Sketch of the Life of George Jarvis until married 1846

I was born in Harlow, Essex, England, March 25th, 1823. My parents had eight children — five boys and three girls. I am the fourth son. At the age of nine, I commenced work.

My time was occupied in herding and farming until I was fifteen, when I went to work at a flour mill. I always had a great desire to follow the sea, and at the age of seventeen [1840], succeeded in being apprenticed to the sea and served my time in the barque “Diadem.” [1] My first voyage was to South Australia, my second to West Australia [2] and from there to Java and Canton [Guangzhou], China, and returned to London. During my third voyage I sailed to the Cape of Good Hope, with troops for the Kaffir war, where my apprenticeship expired.

I continued my voyage to Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] and from thence to Calcutta [Kolkata]. I left the ship “Diadem” and shipped on board the “John” [3] bound for China, thence to Lon[don] calling at St. Helena on the way.

On the way home, had the misfortune of losing my big toe. On my arrival home became acquainted with Ann Prior, who subsequently became my wife. Next voyage was in the “Katherine Stuart Forbes”, sailed to North America, up the St Lawrence river to river De Loupe [Rivière du Loup], from thence to London. 

I joined Her Majesty’s service, sailed in the ship to the West Indies, where I lost the sight of my right eye, and was left in Jamaica for two months, when I was sent to Hasler Hospital, and discharged from the service with a small pension for life. [4]

“Br George Jarvis watched with me..”

I am reading through Wilford Woodruff's diary for the time he spent in St. George in the late 1870s, and see the following note:

I thought I was poisond to death to day with a tea made of Indian root which was recommended good for my lungs. After swallowing 3 tea spoonfulls I turned deadly sick for two hours. I felt as though I would die. I drank sweet oil, No 6, and Cayenne pepper tea which finally eased my distress. There was quite a Change Came over my whole system in the Evening. I rested well through the night. Br George Jarvis watched with me for several nights.

Sources

Kenney, Scott, ed., Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1893 Typescript, Vol. 7: 1 January 1871 to 31 December 1880, (Midvale, UT: Signature Books, 1985), 350.

Savage, Charles R., Studio portrait of Wilford Woodruff. Albumen print, originally 4.25×6.5in. C. R. Savage Collection at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, MSS P 24, item 323. As found at Wikipedia.

George Jarvis Files the Claim to His City Lot

As I mentioned, I'm reading the Washington County Probate Court Records. While waiting for some other scanned pages to save to my thumb drive yesterday evening, I scrolled ahead in the microfilm and saw this item. All the townspeople had to file claim to their lots with the government. George Jarvis did so on June 5, 1871.

The record notes:

George Jarvis, Sworn, Says, he drew Lot number Six (6) in Block Number Two (2), official map, plat A, From the City, ten years ago. 

Was the first man who moved with his family on the City plot after the lots were given out. Has resided on said lot No. Six, Block Two, with his family ever Since.

Here's a bit of the Pioneer Map of St. George showing the Jarvis lot, situated as it is partway between the Tabernacle and the Temple. The Jarvis home is, of course, no longer there.

Each block was 32 rods square, and each lot was 8x16 rods, or 132 ft x 264 ft, equalling .8 acres per lot. The blocks were separated by streets 90 feet wide.

Here is a picture of the Jarvis home in St. George. There was previously a porch, and the traces of it can still be seen. It looks like it was a small brick or adobe house with a lean-to on the right. The family surrounded the home with vegetable and flower gardens and trees.

And here is a picture of old St. George. The Tabernacle is in the bottom center.

Sources

"Jarvis Home in St. George, Porch Removed," as found at George and Ann Prior Jarvis Family Website, courtesy of Ellen Raye.

Miller, Albert E., J. B. Ireland, Nicholas G. Morgan, et al., "Pioneer Map City of St. George, Washington County–Utah." Salt Lake City, Utah: n.d. As found at George and Ann Prior Jarvis Family Website.

"St. George, Utah," as found in Margaret Godfrey Jarvis Overson. George Jarvis and Joseph George De Friez Genealogy. Mesa, Arizona: M. J. Overson, 1957.

Washington County, Utah Probate Court Records, FHL Film 484838, Book B, 253-254.

The Blue Jarvis-DeFriez Book: Exciting News from FamilySearch Family Books

If you're not familiar with FamilySearch Family History Books, you may want to familiarize yourself with this amazing resource. Family History Books.

As my father noted yesterday, FamilySearch now has more than 100,000 family history books and collections available in this digital collection. Many Americans who have ancestry in America going back at least a few generations should be able to find resources on at least one family line: diaries, family history books, local histories, collections of letters. The collection is extensive and amazing.

