Chronicles of the Jarvis Family : 1786-1901.

            Edward James Jarvis was the youngest son of Munson Jarvis and his wife Mary Arnold, who came to Saint John as Loyalists in 1783. Edward studied at King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1809. He was admitted to the New Brunswick bar in 1811 and continued his legal studies in London, England. In 1816, he returned to Saint John where he practiced law, and in 1817 he married Anna Maria Boyd. During the next few years he received several official appointments. In 1822, Lieutenant Governor George Stracey Smyth appointed him clerk of the House of Assembly, assistant judge of the Supreme Court, and member of the Council. As a result of the protests of Solicitor General, William Botsford, and his supporters, who felt the assistant judgeship should go to the Solicitor-General, the appointment to the bench was overturned by the British government. Jarvis went to Britain to press his case, and in compensation he was made the King's Assessor in Malta. He remained in this position until 1827 when he was appointed Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island, and continued in this office until his death in 1852. Jarvis always tried to remain politically neutral and conducted his court in a strict and professional manner. Financial worries, and in the later years, ill health, continually plagued him. His first wife, Anna Maria Boyd, was the daughter of Dr. John Boyd of Saint John, an influential member of the town's elite. His second wife was Elizabeth Gray, the daughter of Prince Edward Island's provincial treasurer, Robert Gray, a former captain in the King's American Regiment, which had been commanded by Col.Edmund Fanning during the American Revolution. Edmund Fanning was Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island from 1786 until 1805.            

            The Chronicles of the Jarvis Family, consists, primarily, of correspondence which was exchanged by the descendants of Munson Jarvis and his wife Mary Arnold. The greater part of the correspondence concerns their sons, William Jarvis (1787-1856), his brother Edward James Jarvis (1788-1852), their wives Mary Carolyn Boyd (1798-1867) and Anna Maria Boyd (1787-1841), William's son, William Munson Jarvis (1838-1921), and several members of the Boyd family. While the volumes contain, generally, correspondence which deals with family matters, they do reveal the interests, and relationships of the people involved, as well as circumstances and attitudes of the time. In addition to the correspondence, a few related items include: legal documents; genealogical charts; notes on the Boyd family;  a bill of sale for a church pew; a pattern for dress trimmings;  and several other items. The letters and other records are arranged in strict chronological order throughout six volumes. As there is no pagination, the date provides the location of an item on the microfilm.            

            A General Table of Contents giving the dates for each volume of correspondence has been microfilmed at the beginning of the reel.  This Table of Contents is available in print 
A Detailed Table of Contents, which provides an itemized listing for the contents of each volume, can be found at the beginning of every volume.  A print copy of each Table of Contents has been made from the microfilm and assembled to create one complete Finding Aid for the whole collection.  This Master Table of Contents is available in print and is shelved with the Loyalist Collection Finding Aids.            

They are shelved as follows:
MIC-Loyalist FC LPR .J3F3C6; MIC-Loyalist FC LPR .J3F3P3;
MIC-Loyalist FC LPR .J3M8P3; MIC-Loyalist FC LPR .J3P5P3;
MIC-Loyalist FC LPR .J3W5P3

In addition, there are Jarvis Family Papers which are held by the National Archives of Canada and the Toronto Public Library that are not available in the Loyalist Collection.