Thomas Jordan Jarvis

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 15 dated events in the chronology →

1. November 7, 1876 Orange County gives the Democrats a sweeping victory in the 1876 election Orange polled more than 4,100 votes, some 800 more than at any earlier election, in a quiet contest that went to the Democratic ticket: Thomas J. Jarvis carried the county for lieutenant governor 2,420 to 1,669, Calvin E. Parish and John K. Hughes won its House seats, and John W. Graham beat Josiah Turner Jr., who had run against the party's nominee with Republican backing, for the state Senate. The county officers, among them Treasurer D. C. Parks and Register John Laws, won with about 2,700 votes each. People: Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Calvin E. Parish, John W. Graham, Josiah Turner Jr., David C. Parks, John Knox Hughes Place: Orange County · Also named: John LawsSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 15, 1876, p. 3
2. June 4, 1879 Dr. Moses D. Hoge of Richmond addresses the literary societies in place of Senator Thurman When Senator Allen G. Thurman of Ohio could not leave Washington, Dr. Hoge of Richmond, invited to preach to the graduating class, agreed to address the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies instead. He spoke on the beauty and nobility of an unselfish life before a large commencement crowd that included Governor Jarvis. People: Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Kemp Plummer Battle Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Moses D. HogeSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, June 7, 1879, p. 2
3. June 5, 1879 Robert W. Winston wins the Mangum Medal for oratory at commencement On commencement day eight seniors gave orations, and the gold medal for oratory given by the daughters of Willie P. Mangum went to Robert W. Winston of Windsor. Governor Jarvis delivered the diplomas, and other medals went to L. Patterson for Latin, C. D. McIver and another student for Greek, and A. S. Grandy for the Bingham prize. People: Robert W. Winston, Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Robert Bingham Place: University Chapel, Chapel Hill · Also named: Charles D. McIver, Willie P. MangumSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, June 7, 1879, p. 2
4. 1880-1882 State convicts build the University Railroad Governor Thomas J. Jarvis supplied state convicts at low hire to grade the line from University Station to Chapel Hill, while the Richmond and Danville company laid the rails. A white convict was shot dead while fleeing, and a Black convict named Fries died of gangrene after a whipping by the road's managers, which the solicitor found no ground to prosecute. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Alexander Boyd Andrews, Robert F. Hoke, Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Frederick N. Strudwick Place: Orange County · Also mentions: University StationSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 246
5. February 11, 1881 Governor Jarvis appoints Thomas Ruffin Jr. of Hillsborough to the state Supreme Court Governor Jarvis appointed Thomas Ruffin of Hillsborough an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in place of Justice Dillard, who had resigned, and Ruffin accepted. People: Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Thomas Ruffin Jr. Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Thomas RuffinSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 19, 1881, p. 2
6. April 14, 1881 Voters approve forming Durham County from eastern Orange and part of Wake Under an act ratified February 28, 1881, voters in the territory cut from eastern Orange and western Wake approved the new county on April 14, 1881, the Orange portion voting 1,464 to 250. Governor Thomas J. Jarvis then proclaimed Durham County established. People: Thomas Jordan Jarvis Place: CountywideThe News and Observer (Raleigh), April 20, 1881: Durham County (Governor Jarvis's proclamation)
7. Commencement 1882 Commencement celebrates the railroad's arrival, and Battle calls Hoke its father At the 1882 commencement an hour was set aside in Gerrard Hall to celebrate the railroad's coming to Chapel Hill. Kemp P. Battle told the history of the line and called General Robert F. Hoke the source of the enterprise and the father of the State University Railroad Company. People: Robert F. Hoke, Kemp Plummer Battle, Paul C. Cameron, Thomas Jordan Jarvis Place: Gerrard HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), pp. 251-252
8. 1883 The state supplies prison-made brick for Memorial Hall Governor Jarvis offered the building committee convict labor to make brick at Chapel Hill, or brick from the State Prison delivered at its gate with the university paying the freight. After inspecting the penitentiary brick the committee chose it, and Jarvis had it shipped by rail shortly before the cornerstone was laid on September 25, 1883. In June 1885 the state's bill for the brick was the one building debt still unpaid. People: Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Paul C. Cameron Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · University of North Carolina, Memorial Hall Inaugural Proceedings, Wednesday, June 3, 1885 (1885), scan p. 9 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), August 25, 1883, p. 3
9. June 1883 Governor Jarvis promises a commencement crowd a hall large enough for all With Gerrard Hall overflowing at the 1883 commencement, President Kemp Battle asked Governor Thomas J. Jarvis to promise a bigger building, and Jarvis made the promise to applause. He backed the plan at the next trustees meeting and offered bricks from the state penitentiary on easy terms, and the project became Memorial Hall. People: Kemp Plummer Battle Place: Gerrard Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Memorial HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 315
10. June 1883 Trustees vote to raise a monument to David L. Swain beside Caldwell's At the June 1883 commencement a well-attended board of trustees adopted a resolution asking for an alumni committee to collect money for a monument to the late president David L. Swain, to stand near the Caldwell monument on the campus. Governor Thomas J. Jarvis, then board president, named the committee, and within weeks the plan turned into Memorial Hall. People: David L. Swain, Thomas Jordan Jarvis Place: UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Memorial HallSearch the index · University of North Carolina, Memorial Hall Inaugural Proceedings, Wednesday, June 3, 1885 (1885), scan p. 8
11. July 1883 Governor Jarvis has the trustees build a hall in place of a Swain obelisk At a trustees' meeting in Raleigh in July 1883, Governor Thomas J. Jarvis proposed that the board and the alumni pool their efforts on a large hall at Chapel Hill instead of an obelisk to Swain. The board agreed, on condition that the alumni not be bound to any fixed sum, and Jarvis wrote the ordinance ordering what was first called Swain Memorial Hall. People: David L. Swain Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · University of North Carolina, Memorial Hall Inaugural Proceedings, Wednesday, June 3, 1885 (1885), scan p. 9
12. 1883 to 1885 Memorial Hall rises at UNC under Paul C. Cameron's building committee The cornerstone of Swain Memorial Hall was laid on September 25, 1883, and the hall was dedicated on June 3, 1885, honoring President David L. Swain, faculty and the university's Confederate dead. Paul C. Cameron, president of the Alumni Association and chairman of the building committee, raised money for it and gave money himself. People: Paul C. Cameron, Kemp Plummer Battle, David L. Swain, Thomas Jordan Jarvis Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Names in Brick and Stone, Memorial Hall