WILLIAM JARVIS

by
Nelson King, FPS

Having researched and written John Graves Simcoe, Soldier, Statesman and Freemason it seemed a natural progression to continue with a man who not only served under Simcoe in The Queen's Rangers [1st American Regiment] but who also served Governor Simcoe as Secretary and Registrar of the Records of the Province of Upper Canada, and was the first Provincial Grand Master of Masons of Upper Canada, William Jarvis.

Early in the seventeenth century, the Jarvis family immigrated to North America and settled in Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1760 Samuel Jarvis was appointed town clerk of Stamford, Connecticut [a position he held until 1775, when he was forced out of office due to his loyalty to the Crown]. Samuel Jarvis married Martha Seymour, and they had eleven children. William was their eighth child and was born September 11, 1756. Samuel Jarvis was affluent enough to send his son William to England to be educated, and here Jarvis was educated, both in civil and military matters. He returned to North America and at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War enlisted in The Queen's Rangers 1st American Regiment under the Command of Major-Commandant John Graves Simcoe. He was 19 years of age and commissioned an Ensign or Cornet. In October 1781 he was wounded at the Battle of Yorktown and the following year he was promoted to the rank of Colonel. When the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783 Jarvis resigned his commission in The Queen's Rangers and returned to his father's home in Stamford. As feelings against the Loyalists in Connecticut ran high, he left his home in Stamford and returned to England where he had been educated. Here he would make his new home.

Here on December 12, 1785 he married Hannah Owen Peters, the daughter of Reverend Samuel Peters D.D., of Hebron Connecticut. The ceremony took place in the fashionable St. George's Anglican Church, in Hanover Square, London. The bride was twenty-three years of age. William and Hannah were eventually blessed with seven children, three boys and four girls. The eldest son Samuel Peters, died at the age of five. A few weeks later, a second son was born who was also named Samuel Peters. It is interesting to note that their eldest daughter, Marie Lavinia, married John Hamilton, son of the Honourable Robert Hamilton, one of the first members of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, and whom the City of Hamilton was named.

William was commissioned in 1789 as a Lieutenant in the Western Regiment of Militia in Middlesex, England and on January 1, 1791 was promoted to the rank of Captain. It is at this period of his life that we first find the Masonic connection. He was made a Mason on February 7, 1792. The minutes of the Grand Masters Lodge held at London, gave the following record:

"William Jarvis, Esq. Captain in the West Middlesex Militia [late Cornet in the Queen's Rangers' Dragoons] was initiated in the Grand Master's Lodge on 7th February, 1792.

The Grand Officers present were:

His Grace, the Duke of Athol. Grand Master in the chair.

R.W. James Agar, Esq., D.G.M.

R.W. William Dickey, Esq., P.S.G.W. as S.W.

R.W. James Jones, Esq., P.G.G.W. as J.W.

R.W. Thomas Harper, Esq., P.S.G.W. as S.D.

R.W. Robert Leslie, Esq. G. Sec. as J.D.

R. W. John Bunn, Esq., S.G.W.

and many other members."

William Jarvis was appointed the Provincial Grand Master of Masons in Upper Canada by the Duke of Athol, the M.W. Grand Master of the third Grand Lodge of England, on the 7th of March 1792, this was exactly one month after his Initiation into Masonry.

The following minutes of Grand Masters Lodge read:

"At the Grand Lodge, Crown and Anchor, in the Strand, the 7th day of March, 1792.

Present

The Rt. W. James Agar, Deputy Grand Master,

The Rt. W. Thomas Harper, Past Senior Grand Warden,

The Rt. W. Mr. Robert Leslie, Grand Secretary,

The Rt. W. Mr. John Feakins, Grand Treasurer.

The W., The Masters, Past Masters and Wardens of Warranted Lodges."

"It was moved and seconded that our R. W. Brother Alexander Wilson, of Lower Canada be appointed, under the sanction of the Rt. W. Grand Lodge. Substitute Grand Master for the said Province of Lower Canada. Ordered upon like motion that our Rt. W. Brother William Jarvys, [sic] Esq. soon about to depart for Upper Canada be invested with a like appointment for the Province of Upper Canada."

One month later we find the following in the books of the Grand Chapter register of the Ancient Grand Chapter:

"1792, April 4th, Jarvis, William, G.M.L..-240 certified."

This shows that William Jarvis, a member of the Grand Master's Lodge, was admitted to the Royal Arch in the Lodge No. 240 and that he received a Royal Arch certificate.

On the 9th of July of the same year he was appointed as "Secretary and Registrar of the Records of the Province of Upper Canada." William, Hannah and their three children, sailed from Gravesend in May of 1792. Jarvis wrote the following to his brother Munson who resided in St. John, New Brunswick.

"March 28th, A.D. 1792

I am in possession of the sign manual from His Majesty, constituting me Secretary and Registrar of the Province of Upper Canada with the power of appointing my Deputies, and in every other respect a very full warrant. I am also very much flattered to be enabled to inform you that the Grand Lodge of England have within these very few days appointed Prince Edward, who is now in Canada, Grand Master of Ancient Masons in Lower Canada, and William Jarvis, Secretary and Registrar of Upper Canada, a Grand Master of Ancient Masons in that Province. However trivial it may appear to you, who are not a Mason, yet I assure you that it is one of the most honourable appointments that they could have conferred. The Duke of Athol is the Grand Master of Ancient Masons in England. I am ordered my passage on board the transport with the Regiment, and to do duty without pay for the passage only. This letter goes to Halifax by favour of an intimate friend of Mr. Peters, Governor Wentworth, who goes out to take possession of his government. The ship I am allotted to is the 'Henniker,' Captain Winter, a transport with Q'ns Rangers on board."

They arrived at Quebec on June 11, 1792, and R. W. Bro. Jarvis was officially presented to H.R.H. Prince Edward, the Provincial Grand Master of Lower Canada, as Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada. Jarvis and his family proceeded westward and briefly stopped in Montreal before going on to Kingston, where on the 8th of July, Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe had been sworn into office by Chief Justice William Osgoode. Our new Provincial Secretary and the official staff left Kingston on September 11th, and proceed on to Newark [Niagara-on-the-Lake] where the first session of the Legislature was opened on September 17th. However Mrs. Jarvis and their three children remained in Kingston until a home could be prepared for them. They were not left behind for a long time because on October 17th Mrs. Jarvis wrote to her father the Reverend Samuel Peters, D.D. He had just recently moved to Vermont were he had been elected a bishop. She wrote:

"Mr. Jarvis was obliged to buy a house [as the Governor would not quit Niagara] and pay £140 for it, to which he has added three rooms of logs, that we shall be able to get into in the course of a fortnight or three weeks. He could hire but at the expense of £40 per year for three rooms and a cock-loft for which reason he thought it more advisable to what he has done. The £40 was in the edge of the woods two miles from any house and of course from any market and without any conveniences belonging to it."

In the same letter she writes.

"Labour is so immensely dear, a dollar and a half a day is the usual price for a man, or if you have him by the month eight dollars and find him with victuals. A woman servant the lowest is 2½ dollars per month from that to 12 dollars. I have two girls to whom I give seven dollars a month."

The first record we have of Brother Jarvis as Provincial Grand Master is in a letter written January 13, 1793 again by Hannah Jarvis to her father. She wrote:

"The 27th December, the Grand Master was installed in great form, a procession of all the fraternity called with music playing etc., Mr. Addison, Grand Chaplain, a young brother, made that morning, read prayers and preached a sermon, after which there was a dinner."

Records of Niagara Lodge No. 2 G.R.C. would suggest that this affair took place at Freemason's Hall Niagara. It was not until four years later [April 6, 1796] that Bro. Jarvis warranted his own Lodge, called The Grand Master's Lodge No. 1. However he had previously granted warrants [although he was not authorized to do so] for Niagara Lodge No, 2 and Lodge No.3 The Queen's Rangers, 1st American Regiment. Lodge No. 3 held their meetings at Butler's Barracks, in Newark [Niagara]. This warrant was a travelling warrant, and was transferred to York, with the Queen's Rangers, where they held their meetings at what is now Fort York. It is said Lieutenant Governor Simcoe did not look with unfriendly eyes on the meeting of Craftsmen that took place month after month in his regiment, although he could not himself attend the meetings, as he was a member of the "Moderns" Grand Lodge, and Lodge No. 3, Queens Rangers was warranted by Jarvis as Provincial Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England [Ancients] and the two Grand Lodges were not in amity. The previous paper [John Graves Simcoe. Soldier, Statesman, Freemason] informed us that this is where the Toronto Historical Board has recently unearthed fragments of clay tobacco pipe bowls; this is not in itself unusual, but these fragments are fragments of clay tobacco pipe bowls with Masonic designs. On the left side of the bowl there are the Square and Compasses, with a letter G in the centre, five pointed stars, a pentagram, and laurel leaves or acacia leaves. On the other side of the bowl is a standing bird with either one or two wings outstretched.

