Samuel Jarvis

Samuel Peters Jarvis (1792 - 1857) was the Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada from 1837 until 1845, and a member of the Family Compact.

Jarvis was born in 1792 to William Jarvis and Hannah Owens Peters in Newark, Upper Canada. He moved with his family to York, Upper Canada in 1798. For a time he attended the school of John Strachan in Cornwall, Ontario.

He was a member of the 3rd Regiment of York Militia during the War of 1812, seeing action at the Battle of Detroit and the Battle of Queenston Heights under Isaac Brock, and later action in the Battle of Stoney Creek and Battle of Lundy's Lane. In 1814, he received two positions in the government of Upper Canada, assistant secretary and registrar of Upper Canada.

He was also appointed clerk of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. Having studied law before the war, he was called to the bar in 1815. In 1817, he was named clerk of the Crown in Chancery. The same year he killed John Ridout in a duel. John was the son of Upper Canada's surveyor general Thomas Ridout. The Jarvises and the Ridouts had a long dislike for one another. John Ridout had been ejected for Jarvis' office, and a few days later a chance encounter lead to a fistfight between the pair. They agreed to a duel, meeting on July 12 at daybreak. The pair stood back to back, then took 8 steps, turned to face each other, after which Jarvis' second counted to three. The count of three was the signal permitting them to shoot. Ridout shot on the count of two but missed. Jarvis was livid at this violation of the agreement. Their seconds conferred, giving Ridout a second gun, then taking it away and allowing Jarvis to take his shot. He did, killing Ridout. cite web | url = http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2005/06/08/mean-streets/ | title = mean streets | date = June 8, 2005 | publisher = The Rational Post ] Jarvis was arrested and charged with murder. The charge was reduced to manslaughter before trial. Jarvis was acquitted, as all the formalities of a duel had been met, and the unspoken practice of the day was to acquit duellers.cite journal | title = The Duel in Early Upper Canada | author = William Renwick Riddell | journal = Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology | volume = 6 | number = 2 | date = July 1915 | pages = 165-176 | publisher = Northwestern University | url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/1132814] It was the last such quasi-legal duel in Toronto. [cite book | url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=Z_5A5TPu7aAC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=%22Samuel+Peters+Jarvis%22&source=web&ots=MMMG5LGauP&sig=Q9J8mAER9atFWNi7q3SKKcRTte0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=11&ct=result#PPA24,M1 | title = Toronto Sketches 7: The Way We Were | author = Mike Filey | date = 2003 | ISBN = 1550024485 | publisher = Dundurn Press Ltd | quote = One other interesting fact about Samuel Peters Jarvis is that he holds the distinction of being the "winner" of Toronto's last duel.]

He married Mary Boyles Powell in October of 1818, the daughter of William Dummer Powell, the judge who had presided over his trial for the shooting of John Ridout. [cite web | url = http://www.legionmagazine.com/en/index.php/2005/01/hand-me-my-pistol-please/ | title = Hand Me My Pistol, Please | author = Hugh A. Halliday | date = January 1, 2005 | publisher = Legion Magazine] Around 1822, he moved to the land he had inherited from his father, "Hazel Burn", a convert|100|acre|km2|sing=on lot between Queen Street and Bloor Street, clearing the southern part of the lot and erecting an estate.cite web | url = http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/jarvisci/history/hazlbrn.htm | title = Samuel Jarvis's Estate, "Hazel Burn" | publisher = Toronto District School Board] On June 8, 1826, Jarvis and fourteen others, disguised as Indians, broke into the offices of William Lyon Mackenzie's newspaper "Colonial Advocate", where they smashed his printing press and threw it into Toronto Harbour. This act was in retaliation for the negative editorials Mackenzie had run about members of the family compact. Mackenzie sued, won £625 which was paid by donations from the Family Compact, and Mackenzie was able to set up a larger operation. [cite web | url = http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/baldwinmackenzie.htm | title = The Baldwin/Mackenzie House | publisher = Toronto Green Community and Toronto Field Naturalists] [cite web | url = http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/jarvisci/history/whojarv2.htm | title = Introduction to William and Samuel Jarvis Part 2 | publisher = Toronto District School Board] [cite web | url = http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4562 | title = MACKENZIE, WILLIAM LYON | work = Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online | author = Frederick H. Armstrong and Ronald J. Stagg | publisher = University of Toronto] cite book | url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=0eaExFECUbAC&pg=PA432&lpg=PA432&dq=%22Samuel+Peters+Jarvis%22&source=web&ots=1_GuyMrBIm&sig=VTXr89yGPyJNb0rAgsSVpvzXF20&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=37&ct=result#PPA431,M1 | title = "Dictionary of Canadian Biography" | chapter = Jarvis, Samuel Peters | author = Douglas Leighton and Robert J. Burns | ISBN = 0802034225 | publisher = University of Toronto]

In June 1837 he was named Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada, replacing James Givins, who was becoming senile. During the Rebellion of 1837, Jarvis organised a group of volunteers to fight on the government's side, which were named the "Queen's Rangers" in honour of his father's old unit, the Queen's Rangers which had disbanded in 1802. In 1845 he was removed from his position as Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada.cite web | url = http://www.lib.unb.ca/collections/loyalist/seeOne.php?id=523&string= | title = Loyalist Collection at the University of New Brunswick | publisher = University of New Brunswick | date = March 2005] A three man commission appointed to investigate complaints about the Department of Indian Affairs for substantial problems there. Witnesses to the commision testified about occurances of bribery, fraud, religious discrimination and disinterest in the welfare of the Indians under its supervision. [cite web | url = http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/jarvisci/history/samfired.htm | title = Samuel Peter Jarvis's Career in Government Comes to an Unpleasant End | publisher = Toronto District School Board] To repay the government the money he had stolen from the Indian Department, Jarvis was forced to sell "Hazel Burn" to raise funds to pay the £4000 he owed the government. [cite web | url = http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/hazelburn.htm | title = Hazelburn | publisher = Toronto Green Community & Toronto Field Naturalists] The estate was divided into town lots, and a street was run up the middle, which became Jarvis Street.

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