Category Archives: Jarvis

Jarvis

Zadock Jarvis of Rowan County, North Carolina

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Zadock Jarvis is one of the more mysterious of my husband’s ancestors, as there is little definitive information about his life.

First, it is said that he came from Montgomery County, Maryland and settled in Rowan County, North Carolina. Zadock Jarvis is not a common name in any time period. Given that there is a Zadock Jarvis on the list of men who took the Oath of Fidelity on 2 March 1778 in Montgomery County, Maryland, I am inclined to believe that this is my husband’s Zadock Jarvis.


Revolutionary War Records of Maryland
Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh
Source: FamilySearch

It is said that Elisha Jarvis was his brother and I imagine that statement came from finding Elisha’s name just five names past that of Zadock on the same Oath of Fidelity list.

Zadock is said to be the son of James Jarvis and Sarah (Pelly or Kelly) and to have had a second brother named James.

The 1790 census of Montgomery County, Maryland has but two Jarvises – Elinor and Jarrott. The Rowan County, North Carolina census has three Jarvises – Elisha, Zadock and James.

The Oath of Fidelity list in addition to the 1790 census showing Zadock Jarvis plus an Elisha Jarvis (not the most common name around, either) leads me to believe that they were probably brothers.

However, since the 1790 census only indicates males over 16, it is impossible to figure out if this James is a brother or their father. I think it was more likely a brother, as there was no James Jarvis on the Oath of Fidelity list, which would mean this James was a younger sibling and not yet 21 in 1778.

If Elisha Jarvis was the brother of Zadock, while they migrated together to North Carolina, Elisha moved on to Anderson County, South Carolina, where he died in the 1830s.

What I find most maddening about this family is that even though Zadock Jarvis appears in the Rowan County, North Carolina censuses in 1790, 1800 and 1810, I can’t find a single land deed for anyone named Jarvis in that time period.

Nor does the name appear in any probate records. Ugh!

Although people have commented online that Zadock Jarvis left North Carolina after the 1820 census, in which he appears, the Zadock who is enumerated is much younger and more likely the son of Zadock Jarvis. One Zadock Jarvis married Lucy Owens on 13 February 1813 and is probably the man who is enumerated in Rowan County in 1820. He is aged 26-44, which fits the profile of a man who married in 1813.

It would be easy to assume that the elder Zadock Jarvis died between 1810 and 1820. The surprise is that a Zadock Jarvis was enumerated in the Union County, Indiana census in 1830 as head of a household with himself,


Zadock Jarvis, Union County, Indiana, 1830 Census

This Zadock Jarvis is aged 80-90 with a female aged 70-80 and a female 20-30 years old. Because Elisha served in the American Revolution and stated he was born in 1757 in Maryland in his pension application, it seems likely that Zadock was also born in the 1750s, say maybe c1755. That would mean he was somewhere in his later 70s in 1830, not 80-90 years old.

If James was their younger brother, he might have been born c1759 and would only have been 19 years old when the others took the Oath of Fidelity.

Another issue hampering the search for factual information about Zadock’s children is the fact that several of them died before 1850.

Nowhere have I seen any document – marriage, land, court, probate – giving the slightest clue as to the name of Zadock’s wife. (She is often named as Cynthia Valinda Frye, but THERE IS NO PROOF.)

Further, I have never seen any documentation for the names of Zadock’s children. In a way, I feel very lucky because my husband’s ancestress, Valinda Jarvis, has her marriage recorded to Abraham Douthit on 29 December 1816, placing her birth likely c1795. Given that her youngest child was a son, Zadock Douthit, born in 1831, and Zadock isn’t a name found anywhere in the Douthit family before this time, I feel quite sure that she was the daughter of Zadock.

