My current Jarvis family research has been a double-pronged effort. Initially, I had hoped to be able to piece together documentation to prove the children of Francis Jarvis, a servant who arrived in Accomack County, Virginia in 1636.

Those efforts were stymied by the 1820 courthouse fire in Gloucester County, Virginia and by documenting a second Jarvis in the area at the same time – one Thomas Jarvis, who was born no later than c1621, and who would have been a contemporary of Francis, not his son.

The second effort has been to work in the traditional format of genealogical research, going backward in time from Zadock Jarvis, born c1750, possibly in Maryland, trying to find convincing evidence that he was the son of James Jarvis, who rented Quince Orchard in Frederick County, Maryland in 1770 from Henry Clagett. James Jarivs died between the 1770 agreement to rent the land and 1777, when it was mentioned in Henry Clagett’s will that the “widow Jarvis” was still living there.

A broad statement is found in the FamilySearch family tree that “all the children” moved to North Carolina in 1781 and that son James lived out his life in Hope, now Forsyth County, North Carolina. That immediately presents a problem as there is no James Jarvis in Surry County (where Hope was located at the time), North Carolina in 1790. There is a James Jarvis in Rowan County in 1790, but he is gone by 1800. There is one James Jarvis living in Salisbury, Surry, North Carolina in 1800.

The evidence tying Zadock Jarvis to Maryland from North Carolina is the 1778 oath of allegiance list of Montgomery County, Maryland, which includes the names of Zadock and Elisha Jarvis.

Zadock has certainly never been on the list of 10 Most Popular Names and the man on the 1776 militia list is of the right age to be our Zadock, later living in North Carolina. Adding to the preponderance of evidence supporting the existence of one man named Zadock Jarvis is that no Zadock Jarvis is found in later Maryland records.

The next issue is that the 1790 census includes one Elijah Jarvis in Rowan County, but no Elisha. There is a marriage record for Elisha Jarvis marrying Drucilla Smith in Rowan County in 1786. Elisha eventually moved on to South Carolina, so the question is – who is the 1790 Elijah Jarvis? Was he called Eli and the census taker assumed his name was Elijah? Or maybe it was just an error on the part of the census taker. No further mention is found of Elijah Jarvis. There is an Elisha Jarvis living in Wilkes County in 1793.

There is an interesting Jarvis family website that appears to be based on facts. The host has even mapped out land owned by various members of the family in early North Carolina.

From information found there, a case can be made for all of the early Jarvises to have been related and, with the addition of Elisha Jarvis’s widow’s Revolutionary War pension application, it ties the family back to Montgomery County, Maryland.

That still doesn’t provide primary proof that the Jarvis clan of North Carolina were the children of James Jarvis of Frederick County, Maryland. There were a whole group of Jarvises living nearby in Jarford county, Maryland at the same time.

The evidence connecting Zadock Jarvis to James Jarvis is lacking, but, in this case, negative evidence doesn’t eliminate the possibility that they were father and son.

Will anyone ever find primary evidence to prove the connection? At this point, I am doubting it because I’ve done research in Frederick County, Maryland and they have pretty good records.

It’s been an interesting deep dive into Jarvis possibilities, but I don’t think there is primary proof out there proving any of Zadock Jarvis’s ancestral line.

If a Jarvis family descendant is excitedly reading this post, hoping for confirmation of the descendants of Francis Jarvis who arrived in Virginia in 1636, I have to admit to being the bearer of bad news.

First, there is no question that a man named Francis jarvis arrived in Virginia in 1636, described as a servant, and that apparently the same man, called a planter, settled in Gloucester County, Virginia, by the mid-1640s. The Gloucester County man had a wife named Ann.

However, the 1820 courthouse fire in Gloucester County took all its documents with it, leaving researchers with no alternative resources.

Further, some claim that immigrant Francis had a number of children, including a son named Thomas Jarvis. However, the only Thomas I could find had to have been born by 1621 in order to claim head rights in the 1640s. He could not have been the son of Francis, born perhaps c1615!

Simply put, all attempts to document children of Francis Jarvis have found only negative evidence, meaning there is no primary documentation to support or refute any possible children.

Francis’s contemporary, Thomas Jarvis, adds a second layer of complication to our efforts, as there are no primary records that prove possible members of his family either.

Sadly, the family tree built from Francis Jarvis through purported son John, grandson John and great grandson James Jarvis is planted in nothing but quicksand.

Unless someone discovers duplicate copies of Gloucester County records that have sat in their attic for some 200 years, it will be quite impossible to prove that this family tree leads to Zadock Jarvis (c1750-1830+) of Maryland, North Carolina and Indiana.

Jarvis researchers – beware of undocumented claims!!!

Yesterday, we met Francis Jarvis, subject of my March 2025 12 for ’25 ancestors.

A quick survey of available information indicated that not only was little found online for Francis Jarvis, the tidbits that were available had no sources cited, regardless of where I looked.

