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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Bruce Jarvis, a veteran of the Civil war and a prominent pioneer settler of Mahaska county, devotes his time and energies to general agri- cultural pursuits, living on Section 14, White Oak township, where he has two hundred and thirty-five acres of land. He has lived in this county since 1854 and the years have wrought a marvelous change here as the wild prairie has been transformed into rich and productive fields with here and there good farm houses, while in the villages every mark of modern improve- ment along industrial and commercial lines is also found. He was born in Parke county, Indiana, June 25, 1843, a son of John Jarvis, a native of Maryland. The father removed from his native state to Kentucky and subse- quently to Indiana. He was married in Ken- tucky to Miss Elizabeth Cord, a native of that state, as was her father. Following his mar- riage he went to Indiana, where he lived for several years and then came west with his fam- ily in 1854. He entered land and bought claims in White Oak township, owning there about three hundred acres. His attention was closely given to agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1865, while his wife passed away in 1862. In the family were thirteen children. Bruce Jarvis came to Iowa with his parents, was reared upon the home farm and acquired a common-school education. When a young man he worked out by the month as a farm hand and when eighteen years of age, his spirit of patriotism being aroused, he enlisted at Oska- loosa as a defender of the Union, becoming a member of Company C, Seventh Iowa Infan- try of Volunteers, under Major McMullen. The regiment rendezvoused at Burlington and was encamped there for some time. The troops afterward proceeded southward to St. Louis, going to Benton Barracks, where they were sta- tioned for some time, and later continued on their way to Iron Mountain, Missouri. They were at Cape Girardeau, and from that place went to Bird's Point, opposite Cairo, Illinois. The first battle was fought at Belmont, where a large percentage of the company to which Mr. Jarvis belonged were either killed or wounded, so that the regiment had to return to St. Louis to recruit. Later they returned to Kentucky and participated in the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson and in the engagements at Cor- inth and Shiloh. They afterward proceeded to Pulaski, Tennessee, under General Dodge, and were with Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea. Mr. Jarvis was relieved from duty at Atlanta, Georgia, returned to Chattanooga and was mustered out August 17, 1864. He was in the battle of Atlanta when General McPher- son was killed on the 22d of July, He was wounded on one occasion and was twice in the hospital with pneumonia. He participated in a number of important engagements, and his val- orous service made his military record a most creditable one. After returning home in 1865 Mr. Jarvis began farming, renting land for two years, and in 1867 he purchased where he now resides. It was all covered with brush and he had to clear this away before he could plow the land and improve the place. All of the work here has been done by him. He first purchased one hun- dred and sixty acres, and he has since built a good two-story house and two good barns and outbuildings. He now has a valuable farm equipped with all modern accessories and con- veniences. He bought land from time to time, becoming the owner of two hundred and thirty- five acres, constituting one of the valuable farm properties of the locality. On the 7th of December, 1868, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Jarvis and Miss Dell Jackson, a native of Iowa, and a daughter of Colvin Jackson, of Rose Hill. They have become the parents of five children, of whom one died in infancy, while four are still living. Fred was graduated from Iowa State University with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and is now successfuly engaged in practice in Delta, Iowa, where he is very widely and favorably known. He married Irene Parsons, a native of Iowa City. Jannie is the wife of Elmer James, of Rose Hill. He is a rural mail deliverer, while his wife is engaged in teaching school at Rose Hill, a profession which she has followed for eight years at that place and in the county for twelve years. Blanch is the wife of Fletcher Bump, a farmer of White Oak township, and they have one child, Mervin, seven years of age, who is attending the Rose Hill school. Dwight, the youngest, is a student in a medical college at Iowa City, from which he will graduate in June, 1906, at the age of twenty-four years. In order to provide for his family, Mr. Jarvis has always followed the occupation of farming, and he raises stock, feeding all his grain. His business interests have been well managed and he is recognized as a practical and progressive man, whose labors are a re- sultant factor in winning success. The family attend the Christian church, of which Mrs. Jarvis and the children are members. Mr. Jarvis belongs to the Grand Army post at Rose Hill, and in politics he is a stalwart republican, never missing a presidential election since cast- ing his first ballot for Abraham Lincoln. He has served as township trustee and as school trustee, and the cause of education finds in him a warm and stalwart friend. In matters of citizenship he is as true and loyal as when he followed the old flag upon southern battle-fields.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy