Thomas Jordan Jarvis - His life is as an open book.
Article reprinted from the Training School Quarterly July, August, September 1915, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 81-83
The Quarterly is available for researchers to use in the library in the North Carolina Collection, call number LD1741 E44 T72x, and the University Archives.
The name Jarvis has appeared in the history of Eastern Carolina from early colonial days, when one Thomas Jarvis bought from the Indians a strip of land between the Perquimans River and Carolina Sound in what was then known as the Albemarle country. By 1691 this Thomas Jarvis had attained sufficient influence to be appointed Deputy Governor of North and South Carolina when Colonel Ludwell was appointed Governor. In 1734 one Thomas Jarvis was a leading member of the Assembly. During the Revolutionary War Samuel Jarvis was a general in command of the Albemarle militia. Accroding to the Federal census of 1790 the heads of three different familes bore the name of Thomas Jarvis. It was the grandson of one of these men, Thomas Jordan Jarvis, son of Bannister Hardy Jarvis, who so endeared himself to the people of North Carolina by his wise and constructive statemanship as to win for himself, in his declining years, the title of the "State's Grand Old Man."
Born at Jarvisburg, in Currituck County, on January 18, 1836, the early years of his life were spent on his father's farm where he gained such training as could be had at home and attended such country schools as the neighborhood afforded. Not the least important influence during this period of his life was the influence of his mother who instilled in him the characteristics which so marked his later career.
At the age of nineteen he entered Randolph-Macon College, then at Boydton, Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1860, and received the degree of M.A. the following year. His college career had been made possible through teaching at intervals and loans received through a friend.
A few months after graduation he began teaching in Pasquotank County, where he was when the war between the States was declared. He immediately enlisted as a private, but in 1861 was commissioned as first lieutenant of Company B, Eighth North Carolina Regiment and a few months later was promoted to the rank of captain. For three years Captain Jarvis acquitted himself with credit in the field, but at the battle of Drewry's Bluff in May 1864, he received a wound in his right arm. The character of the wound necessitated a resection of a part of the bone and he was confined to the hospitals of Richmond and at Petersburg and was on parole when Lee surrendered. From the wound received at Drewry's Bluff Captain Jarvis never recovered, but carried always a lifeless right arm as a reminder of his war record.
Those who served under him during that time testify to his courage, faithfulness, persistence and prudence. At the close of the war Captain Jarvis went to Tyrrell County, where he opened a small store in the town of Columbia, and began the study of law. In 1865 he was elected to the Andrew Johnson Convention by the people of Currituck, his native county.
He continued to read law, received his license from the Supreme Court in 1867, and entered upon the profession that he was to follow the rest of his life.
In 1868 he was chosen by the people of Tyrrell County to represent them in the General Assembly, where he began a public career of service to his State that lasted until his death. Few men have had the privilege of so long a period of public service.
In 1870 he was Speaker of the House, in 1875 a member of the Constitutional Convention that relieved the eastern counties of negro rule.
In 1874 Captain Jarvis married Miss Mary Woodson, a daughter of Judge John Woodson, of Petersburg, Virginia.
In 1876 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with Vance, and in 1879, when Governor Vance became United States Senator, Lieutenant-Governor Jarvis became Governor. In 1880 he was elected to serve a full term. Coming to the executive chair fresh from familiar intercourse with the active men of the State, and fully informed on all the details of public matters, his adminstration of more than six years was one of the most brilliant in the annals of the State, standing out in particular for promoting public education, advancing the construction of the Western North Caroline Railroad, building the Western Asylum for the Insane, at Morganton, and the Eastern Asylum for the colored race at Goldsboro, the Governor's mansion in Raleigh, and the purchase of the land occupied at present by the Supreme Court building and the Department of Agriculture.
An exposition in Raleigh, toward the close of his administration, revealed the State to itself, and a subsequent exhibit of her natural resources in an exposition held in Boston called the attention of many in the country at large to North Carolina's great mining, agricultural and industrial resources. The impression made by Governor Jarvis at this time was such as to cause several New England papers to advocate him as Vice-President of the United States.
In 1884 Mr. Cleveland appointed Governor Jarvis as Minister to Brazil. In htis capacity he served ably until the election of President Harrison, when he returned to Greenville and resumed the practice of law.
Governor Jarvis was President of the State Democratic Convention which nominated Elias Carr for Governor and afterwards took an active part in the campaign with Carr, speaking in many places in the State.
On the death of Senator Vance Governor Jarvis was appointed to fill his unexpired term in the United States Senate, but only served until the Legislature convened and elected his successor for the short term.
In 1900, during the great suffrage campaign, the advice of Governor Jarvis was most eagerly sought and followed.
As a lawyer he took part in many cases of State-wide importance. In 1902 he was counsel for the Justices of the Supreme Court who were impeached at that time. He was employed for the State in the litigation of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad.
Not only in the counsels of the State, but of the church as well, was Governor Jarvis prominent. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and represented his church in the General Conference, as well as on the Board of Trustees of Trinity College.
The interest and activity of Governor Jarvis manifested for the cause of education as chief executive never grew less, but increased with his advancing years. His part in the founding of East Carolina Teachers Training School and his final appeal to the people of the State for the cause of education have been given elsewhere.
Such a service and such a vision were fitting close to a life spent for the public good.
