McDonough ILGenWeb

JOHN F. JARVIS, who is successfully engaged in farming and fruit-raising in Chalmers Township, McDonough County, Ill., was born in Lamoine Township, this county, February 5, 1859, and there received an education in the public schools. He is a son of Edward and Elizabeth (Royce) Jarvis, the former a native of Indiana. John Jarvis, the paternal grandfather, was a Virginian, and Frank Royce, the grandfather on the mother's side, was born in Tennessee. John Jarvis located in Hancock County, Ill., in 1834. In 1842 he moved to McDonough County and entered seventy acres of Government land in Lamoine Township which ultimately came into the possession of Edward Jarvis. John F. Jarvis is the third of eight children, five of whom were boys. At the age of twenty-three years he left home and traveled about two years. On returning to McDonough County he applied himself to farming. In the fall of 1890 he bought 195 acres of land in Sections 29 and 32, Chalmers Township, where he carries on general farming. In 1897 he went into the fruit business, and has the largest apple orchard in the county, covering seventy-five acres. He also raises plums, peaches, pears, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. On September 20, 1883, Mr. Jarvis was married to Josephine Newell, who was born in McDonough County, and received her early education in the common school and the Macomb Normal School. Five children resulted from this union, namely: Robert, Mary, Arthur, Ora and Chester. Politically, Mr. Jarvis advocates the principles of the Prohibition party. His fraternal connection is with the M. W. A.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907. Transcribed by Joanne Scobee Morgan