DEACON FRANCIS JARVIS PAPERS, 1797-1828

Vault A45, Jarvis, Unit 3

EXTENT:  Twenty-six items (in two containers).

ORGANIZATION:  Papers organized chronologically in a single sequence, and housed in one container; wooden box housed separately in a second container.

BIOGRAPHY:  Born in Dorchester, Mass. in 1768.  Spent his childhood in Watertown, Mass., where he lived with John Richardson, a baker who taught him the trade.  Moved with Richardson to Concord in 1789, and worked in his tavern.  In 1790, Jarvis opened a bakery in the Wright Tavern building in partnership with Thomas Safford.  He purchased Safford’s share of the business in 1795.  Married Milicent Hosmer in 1793; they had seven children: Francis (1794-?), Mira (1796-1800), Louisa (1798-1815), Charles (1800-1826) Edward (1803-1884), Stephen (1806-1855), and Nathan (1808-1851).  Member of the Social Circle in Concord from 1798 to 1837.  Elected Deacon of the First Parish in Concord in 1812.  In 1824, he gave up baking for farming, purchasing the farm of Colonel John Buttrick.  Died in 1840.

SCOPE AND CONTENT:  Collection consists primarily of financial and legal documents, plus a wooden box lettered “F.J.” on the lid.  Financial documents include bills and accounts, often listing items purchased by Jarvis from local merchants, such as Tilly Merrick and James Weir.  Others list days worked by local laborers, such as Abner Wheeler and Nathan Hosmer.  One item, a bill, lists items purchased by Jarvis at the auction of the estate of Mrs. Rebecca Thoreau.  It is signed by D. [Daniel] Shattuck.

Legal documents include several writs of attachment, issued against non-paying customers of Jarvis’s bakery; a court summons for a case in which Jarvis was the plaintiff; a quitclaim deed transferring ownership of “a certain shop thirty feet square two stories high” to Isaac and George Hosmer; and a document relating to the guardianship of the children of Francis Barrett by Francis Jarvis and James Jones.

SOURCE OF ACQUISITION:  Source of papers unidentified; probably multiple.  Wooden box presented by Barbara B. Bowker of Marblehead, Mass., April 2002.

ASSOCIATED MATERIALS:  Edward Jarvis Papers and Nathan Jarvis Papers, William Munroe Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.

NOTES/ COMMENTS:  Most items in the collection earlier formed part of the old Concord Free Public Library Letter File (as noted in the item list, below).  Wooden box accessioned (AMC 078) April 30, 2002.

PROCESSED BY:  Angelina Altobellis; finding aid prepared 4/25/06.

ITEM LIST

BOX 1:
Account, Francis Jarvis with the estate of John Merrick, 1797.  Formerly Letter File 4, M5.

Account, Francis Jarvis with Jonathan Prescott, May 1797.  Formerly Letter File 4, P7.

Bill to Francis Jarvis from storekeeper John White, May 18, 1797.  Formerly Letter File 4, W3.

Promissory note, Emerson Cogswell to Francis Jarvis, April 18, 1799.  Formerly Letter File 4, C9.

Account for clocks shipped on board the Sloop Hannah Payson, Nov. 27, 1799.  Formerly Letter File 4, C8.

Summons to Stephen Hartwell of Lexington, Mass. to appear at Court of Common Pleas to answer a plea made by Francis Jarvis, Aug. 28, 1800.  Formerly Letter File 4, H11.

Writ of attachment, Francis Jarvis vs. Stephen Hartwell, Aug. 28, 1800.  Formerly Letter File 4, H12.

Note recording vote at a “meeting of the Engine Company … that Francis Jarvis[,] Henry Loring[,] Joseph Mulliken be a committee to provide a supper on the first monday in January 1801.” 

Lottery ticket, South Hadley Canal Lottery, February 1802.

Lottery ticket, Mason’s Hall Lottery, Newport, R.I., March 1803.

Account, Francis Jarvis with Tilly Merrick, Nov. 10, 1810.  Formerly Letter File 4, M6.

Writ of attachment, Francis Jarvis vs. Thadeus Pollard, Jan. 6, 1813.  Formerly Letter File 7, J2.

Bill to Francis Jarvis from Jonas Lee, for items bought “at Auction of the Estate [of] Mrs. Rebecca Thoreau.”  Aug. 4, 1814.  Formerly Letter File 4, L3.

Letter to Francis Jarvis from Joseph Barrett, on behalf of the Social Circle in Concord, regarding the “subject of an Engine,” 1818.  Formerly Letter File 3, B1.

Bill to Francis Jarvis from Abner Wheeler, for payment of work, July 3, 1818.  Formerly Letter File 7, J4.

Agreement between Francis Jarvis and James Jones (as guardians of the children of the late Francis Barrett) and Maria F. Barrett, July 20, 1819.  Formerly Letter File 4, J3.

Bill to Francis Jarvis from D. Hosmer, for payment of work, 1820.  Formerly Letter File 4, H4.

Writ of attachment, Francis Jarvis vs. Samuel Putnam, Jan. 10, 1820.  Formerly Letter File 7, J3.

Writ of attachment, Francis Jarvis vs. James Cogswell, March 23, 1820.  Formerly Letter File 7, J1.

Account, Francis Jarvis with Nathan Hosmer, for work, 1821.  Formerly Letter File 7, J6.

Account, Francis Jarvis with Joseph Dyar, 1822.  Formerly Letter File 7, J5.

Tax bill for Francis Jarvis, 1822.  Formerly Letter File 7, B1.

Account, Francis Jarvis with Stow and Merriam, 1823/1825.  Formerly Letter File 4, S9.

Account, Francis Jarvis with James Weir, for clothing, 1825.  Formerly Letter File 7, J7.

Quitclaim deed from Francis Jarvis to “Isaac Hosmer and George Hosmer both of said    Concord laborers.”  Signed by Nathan Hosmer, Deacon Francis Jarvis, Francis Jarvis, Jr., and John Hayes, Justice of the Peace, 1828.  Formerly Letter File 4, J5.

BOX 2:
Grey wooden box with the initials “F.J.” painted on the lid.

c2006 Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass.
Not to be reproduced in any form without permission of the Curator of Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.

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Mounted 29th April 2006. rcwh.