We know that William Jarvis spent the winter of 1793 in Toronto but left his family in Niagara. He wrote to his father-in-law on November 22, 1793; in part of his letter he stated the following:

"I shall leave my family well provided for. I have a yoke of fatted oxen to come down, 12 small shoats to put into a barrel occasionally which I expect will weigh from 40 to 60 lbs., about 60 head of dung-hill fowl, 16 fine turkeys and a dozen ducks, 2 breeding cows, a milch cow which had a calf in August, which of course will be able to afford her mistress a good supply of milk through the winter. In the root house I have 400 good head of cabbage, and about 60 bushels of potatoes and a sufficiency of excellent turnips."

"My cellar is stored with three barrels of wine, 2 of cider, 2 of apples and a good stock of butter. My cock-loft contains some of the finest maple sugar I ever beheld. We have 150 lbs. of it. Also plenty of good flour, cheese, coffee, loaf sugar, etc. Thus you see, I shall have the best of companions abundantly supplied with every comfort in the wilderness."

While in Toronto, Secretary Jarvis selected and obtained the park lot at the southeast corner of Duke and Sherbourne Streets [between King and Queen Streets]. He was also granted one hundred acres at No. 2 first concession. The Upper Canada Land Book B, dated 19th August, 1796 to 7th April, 1797 registers the following:

"The petition of Wm. Jarvis, Esq., 4th October 1796, on a motion by the Administrator of the Province [Hon. Peter Russell] to extend His Majesty's bounty in lands to Mrs. Jarvis, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Peters, a respectable and suffering loyalist, and her four children. Ordered that 1,200 acres of land be granted to Mrs. Hannah Jarvis, and 400 acres each to Maria Lavinia Jarvis, Augusta Holorina Jarvis, Wm. Monson [sic] Jarvis, and Samuel Peters Jarvis."

These lands were located a little farther to the north on what is now Yonge Street.

But it was at the corner of Duke and Sherbourne Streets he eventually had his house built, which as the Brethren of Toronto will know is not far from the present day Jarvis Street. The house was built of logs, cut and hewn from the property and finished with clapboard. It was two and a half storeys in height, and faced on to Sherbourne Street. A long extension ran east along Duke Street, but there was no entrance to the house from that side. Farther along was a fence with a high peaked gate that opened onto Duke Street. On this large lot, several barns were built as were outbuildings and a root house. At the time of its erection this house was probably the largest and best building in the town of York. Here Bro. Jarvis had his offices.

The Jarvis family were among the earliest supporters of St. James Anglican Church [St. James Cathedral, King and Church Streets]. The Archives of The Anglican Diocese of Toronto record that William Jarvis and four other settlers became pew holders, paying rent four times a year to the parish. One of the pew holders was Allan McNabb [sic] Esq. who had served with Simcoe and Jarvis in the Queen's Rangers and was the father of Sir Alan Napier MacNab a noted Canadian Statesman and Freemason.

You may be surprised to learn that William Jarvis was a slave holder. We know this because court records show that he complained that two of his slaves, a small Negro boy and girl had stolen gold and silver from his desk and escaped. The accused were eventually caught and the boy, named Henry, was sent to prison and girl was returned to her master.

It is certain that Bro. Jarvis did not assert his authority as Provincial Grand Master. He did not have a significant knowledge of the duties he was called on to perform. He therefore relied on others to guide him. One of these was Christopher Danby, who had delivered the official warrant to Jarvis and was a member of the Grand Master's Lodge of London. Brother Danby was clever, well read and an expert in Craft jurisprudence and would be eventually elected Grand Treasurer.