Census records from 1790-1810 indicate children (likely Zadock’s) in those households. From that data, it appears that he had the following children. I’ve inserted a possible sequence of birth years that would fit the census pattern. Marriage dates are found in the Rowan County, North Carolina records:

1. (1778) Son, born before 1790 (Benjamin, born c1781, Maryland; married Sally Job, 26 September 1811?)
2. (1780) Son, born 1774-1784 (James who married Ruth Stalling, 12 November 1804?)
3. (1782) Daughter, born 1774-1784
4. (1784) Son, born 1784-1790 (Zadock who married Lucy Owens in 1813?) This family was in Berrien County, Michigan in 1850.
5. (1787) Daughter, born before 1790
6. (1789) Daughter, born 1784-1790 (Peggy who married Conrad Myers, 7 November 1810?)
7. (1792) Son, born 1791-1800 (Nathan who married Sally Peck, 26 September 1811? He reportedly died c1829.)
8. (1795) Daughter, born 1791-1800 (Valinda who married Abraham Douthit Jr. on 29 December 1816?) Valinda died fairly young, but the Douthits settled in Newton County, Missouri.
9. (1798) Daughter, born 1791-1800 (Nancy who married Abraham Douthit Sr. on 6 August 1818?) Abraham Douthit Sr. died in Davidson County, North Carolina in 1828.
10. (1801) Daughter, born 1801-1810

Now, here’s the $1,000,000 question – does anyone have any documented proof for either Zadock’s wife’s name or those of his children? I would love to hear from you!

 

Alberty, Brick Walls, Jarvis, Martin Miller

My Top 3 Most Wanted Ancestors x 2 in 2021

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We often hear that it’s not good to repeat research that we’ve already done, but I think that statement isn’t so true anymore. That’s because of the flood of records becoming digitally available online with each succeeding year.

I have been quite successful identifying a number of new leaves on the family trees by revisiting branches that have been sitting dormant for years.

I’ve decided it is time to give a serious new look to several more of those ancestral leaves and see if I can find some new blooms of information.

I don’t want to identify these ancestors as brick walls. To me, a brick wall is when I don’t have a new avenue to pursue. As you will see, there are clues for these Most Wanted.

I’ve chosen three ancestors from Dave’s tree and three from mine.

The lucky winners are – from the Stufflebean tree:

1. Parents of Jacob Miller. I know a lot about Jacob, as he was a Revolutionary War pensioner and served from Northampton County, Pennsylvania. I suspect his father might be one Henry Miller who died in the 1760s, when Jacob was just a child. I’ve made tentative searches in the past, but dropped them as I don’t find Pennsylvania to be a very researcher-friendly state. It’s time I really made the effort and dug around for more information about Henry and/or other potential parents for Jacob Miller.

2. Parents of Zadock Jarvis. Zadock also had military service during the American Revolution when he lived in Maryland. I’ve seen references that his father was James Jarvis. I also thought that Zadock probably died in North Carolina in the early 1800s, as he was quite elderly – 80ish – at his final census appearance. I figured he had died before the following census (I think it was the 1830), but another researcher claimed that Zadock died in Indiana, where he lived with his son. I checked the census and was I surprised to see a 90 year old male in that home. Therefore, I have Maryland and Indiana records that need to be combed for Jarvis clues.

3. Family of Rebecca (MNU) Alberty, wife of Henry Alberty of Surry County, North Carolina and Washington County, Arkansas. I’ve seen statements that her maiden name was Bryant, or possibly Bryan, without even a hint of a source for that. However, it’s a clue to be followed if I can find some crumbs of a trail. This is Dave’s maternal line and the family always claimed a Cherokee ancestor. Rebecca could possibly be it, as Henry lived in North Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas, all areas with ties to the Trail of Tears. Bryant is a name among Cherokees and, perhaps most importantly, Henry’s half brother, Moses Alberty, has family members documented on the Dawes Rolls.

I actually had a much harder time picking three most wanted from my own tree. My dad’s side is out of the picture, as there are no records in the village in Slovakia to tell me any more than I, or anyone else, knows.

The winners in the Sabo family tree are:

1. Robert Wilson, born c1730, of Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada. I knew that Robert was said to have come from the Boston, Massachusetts area after first arriving in the colonies, but there are new clues out there pointing to Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

2. Mary Woodward, wife of Robert Wilson, above. If this proves to be the correct couple, there will possibly be an entirely new branch on my family tree.

3. Jonathan Parker, of Campobello Island, c1788, Loyalist. There are lists of his children out there with marriages and then descendants. I hope Parker relatives on Campobello Island (and there are many) have correctly pieced together his family, with a possible wife! Jonathan’s son, Benjamin, married Robert and Mary Wilson’s granddaughter, Maria Wilson, which is my direct line.

We will see how much success I have in documenting any of these clues. I might be wildly successful or it just might be many cases of non-researchers copying, pasting and spreading wishful thinking!