JARVIS, Lt. Col. Stephen: 1756 - 1840
Tile ordered and paid for by his grandson Salter M. Jarvis, September 1888*
Stephen Jarvis, or “the colonel,” as he was fondly known in later life, was born December 6, 1756 in Danbury, Connecticut, a town founded more than seventy years earlier. Danbury, well-connected to other settled areas in Connecticut and New York, had prospered commercially. Stephen was the first-born son of Stephen Jarvis and Rachel Starr, both descendents of well-established Danbury settlers.
Young Stephen was an exuberant youth of eighteen when the hostilities of the American Revolution began. Many members of his extended family had Loyalist sympathies and immediately after the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, Stephen joined a draft militia to garrison New York. He was made a prisoner at Danbury but escaped, found his way to New York, and joined the British army as a sergeant. He fought in various battles in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and also served in Charleston, Virginia and St. Augustine, Florida. Eventually promoted to lieutenant, he remained in the army for the duration of the war.
After the peace, Stephen returned to Danbury and married Amelia Glover. However, the animosity of their former neighbours forced Stephen and Amelia to flee for their lives with their newborn daughter. They resettled in New Brunswick where other Loyalist relatives had also settled. For twenty-four years the family attempted to establish themselves there, but in 1809, in search of a more prosperous life and persuaded by the enthusiasm for improving their prospects by Stephen’s cousin, William Jarvis, newly appointed Provincial Secretary of Upper Canada, they moved to York (Toronto),Upper Canada, along with five of their six children.
After his arrival in Upper Canada, Stephen was given a public office appointment and 1200 acres of land. Active in the militia, he became Adjutant General of Militia during the War of 1812. Sons Frederick Starr (known as Starr) and George both served in that war.
As the son of Loyalists, Stephen and Amelia’s son, Frederick Starr, received a land grant of 400 acres on Lake Ontario just west of the Credit River. Frederick Starr’s son, Stephen, and Amelia’s grandson, Captain Frederick Jarvis, is commemorated in St. Alban’s on Tile # 50. Stephen and Amelia’s second son, George Stephen, is commemorated in Tile # 49 and their third and youngest son, William Botsford, is commemorated in Tile # 51. William, with the help of his father, purchased a 100-acre property near York that comprises a considerable part of what is now Rosedale. After the death of his beloved wife Amelia in1819, Stephen lived with his son William and his wife Mary Powell in this house surrounded by roses and christened Rosedale by Mary.
Until his death in 1840, Stephen continued to be active in public life. He was a stalwart supporter of St. James’s Cathedral in Toronto. He was also an indefatigable writer. His diary chronicling his experiences during the Revolutionary War gives us a unique view of the times. His letters and diaries inspired a biography of this interesting man that provided the basis for this brief synopsis.(1)
1. Ann Jarvis Boa, My Eventful Life: Stephen Jarvis, U.E., 1756-1840 (Montreal: Price Patterson, 2002).