Background
Jarvis was born on May 5, 1739, in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son of Samuel and Naomi (Brush) Jarvis, who had moved to Norwalk from Huntington, Long Island, some two years previous to the son's birth.
(Loyal ists or, as they were called in the politics of the...)
Loyal ists or, as they were called in the politics of the time, the Tories of the American Revolution, but little is known. The most intelli gent, the best informed among us, confess the deficiency of their knowledge. The reason is obvious. Men who, like the Loyalists, separate themselves from their friends and kindred, who are driven from their homes, who surrender the hopes and expectations of life, and who become outlaws, wanderers, and exiles, such men, leave few memorials behind them. Their papers are scattered and lost, and their very names pass from human recollection. Hence, the most thorough and pains-taking inquirers into their history, have hardly been rewarded for the time and attention which they have bestowed. Were there books materially to aid such labor ers, greater success would have attended their researches. But the third volume of Hutchinson s History of Massachusetts, the Life of Peter Van Shaack, the Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen, and Simcoe s Journal of The Operations of the Loyalist Corps called the Queen s Rangers, comprise, I believe, all the published works, which afford any considerable information of those of our countrymen who adhered to the mother country in the momentous struggle which resulted in making us a free people. My own pretensions are extremely limited. (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology. Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text.
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Jarvis was born on May 5, 1739, in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son of Samuel and Naomi (Brush) Jarvis, who had moved to Norwalk from Huntington, Long Island, some two years previous to the son's birth.
Jarvis prepared for college at Stamford, Connecticut, under Rev. Noah Welles, a Congregational minister, and graduated from Yale in 1761. In November 1763, having in the meantime acted as lay-reader in Middletown, Connecticut, while preparing for the Episcopal ministry, he sailed for England where he was ordained deacon by Frederick Keppel, bishop of Exeter, on February 5, 1764; and priest by Charles Lyttelton, bishop of Carlisle, on February 19.
Returning to Connecticut, Jarvis became rector of Christ Church, Middletown. During the agitation which preceded the Revolution he was the object of no little abuse, because in common with other Episcopal clergymen, he felt that rebellion against the King was violation of his ordination vows. He seems to have conducted himself with much discretion, however. He was chairman of the convention of Episcopal clergymen, held in New Haven, July 23, 1776, at which they decided to suspend all public worship in their churches, and thus avoid the reading of the liturgy with its prayer for the king. After the Revolution he was among those who took the lead in the organization of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. He was secretary of the secret meeting held at Woodbridge late in March 1783, when it was decided to send a clergyman to England to be made bishop, and prepared the letter to the Archbishop of York which Samuel Seabury later took with him on his quest for consecration. At the convention held at Middletown, August 1785, in behalf of the clergy Jarvis received and acknowledged Seabury as their bishop; and was appointed one of a committee to make with the bishop the changes in the liturgy that existing conditions required. In order that the canonical number of bishops of the Scottish line might be established in New England, he was appointed February 1787, to proceed to Scotland for consecration, but subsequent events made such action unnecessary. After the death of Seabury, however, he was unanimously elected on June 7, 1797, to succeed him, a previous election in 1796, which was not unanimous, having been declined. Jarvis was consecrated at Trinity Church, New Haven, by Bishops White, Provoost, and Bass on October 18, 1797. He continued to reside in Middletown until 1799, when he removed to Cheshire. After 1803 his home was in New Haven, where he died on May 3, 1813.
(Loyal ists or, as they were called in the politics of the...)
Jarvis was a man of solid attainments and old-fashioned dignity of demeanor, slow in making up his mind, tenacious in seeking his ends, sometimes arbitrary, and often prone to emphasize small details. He performed his duties as bishop faithfully and with ability, but was not sufficiently inclined to activity to be a great leader.
Jarvis' first wife, Ann, daughter of Samuel Farmer of New York, whom he married May 25, 1766, died in 1801; and on July 4, 1806, he married Lucy, widow of Nathaniel Lewis of Philadelphia.