One item of particular interest that FamilySearch just added is Grandma Margaret Overson's blue Jarvis-DeFriez history. My father inherited the original copyright, so he signed a copyright release, and now anyone can download all 710 pages of family stories and pictures. Here is a link to the downloadable pdf:

Overson, Margaret Godfrey Jarvis. George Jarvis And Joseph George De Friez Genealogy. Mesa, Arizona: Margaret J. Overson, 1957.

Note, 9/2/13: the link doesn't seem to work. Go to the link for Family History Books and type in "Margaret Overson" to see or download the book.

George and Ann Prior Jarvis and "The Windows of Heaven"

Last week my family and I visited St. George, Utah. We had an enjoyable time seeing the Temple, the Tabernacle, Brigham Young's Winter Home, the Jacob Hamblin Home in Santa Clara, the red bluffs overlooking the city, and the site of the Jarvis home, now apartment buildings.

Visting the Tabernacle was curious for two reasons. 

First, George and Ann Prior Jarvis's youngest child, "Willie" was killed by lightning on the front steps of the Tabernacle on April 5, 1881. It was a great and lasting tragedy for the family. They lived a couple of blocks from the Tabernacle and attended meetings there the rest of their lives, so their memories of the event would have had changing meanings throughout their lives.

Second, walking into the Tabernacle was like walking into the set of the movie "The Windows of Heaven," since part of the movie was filmed in the Tabernacle. Here is a short version of the movie, to see the renovations done since the movie was filmed. (Skip ahead to about 10:15 for the Tabernacle footage.) Most obviously, the paint has been stripped from the woodwork and the interior changed from blue to yellow.

Just today I saw a discussion online about tithing and I wondered about the historical sources for the story presented in "The Windows of Heaven." A quick Google search found that one of the first places to find information is on the George and Ann Prior Jarvis Family website page, "Pres. Snow's St. George revelation on tithing." The page mostly consists of LeRoi Snow's account of the story, but the webmaster also included this note:

Note: This story is included here because of its importance in church history, it happened in St. George, and it seems reasonable to assume that George and Ann and members of their family were present in the St. George Tabernacle when it occurred.

Were George and Ann Jarvis there? How would we know? Attendance rolls were not kept for meetings like that. We would only know if one of the family members kept a diary. Once of the family members did, but by 1899, Ann Prior Jarvis had been in very poor health for many years and her diary keeping had become rather sketchy. I will pull it up and see if she recorded anything.

Here is the page, and she does have an entry for May 17, 1899, the day the conference began.

Here is a transcription of the entire page.

1899
Jan
I had a letter from my Sister
I answered it and sent her
Maggies Photo and Alberts Photo
Sister Brown has died
I received a letter from my Sister
May 17
We have the Apostles and [Presiding] Bishop [William B.] Preston, Seymour B Young and many others at Saint George  I went to meeting one day and it was a pleasant change and a treat for me. I heard Lorenzo Snow talk his son LeRoy, Bishop Preston, [William B. Dougall], Br [Abraham O.] Woodruff, Joseph F Smith. Their discourses were on Tithing.
We thank the[e] Oh God for a Prophet.
I have had a letter from [granddaughter] Maud Jarvis and her Card
Weather Cool and Windy Sister Sylvester paid me a visit on Saterday
Heber [and Susan Smith Jarvis] had a Son born on the 22 of Sep. 1898
Named him William Prior. We the good people of St George had the Brethren from S L C
I went one day to Listen to their Instruction
I felt grieved I missed any meetings
[May] 21
I went on Sunday and partook of the Sacrement of the Lord. And went to Em Cottam's they had a party I suffered very much coming home. They tell me it is seven years since I was there before I was glad to see them so comfortable
Br Lytle was the Speaker on Sunday
Rose Mother Sylvester Miss Walker and many more has gone to S L City.
July
Sister Larson died Owen Woodbury died several young Children died I had letters from St. Johns and answered them

So that answers the question. Yes, Ann and undoubtedly other family members were present at the historic conference. Ann seems to have attended meetings on Wednesday, May 17, and Sunday, May 21. Her line "We thank the[e] Oh God for a Prophet" is her usual laconic way of commenting on the historical nature of the conference. Even in better years she would not have said much more.

[See also: A Note on the Sources for the Lorenzo Snow "Windows of Heaven" Story]

George Jarvis Lyrics

Tanner Family Line 

Here is a gem from the Nellie McArthur Gubler Collection at BYU Special Collections. [1] This was a double-sided sheet, with a poem on each side. [2] Evidently this was copied by one of George Jarvis's grandchildren. The poem doesn't always scan, but it does tell us more about the family's love for poetry and music. 

