Samuel Jarvis
Encyclopedia
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
(1837-1845), and he was a member of the Family Compact
Family Compact
Fully developed after the War of 1812, the Compact lasted until Upper and Lower Canada were united in 1841. In Lower Canada, its equivalent was the Château Clique. The influence of the Family Compact on the government administration at different levels lasted to the 1880s...
.
Jarvis was born to William Jarvis
William Jarvis (Upper Canada official)
William Jarvis was an American born head of famous Jarvis family of Toronto.Jarvis was born in Stamford, Connecticut to Samuel Jarvis, who was the town's clerk and Martha Seymour. The Jarvis family was forced to flee when his home was seized at the start of the American Revolution...
and Hannah Owens Peters in Newark, Upper Canada. He moved with his family to York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, (Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
) Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
in 1798. For a time he attended the school of John Strachan
John Strachan
John Strachan was an influential figure in Upper Canada and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto.-Early life:Strachan was the youngest of six children born to a quarry worker in Aberdeen, Scotland. He graduated from King's College, Aberdeen in 1797...
in Cornwall, Ontario
Cornwall, Ontario
Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada and the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario. Cornwall is Ontario's easternmost city, located on the St...
.
Jarvis was a member of the 3rd Regiment of York Militia during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, seeing action at the Battle of Detroit and the Battle of Queenston Heights
Battle of Queenston Heights
The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major battle in the War of 1812 and resulted in a British victory. It took place on 13 October 1812, near Queenston, in the present-day province of Ontario...
under Isaac Brock
Isaac Brock
Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB was a British Army officer and administrator. Brock was assigned to Canada in 1802. Despite facing desertions and near-mutinies, he commanded his regiment in Upper Canada successfully for many years...
, and later action in the Battle of Stoney Creek
Battle of Stoney Creek
The Battle of Stoney Creek was fought on 6 June 1813 during the War of 1812 near present day Stoney Creek, Ontario. British units made a night attack on an American encampment...
and Battle of Lundy's Lane
Battle of Lundy's Lane
The Battle of Lundy's Lane was a battle of the Anglo-American War of 1812, which took place on 25 July 1814, in present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario...
. In 1814 he received two positions in the government of Upper Canada, Assistant Secretary, and Registrar of Upper Canada.
Jarvis was also appointed as a Clerk of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. Having studied law before the war, he was called to the bar in 1815. In 1817 he was named Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.
In 1817 Jarvis killed John Ridout in a duel. John was the son of Upper Canada's Surveyor General, Thomas Ridout
Thomas Ridout
Thomas Ridout was a political figure in Upper Canada.He was born in Sherborne, England in 1754 and came to Maryland in 1774. In 1787, he was travelling to Kentucky when his group was captured by a party of Shawnees; he was held captive and later released in Detroit, then held by the British...
. The Jarvis and Ridout families carried a longstanding enmity; in 1817 John Ridout had been ejected from Jarvis' office, and a few days later a chance encounter led to a fistfight between the pair. They agreed to a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
, meeting on July 12 at daybreak. The pair stood back to back, then took 8 steps, turned to face each other, after which Jarvis' second counted to three. The count of three was the signal permitting them to shoot. Ridout shot on the count of two but missed. Jarvis was livid at this violation of the agreement. Their seconds conferred, giving Ridout a second gun, then taking it away and allowing Jarvis to take his shot. He did, killing Ridout. Jarvis was charged with murder, but the charge was reduced to manslaughter before trial. Jarvis was acquitted, as all the formalities of a duel had been met, and the unspoken practice of the day was to acquit duellers. It was the last such quasi-legal duel in Toronto.
In October 1818 Jarvis married Mary Boyles Powell. She was the daughter of William Dummer Powell
William Dummer Powell
William Dummer Powell was a Loyalist lawyer, judge and political figure in Upper Canada.-Early life and education:...
, the judge who had presided over his trial for the shooting of John Ridout. Around 1822 Jarvis moved onto land which he had inherited from his father, Hazel Burn, a 100 acre (0.404686 km²) lot between Queen Street and Bloor Street
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, in the Canadian province of Ontario. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct westward into Mississauga, where it ends at Central Parkway. East of the viaduct, Danforth Avenue continues along the same...
. He cleared the southern part of the lot and erected an estate. On June 8, 1826, Jarvis and fourteen others, disguised as Indians, broke into the offices of William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish born American and Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.-Background and early years in Scotland, 1795–1820:Mackenzie was...
's newspaper Colonial Advocate, where they smashed his printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
and threw it into Toronto Harbour
Toronto Harbour
Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a natural harbour, protected from Lake Ontario waves by the Toronto Islands. It is a commercial port on the Great Lakes as well as a recreational harbour...
. This act was in retaliation for negative editorials which Mackenzie had run about members of the Family Compact. Mackenzie sued and won £625, which was paid by donations from the Family Compact, and Mackenzie was able to set up a larger operation.
Jarvis was named Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada in 1837, replacing James Givins
James Givins
Colonel James Givins was a British Army officer and militiaman who fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He was also an Indian agent of Upper Canada, rising to Chief Superintendent of the Indian Department...
, who was becoming senile. During the Rebellion of 1837, Jarvis organised a group of volunteers to fight on the government's side; the group was named the Queen's Rangers in honour of his father's old unit, also called the Queen's Rangers
Queen's Rangers
The Queen's Rangers was a military unit who fought on the Loyalist side during the American War of Independence. After the war they moved to Nova Scotia and disbanded, but were reformed again in Upper Canada before disbanding again, in 1802, a decade prior to the War of 1812.-French and Indian...
, which had disbanded in 1802. In 1845 he was removed from his position as Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada. A three-man commission appointed to investigate complaints about the Department of Indian Affairs found substantial problems there. Witnesses to the commission testified about occurrences of bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
, fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, religious discrimination
Religious discrimination
Religious discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because of what they do or do not believe.A concept like that of 'religious discrimination' is necessary to take into account ambiguities of the term religious persecution. The infamous cases in which people have been...
and lack of interest in the welfare of the Indians under its supervision. To repay the government the money he had stolen from the Indian Department, Jarvis was forced to sell Hazel Burn to pay the £4000 that he owed the government. The estate was divided into town lots
Subdivision (land)
Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop, usually via a plat. The former single piece as a whole is then known in the United States as a subdivision...
with a street through the tract. The street is now named Jarvis Street
Jarvis Street
Jarvis Street is a north-south thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, passing through some of the oldest developed areas in the city. Its alignment extends from Bloor Street in the north to Queens Quay East in the south. South of Front Street, it continues as Lower Jarvis Street...
.
Jarvis and his wife had several children. A son, Samuel Peters Jarvis Jr. CMG (1820-1905) was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer (Major General) who served in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
(and died in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
).