Samuel Peters Jarvis (November 15, 1792 – September 6, 1857) was a Canadian government official in the nineteenth century. He was the Chief Superintendent for the

Indian Department The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Canada in 1860, thus setting ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

(1837–1845), and he was a member of the

Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today's Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in L ...

Life and career

Jarvis was born to William Jarvis and Hannah Owens Peters in

Newark, Upper Canada Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the Niagara Region o ...

. He moved with his family to

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, (

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

)

, in 1798. In 1807 he attended the grammar school of John Strachan in

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the U.S. state of New York (state), New York converge. It is Ontario's easternmost city. Although it is the seat of the United ...

. Jarvis was a member of the 3rd Regiment of York Militia during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, seeing action at the Battle of Detroit and the

Battle of Queenston Heights The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major engagement of the War of 1812. The battle took place on 13 October 1812 at Queenston in Upper Canada (now Ontario) and was a decisive British victory. United States regulars and New York (state ...

under

Isaac Brock Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB (6 October 1769 – 13 October 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. He is best remembered for his victory at the Siege of Detroit and his death at the Battle of Quee ...

, and later action in the Battle of Stoney Creek and

Battle of Lundy's Lane The Battle of Lundy's Lane, also known as the Battle of Niagara or contemporarily as the Battle of Bridgewater, was fought on 25 July 1814, during the War of 1812, between an invading American army and a British and Canadian army near present-d ...

. In 1814 he received two positions in the government of Upper Canada, Assistant Secretary, and Registrar of Upper Canada. Jarvis was also appointed as a Clerk of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. Having studied law before the war, he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1815. In 1817 he was named Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. In the fall of 1815, Jarvis escorted his sister Eliza and Sarah Ridout to their boarding school in Quebec. Thomas Gibbs Ridout, who was living in Quebec at the time, paid for various supplies for Eliza and a year later accused Jarvis of owing him £100. Sam refuted this, asking the Ridout family to withdraw their accusation or accept a duel. John Strachan convinced Jarvis to withdraw his invitation to duel and the Ridout family to write a letter saying they misunderstood Thomas Ridout's version of events.

Duel with John Ridout

In 1817 John Ridout was working as a clerk in his brother's law practice and visited Jarvis's office in relation to legal business. Their conversation became heated and Ridout left in an angered state. The following Tuesday the two men argued again on the streets of Toronto. The next day Ridout attacked Jarvis with a bludgeon and militia had to stop the fight between the two men. Over the next few days, the two men agreed to a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

. They met on July 12 at daybreak at Elmsley's farm, located near Yonge Street north of York. The pair stood back to back, then took eight steps, turned to face each other, after which Jarvis's second Henry John Boulton began counting to three. Ridout misheard the count and prematurely fired on "two". Jarvis was livid at this violation of the agreement and after their seconds conferred Jarvis was allowed to take his shot, which killed Ridout. Jarvis was arrested that day charged with murder. Jarvis was acquitted, as all the formalities of a duel had been met, and the unspoken practice of the day was to acquit duellers. It was the last such quasi-legal duel in Toronto.

Later life

In October 1818 Jarvis married Mary Boyles Powell, the daughter of William Dummer Powell who presided over his trial for the shooting of John Ridout. Around 1822 Jarvis moved onto land which he had inherited from his father, ''Hazel Burn'', a lot between Queen Street and

Bloor Street Bloor Street is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River (Ontario), Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East ...

. He cleared the southern part of the lot and erected an estate. On June 8, 1826, Jarvis and fourteen others, disguised as Indians, broke into the offices of

William Lyon Mackenzie William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify the establishment of Upper Canada. He represe ...

's newspaper '' Colonial Advocate'', where they smashed his

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

and threw it into

Toronto Harbour Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a natural bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational boating, including personal vessels and pleasure boats providing scenic or p ...

. This act was in retaliation for negative editorials which Mackenzie had run about members of the Family Compact. Mackenzie sued and won £625, which was paid by donations from the Family Compact, and Mackenzie was able to set up a larger operation. Jarvis was named Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada in 1837, replacing James Givins. During the Rebellion of 1837, Jarvis organised a group of volunteers to fight on the government's side; the group was named the ''Queen's Rangers'' in honour of his father's old unit, also called the

Queen's Rangers The Queen's Rangers, also known as the Queen's American Rangers, and later Simcoe's Rangers, were a Loyalists fighting in the American Revolution, Loyalist military unit of the American Revolutionary War that specialized in cavalry tactics, clo ...

, which had disbanded in 1802. In 1845 he was removed from his position as Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada. A three-man commission appointed to investigate complaints about the Department of Indian Affairs found substantial problems there. Witnesses to the commission testified about occurrences of

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

religious discrimination Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular religion they align with or were born into. This includes instances when adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions are treate ...

and lack of interest in the welfare of the Indians under its supervision. To repay the government the money he had stolen from the Indian Department, Jarvis was forced to sell ''Hazel Burn'' to pay the £4000 that he owed the government. The estate was divided into town lots with a street through the tract. The street is now named Jarvis Street. Jarvis and his wife had several children. A son, Samuel Peters Jarvis Jr. CMG (1820–1905), was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer (Major General) who served in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and died in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Samuel Peters Jarvis and William Dummer Powell collection
Archives of Ontario {{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, Samuel Peters 1792 births 1857 deaths British Indian Department People from Niagara-on-the-Lake Canadian lawyers Canadian people of the War of 1812 Upper Canada Rebellion people Canadian duellists Canadian Militia officers