Thomas J. Jarvis was born on January 18, 1836 in Jarvisburg, North Carolina. He was a teacher, lawyer, and politician. The collection is dated February 1, 1890 and includes a letter from Thomas Jordan Jarvis in Greenville, North Carolina to Horace P. Gates in New York, New York. The strength of the collection is Jarvis' accepting Gates' invitation to meet Civil War veterans of the Roanoke Island Campaign and his description of his own service during the Civil War.
Thomas J. Jarvis was born on January 18, 1836 in Jarvisburg, North Carolina to Bannister Hardy Jarvis and Elizabeth Daley. He served in the Civil War and became a teacher, lawyer and politician. As advocates for white supremacy, he and his wife Mary Woodson were sympathetic and had connections to the Ku Klux Klan. In 1898, he also played a significant role in promoting white supremacy during the NC state elections. Jarvis is best known for being one of the founders of East Carolina Teachers Training School, which later became East Carolina University. ECTTT originally aimed to bolster literacy and the white vote while excluding others. Jarvis passed away in Greenville in June 17, 1915.
The collection contains photocopies of an 1890 letter from Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Greenville, NC to Horace P. Gates, New York, NY, tentatively accepting Gates' invitation to meet Civil War veterans of the Roanoke Island campaign at their reunion in New York. Jarvis shares that he surrendered to the military authorities of the United States and took the Oath Allegiance after the war. He then describes his service and experiences during the war.
Gift of Douglas P. Williams
Encoded by Mark Custer, March 17, 2008
Processed by Aleck Tan, February 2020
Processed by Aleck Tan, February 2020
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