Grandfather Jarvis' Song. 

God Plans It All.
1st Life is not always pleasant,
It is not always pain,
It is not always sunshine,
It is not always rain. 

2. The cup must have its bitters, [3]
Its portion too of sweets,
For thornes [sic] as well as roses
Are waiting for feet.
For God plans it all,
God plans it all. 

3. For God in mercy has portioned,
The cup that we have drawn
He knows how much to send us
Of sunshine and of storm, [4]
He fits us for each burden
That we may have to bare [sic],
The strong must take the greater
The weak the lighter share,
For God plans it all,
God plans it all. 

Notes. 

[1] Nellie McArthur Gubler Collection, BYU Harold B. Lee Library, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, MSS 7551, Box 13, Folder 9. 

[2] I did not get a copy of the other poem. 

[3] Bitters is an ingredient in certain alcoholic drinks. George Jarvis probably would have been most familiar with the British Navy's use of bitters in pink gin. 

[4] Here are a few thoughts on the topic by C.S. Lewis. (The Problem of Pain.)

Gems from the Overson Collection of Photographs

One of the benefits of digitizing the huge Overson Collection of Photographs are the surprises. Here are two classic photos taken on 26 March 1911 at the home of George and Ann Prior Jarvis in St. George, Utah.

The caption reads,  "Grandfather George Jarvis, age 88 yrs. and one day; Annie P. Jarvis, age 81 yrs., 3 months, Mar. 26, 1911. C.S.J. , St. George" This picture does not appear in the Jarvis book. (Overson, Margaret Godfrey Jarvis. George Jarvis and Joseph George De Friez Genealogy. Mesa?, Ariz: M.G. Jarvis Overson, 1957).

This picture is cropped on page 49 of Jarvis book. The caption says "George and Annie P. Jarvis and George F. Jarvis and Anna Jarvis Ward and children. Mar. 26, 1911 C.S.J."

George Frederick Jarvis was their first child, born 16 June 1847 in London, Middlesex, England. The lady named Anna Jarvis Ward is likely Anna Catherine Jarvis, the fifth child of George Frederic and Eleanor Cannon Woodbury Jarvis. Anna was born 5 July 1882 in St. George, Washington, Utah and married William F. Ward on 20 May 1903. The three children are likely her first three: Eleanor Ward, born 29 March 1905, Frederick Jarvis Ward, born 7 May 1907 and Catherine Ward, born 14 March 1909. They appear to be about the right ages.

Did George Jarvis Have a Middle Name? No.

George Jarvis (1823-1913), Mormon pioneer and original settler of St. George, Utah, did not have a middle name.

I will explain a possible reason he is sometimes shown with a middle name, and then I will list all the proofs that he did not, indeed, have a middle name.

WHERE DID THE ERROR ORIGINATE?

George and Ann Prior Jarvis named their first son George Frederick Jarvis. George Frederick was born in London in 1847 and he accompanied his parents to America. George Frederick Jarvis and his two wives were influential figures in early St. George history.

George Frederick Jarvis participated in Utah's Black Hawk Indian War. Many years later, the federal government granted pensions to the men who fought in the Indian Wars. George received a pension and it was later paid to his widow Eleanor. Due to some government error, George's name was listed in at least one record as "George Franklin Jarvis."

"Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FLR7-HWP: accessed September 7, 2012), George Franklin Jarvis, 01 Jan 1919.

Did someone confuse this entry for George Jarvis (1823-1913)? This record is not about our common ancestor; it is for his son, George Frederick Jarvis. This is the only record I have ever seen with the name "George Franklin Jarvis."

PROOF THAT GEORGE JARVIS HAD NO MIDDLE NAME

Here are the records showing that George Jarvis was never known by the name George Franklin Jarvis. I start with his marriage record since I have never seen an official birth or christening record.

1. Marriage record of George Jarvis, Bachelor, and Ann Prior, Spinster. October 19, 1846.

2. George Jarvis married fourth quarter 1846, St. Saviour Southwark, London, Vol. 4, Page 527. Other people on the same page are shown with middle names. George is shown with no middle name. FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

3. The church record of his emigration shows his name as George Jarvis. Mormon Migration.

4. The record from the Boston port of entry shows his name as George Jarvis. Boston Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1943. Ancestry.com.