As Provincial Grand Master, William Jarvis waited three years before he formally organized the Provincial Grand Lodge. Notices of the first meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge were distributed in 1795. The notice addressed to Lodge No. 6 at Kingston read as follows:

"To the Worshipful Master and good brethren of Lodge No.6. It is the will and pleasure of the R.W.P.G. Master, William Jarvis, Esq., that I inform you that Wednesday, the 26th day of August, next, at Newark, is the time and place appointed on which the representatives of the several lodges in the province are to assemble and form a Committee for the purpose of electing the officers to compose the Provincial Grand Lodge, at which time and place you are desired to attend.

Fail not. By order of the R.W.

Grand Master.

July Anno Domini, 1795, Anno Sap. 5795

[Signed] D. Phelps, G. Sec., Pro. Tem."

At this meeting, five Lodges were represented, and the following slate of Officers were elected, installed and invested:

From 1794 to 1797 the provincial government slowly moved from Niagara to Toronto. And in 1797 the Jarvis family moved into their new home and all ties with Niagara area were severed. Bro. Jarvis even took the Warrant and Jewels of The Provincial Grand Lodge with him. However the Brethren of Niagara carried on the activities of Grand Lodge as best they could and for the next few years they continued to respect Jarvis as their Grand Master and all official papers were sent to him for his signature.

Early in 1801 the Brethren at Niagara and in other parts of Upper Canada became disenchanted with Jarvis as Provincial Grand Master. And on December 19, 1801 the following letter was sent to the Provincial Grand Master.

"Niagara, 19th Dec. 1801

R.Wor. W. Jarvis -

Sir and Brother. At a special meeting of Grand Lodge, held by adjournment on the 14th inst., I was ordered to acquaint you with the nomination of George Forsyth Esq., to the office of Grand Master in case of your non-attendance on the 28th inst.

S. Tiffany Grand Secretary."

Not all the Lodges in Upper Canada agreed with the actions of the Brethren at Niagara, and immediately a rift arose, as many of the Lodges in the eastern part of the province remained loyal to Jarvis. But the Niagara Brethren were determined to infuse new life into the Craft even if it meant forming a new Grand Lodge. Despite the letter of December 1801, no action was taken for a year. When Jarvis made no attempt to heal the rift, another meeting was called in January 1803, and George Forsyth was elected to replace him. Even Christopher Danby, who for years was Jarvis' adviser turned against, his former friend and led the revolt against him.

The Grand Lodge of England was dismayed with the lack of proper procedure because their records show that the Grand Secretary tried time and again to get proper reports from Upper Canada. In 1803 the following memorandum was sent by the Grand Secretary in England to the Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada.

"Memorandum of Notice. 1st June, 1803

We have not rec'd any return from you agreeable to the Tenor or purport of our Warrant entrusted to your Honour and granted in London some years since - the R.W. Grand Lodge in London hopes and trusts you will speedily comply in this request and cause the proper return to be made record according to regulation: in the Books of Grand Lodge in London."

The Provincial Grand Master at last took action. In a summons dated October 2, 1803 and sent over the signature of Jermyn Patrick of Kingston, the Lodges were requested to send delegates to a Grand Lodge session at Toronto on February 10, 1804. Most of the Lodges responded, but the Niagara Brethren did not. Soon the Grand Secretaries of both factions were sending letters to the Grand Lodge in London. Nothing however was resolved. The War of 1812 brought all Masonic matters to a virtual standstill. When William Jarvis died on August 13, 1817, the rift was still not healed. Jarvis was buried with full Masonic honours in the churchyard attached to St. James. It was a large funeral, with respects paid to Jarvis not only as Secretary and Registrar of the Records of the Province of Upper Canada, but as Provincial Grand Master of Masons of the Province of Upper Canada. The entire expense of the burial was paid by contributions from all the Lodges in the jurisdiction.

Thus ended the life of our First Provincial Grand Master, a Soldier. Statesman, and Freemason.

This file is copyright The Philalethes Society and all rights including any redistribution rights are reserved by the copyright holder. Permission to quote from, redistribute or to otherwise use these materials must be obtained from the copyright holder directly by contacting The Philalethes, Nelson King, FPS, Editor, 2 Knockbolt Crescent, Agincourt Ontario Canada, M1S 2P6. Tel: 416-293-8071 Fax: 416-293-8634 or nking@freemasonry.org