There is a major problem researching in colonial Gloucester County, Virginia – in 1820, the county courthouse burned and took all its records with it!

There are two documented facts I initially uncovered:

Francis Jarvis arrived in Accomack County, Virginia by 22 December 1636 when the head rights were assigned to Francis Shockley, an Eastern Shore tobacco planter.

In the book Migration and Origins of the English Atlantic World by Alison Games, 1999, Francis Jarvis is mentioned on page 93:

He “ran away from his master Thomas Ward because, he told Daniel Pighles “hee could not beat at the Morter.”

No year is mentioned, but if his indenture was typical and about seven years in length, we can perhaps estimate a date around 1640.

These are really slim pickings from which to build a timeline of Francis’s life, so we need to expand a bit to include other Jarvises living in the same neighborhood as Francis.

I found one excellent book online – Records of Colonial Gloucester County, Virginia, 1946-1948 by Polly Cary Mason. It is in two volumes, but Volume 1 documented men living in Gloucester County, Virginia.

Some of the miscellaneous information online about Francis Jarvis claims he first lived in Accomack County, Virginia and then Northampton County, Virginia. That is likely true since Francis Stockly who claimed his headrights lived in Accomack County.

Also, Accomack County was first formed in 1634, but was renamed Northampton County in 1642. There was a final change in 1663 when Northampton split in half with the northern portion again named Accomack County and the southern half retaining the name of Northampton.

I’ve also found no evidence that Francis Jarvis was not at least 21 years old when he was transported, so his birth year might be closer to c1615.

Further, I discovered two entries in the Northampton county, Virginia order books for Francis Jarvis, entered consecutively on 2 April 1646.

Here is a timeline mentioning various Jarvises with my annotations:

c1615 – Francis Jarvis born in England
[by 1621 – Thomas Jarvis born]
1636, Dec 22 – Francis Stockley claimed head right for Francis Jarvis, a servant, Accomack County
c1640 – Francis Jarvis “ran away from his master Thomas Ward because, he told Daniel Pighles “hee could not beat at the Morter.”
[by 1641 – William Jarvis born]
1642, Aug 10 – Thomas “Jervis” claimed in head rights William Pryor Gent., Charles River
1646, Apr 2 – Francis Jarvis sold a cow to William Burwell, Northampton County (Order Book III:31-32)
1662, Apr 2 – Francis Jarvis, planter, bought a cow and heifer from William Waters, Northampton County
1650, Mar 20 – Thomas Jarvis claimed in head rights of Anthony Elliott, Mockjack Bay [perhaps should be Mobjack Bay?]
1652, July 16 – Thomas “Jervis” claimed in head rights of Peter Knight of Poropotank River in York County [just south of Gloucester, across the ater]
[by 1653 – Humphrey Jarvis born]
1662, July 20 – William Jarvis claimed in head rights of Edward Wyatt of Peanketank River
1674, Sep 21 – Humphrey Jarvis named in head right of Captain John Armistead
1679, May 1 – Francis Jarvis and Ann Jarvis claimed in head right of John Waters. Relationship not stated.
1704 – Francis Jarvis, Quit Rent Roll, Kingston Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia, 460 acres

From these facts, only scant conclusions can be drawn.

Francis Jarvis might have been born c1615, even earlier, or perhaps by 1622 if really only about 14 years old when he arrived.

Thomas Jarvis, if related to Francis, probably isn’t his son as Thomas would have been born no later than 1621, and thus at least 21 years old, to claim a head right in 1642.

William Jarvis would have been born by 1641 in order to claim a head right.

Humphrey Jarvis would have been born by 1653 in order to claim a 1674 head right.

Francis Jarvis and Ann Jarvis, no relationship stated, both claimed in head rights under John Waters.

Francis Jarvis is on the Quit Rent Roll of 1704 in Kingston Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia. Is he the immigrant? It’s possible, but it’s also possible that the 1704 Francis is of a later generation.

I can understand how/why people have created a possible list of children for Francis Jarvis that includes a Thomas, William and Humphrey, but have no idea where they have gotten names for the rest of the children.

Based on Francis’s possible range of years of birth, I’d say, at this point, that Thomas Jarvis, found in early Gloucester County records, if even related to Francis would possibly be his brother, definitely not his son.

Francis Jarvis apparently was doing quite well for himself as he arrived a servant in 1636 and ten years later he was called “planter” – defined as an upper middle class of wealthy gentlemen farmers who were well educated, politically astute, and generally came from successful families.

So far, though, there are no primary records found that document any possible children of Francis Jarvis.

Does Francis Jarvis: A Person of Quality shed more light on our Francis?

A friend of mine was visiting the FamilySearch Library and looked for Richard Jarvis’s book. Apparently the book has done a runner (with the help of a human.) Thankfully, FamilySearch microfilmed the book, which my friend viewed. The bottom line is that this author has compiled many documented bits of information found in surviving Virginia records. However, he states that no evidence has been found that definitively names the children and later descendants of Francis Jarvis.