JARVIS

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One of my paternal great-grandmothers was Sarah Anne Jarvis (1863-1946). Finding her birth was a little difficult as she wrongly appears in the GRO indexes as Sarah Jane, I had also been told that she was born at Sutton, Sussex. It turned out that she was born in Tarrant Street, Arundel, the third child of the nine born to Thomas Jarvis (1830-1901) and Emma HARWOOD (1837-1911). Luckily I had discovered that Emma Jarvis (née HARWOOD) and her daughter Rosa were visiting Emma's parents at Sutton in the 1871 census so I was given the Arundel link. In 1881 Sarah Jarvis was working as a housemaid at what is now known as Lancing College. Sarah's older sister Elizabeth Alice (known as Alice) was also working there as a scullery maid.

Sarah Jarvis (1863-1946) married Samuel CHEESMAN (1867-1953) at St Andrews, Hove in 1891. They had four children at Brighton, two of whom did not survive childhood. Sarah Anne and her husband returned to his birthplace of Coldwaltham, West Sussex when he retired. They lived at Laburnum Cottage (now renamed The Cottage) in the hamlet of Watersfield and were active members of the community. They are buried in the churchyard at Coldwaltham.

Sarah's father Thomas Jarvis (1830-1901) was originally from Buckinghamshire, the son of John Jarvis and Elizabeth CHANCE. Thomas left Buckinghamshire after his first wife died shortly after they were married at Great Missenden in 1851. The next time I find Thomas Jarvis is when he married Emma Harwood at Arundel in 1859. He said he was a groom at that time so he may have originally travelled to Sussex with his employer but decided not to return to Buckinghamshire.

Thomas and Emma had nine children at Arundel between 1859 and 1880. They were Edwin Neal, Elizabeth Alice, Sarah Anne, Lucy Abigail, Rosa Emma, William Henry, Walter Thomas, Albert Ernest and Ethel Mary. Unusually, most of the names are from Emma's family. Not very much is known about the fate of most of them except that almost all of them married. I was helped in finding the marriages of the girls by the will of Lucy HARWOOD (1844-1929), Emma's younger sister. I hope to confirm more of the details of the next generation if the 1901 census on-line is ever fully useable.

Edwin Jarvis married in 1892 in the East Preston registration district but I don't know his wife's name. I await the true release of the on-line 1901 census to hopefully locate them.
[Elizabeth] Alice Jarvis married Alfred STEEL in 1888, they lived at Alfred's birthplace of Rustington where they had seven children by 1901. They gave all seven names beginning with A.
Lucy Jarvis married Francis John SLAUGHTER in 1898.
Rosa Jarvis married a Mr TAYLOR, possibly this was John William TAYLOR in 1894.
William Jarvis may have died as he was not mentioned in Lucy Harwood's will, Lucy mentioned all her other nieces and nephews.

Walter Jarvis married Amelia in 1899, they had five children at Arundel by 1905; Walter was the main beneficiary of Lucy Harwood's will, she may have been living at his house when she died.

Albert Jarvis married Daisy May and they had one son at Arundel; this son married and had a son at Arundel also.
Ethel Jarvis had a son in 1899, she is believed to have later married a Mr FELLICK but this marriage has not been found.

The 1861 census for Arundel showed Emma Jarvis and the two oldest children living with one of Emma's aunts, Emma SANDHAM (née NEAL), but there was no sign of Thomas. When the census indexes for Petworth were published I was surprised to find Thomas listed there. He was absent from home because he was a prisoner in the House of Correction at Petworth. Unfortunately the prison records for the relevant date were destroyed in the 1970s and I have not yet discovered anything in Quarter Sessions records despite several attempts. He presumably wasn't in prison for very long as there is no noticable difference in the spacings between his children.

Thomas (1830-Dec 1901) and Emma (1837-1911) are both buried in the cemetery at Arundel. Both were said to be of East Preston when they died but I haven't managed to locate them there or at Arundel in the 1901 census. The 1891 census entry for Thomas could have been very misleading if that had been the first one I encountered. It gives his birthplace as Gt Marsden in Kent. Presumably the enumerator misheard the placename or made a mistake when his copied the household return on to the official submission form.

For information about Thomas's brothers and ancestors go to the Buckinghamshire Jarvis page.

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