 

5. The Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel previously showed his name as "George Franklin Jarvis," but that was because that's how he was shown in Family Search. None of the records associated with the overland crossing shows his name as anything but "George Jarvis." Due to that fact, the database has been changed to show his name as "George Jarvis." As I have said before, the database is an amazing resource, almost without peer in the genealogical world.

6. Every time George shows up in a census he is listed as "George Jarvis."

1851 England Census. George Jarvis, head, married, 28, mariner.

1880 United States Census. Jarvis, George, white, male, 57, farm laborer.

1910 United States Census. Jarvis, George, head, male, white, 87. To date, no one has been able to find George Jarvis in any census but these three.

7. He calls himself George Jarvis in his personal histories. He is quite formal in his writing and would undoubtedly refer to himself using his middle name if he had one. ("The Journal of Ann Prior Jarvis, 1884-1899 Book C," n.p.)

8. He is listed as George Jarvis in a list of the Thomas and Elizabeth Billings Jarvis children in Ann Prior Jarvis's diary. ("The Journal of Ann Prior Jarvis, 1884-1899 Book C," 254 12.)

9. He is called George Jarvis in his patriarchal blessings on April 15, 1870 (Patriarch William G. Perkins), October 30, 1892 (Patriarch Joseph Mecham), and September 23, 1894 (Patriarch William Fawcett). I will not reproduce those here, but they are found in Ann Jarvis's diary. ("The Journal of Ann Prior Jarvis, 1884-1899 Book C," 159, 195, 197.)

10. He is called George Jarvis in the formal correspondence regarding the sealing of Charles DeFriez to the Jarvis family. A number of the other men mentioned in the correspondence are listed with middle names. ("The Journal of Ann Prior Jarvis, 1884-1899 Book C," 190.)

This is the first of the three documents reproduced in Ann's diary.

11. His wife Ann Prior Jarvis calls him George Jarvis in her personal histories. ("The Journal of Ann Prior Jarvis, 1884-1899 Book C," document 207.)

12. He is called George Jarvis in histories of St. George, Utah. See, for example, "St. George Tabernacle and Temple: The Builders" by Church historian Leonard Arrington.

...George Jarvis, the British sailor who erected the scaffolding..

13. He is called George Jarvis in Wilford Woodruff's Temple records. George Jarvis and his sons George Frederick Jarvis and Brigham Jarvis all helped with Woodruff's Founding Fathers and Eminent Men temple work project. George Jarvis did the temple work for Edward George Earl Lytton Bulwer (yes, the "it was a dark and stormy night" author) and Thomas Chalmers; George Frederick did the temple work for David Garrick; and Brigham did the temple work for Frederick von Schiller. Brian Stuy, "Wilford Woodruff's Vision of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence," Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 26, No. 1, 85-86.

14. He is called George Jarvis in newspaper articles during his lifetime.

The Union (St. George), April 16, 1896, 1.

"A Dixie Patriarch: Seventy-two Descendants Celebrated George Jarvis' Birthday," Salt Lake Herald, April 4, 1898, 7.

"Birth at St. George," Salt Lake Herald, December 25, 1898, 18.

15. A copy of his citizenship certificate shows his name as George Jarvis.

16. When George Jarvis died, Dr. Frank J. Woodbury filled out his death certificate with information provided by George Frederick Jarvis. In the space for "Full Name," Dr. Woodbury wrote "George Jarvis."

17. His obituary lists his name as George Jarvis.

18. His gravestone lists his name as George Jarvis.

George and Ann Jarvis grave marker from the St. George City Cemetery, St. George, Utah. Picture from FindAGrave, courtesy of "TB."

19. About 40 years after his death, George's granddaughter Margaret Jarvis Overson wrote a book about her Jarvis and DeFriez family lines. She called the book George Jarvis and Joseph George DeFriez Genealogy and used the name "George Jarvis" throughout. She listed one grandfather, Joseph George DeFriez, with a middle name and her other grandfather, George Jarvis, without. Her research and family connections were extensive enough that if her grandfather had a middle name, she would have known it and used it.

20. George Jarvis does not show up in any contemporary vital or legal or church records with a middle name.

21. As late as 1949, the family organization called him George Jarvis with no middle name.

"Jarvis Reunion," Washington County News, June 15, 1922, 1.

"Jarvis Family Reunion," Salt Lake Telegram, March 28, 1949, 26.

CONCLUSION: NO MIDDLE NAME

If anyone can provide a single contemporary record (a record made during his lifetime) that shows his name as "George Franklin," I will reconsider my conclusion. Otherwise, I will conclude that the middle name "Franklin" is due entirely to a genealogical error and the spreading nature of such errors in online family trees.