JARVIS, Lt. Col. George Stephen: 1797 - 1878
Tile ordered and paid for by Salter Mountain Jarvis, September 1888*
George Stephen was the second son of Colonel Stephen Jarvis (Tile # 47) and Amelia Glover. George was born in New Brunswick where his parents had settled as refugees after the American Revolution. He moved with his parents to York, Upper Canada in 1809 where his father was given land and a public office position.
When the Americans invaded Canada in 1812, George, at the age of fifteen, became a volunteer in the York militia. He served as a private, corporal and sergeant in his corps. He then joined the 49th Regiment as a Gentleman Cadet. During his two years of service, George participated in seven general engagements including the Battle of Lundy’s Lane. He has left a graphic account of the Battle of Queenston Heights and the death of General Brock. He was within a few feet of that great man when he fell.(1) George was taken prisoner twice but was exchanged and returned to his regiment after the first incident and escaped after the second. He was serving with the 8th Regiment during the siege of Fort Erie, their final battle of the war and accompanied his regiment when they received orders to march to Montreal and embark for England. In the spring of 1815, he was stationed at Windsor Castle. He was retired from the 8th King’s Regiment and reappointed to the 104th Regiment stationed in Canada. The regiment was disbanded in 1817 shortly after George had returned to Canada to take up his new post.(2)
After his military service, George received a land grant and settled in the Cornwall area. He studied law, was called to the bar and as a devoted public servant, held a long list of public offices. He served as a judge for over fifty years.
In 1821, he married Julia Sherwood and they had ten children. Julia died in 1842 and two years later George married Anna Maria Mountain. Another three sons were added to the family, but one son died as an infant. One of the two surviving sons of this union was Salter Mountain Jarvis,* subscriber of this tile dedicated to his father. Salter also sponsored the tile dedicated to his grandfather, Stephen Jarvis (Tile # 47).
George Stephen, a well-respected citizen of Cornwall, died there in 1878, six days short of his eighty-first birthday.
1. Ann Jarvis Boa, My Eventful Life: Stephen Jarvis, U.E., 1756-1840 (Montreal: Price Patterson, 2002), p. 160.
2. Boa, 176.