Neighbors were an important ingredient for the social life of the community. They offered help in farming and work and daily life.
Neighbors
The Jarvis neighbors include those same families that moved to land on Fork Lick Creek – the Conyers, Robinsons, Hazlewoods, Elders, Collins, and others.
Social Life
Many social activities mixed work and play. Certainly, house-raisings and barn-raisings were work, but they provided a chance for the neighboring families to gather and visit and share a meal.
Marriage
Despite the paucity of opportunities for courting, most young men married before their twentieth birthday; few girls remained single beyond eighteen.
Kentucky’s Story – KET Education
And who were eligible marriage candidates? Neighbors. They knew each other’s families and worked and socialized with each other.
Sarah Jarvis married John Hazlewood 1807
Sarah Jarvis was the oldest child of William and Margaret, born in Harford County, Maryland in 1785.
In 1807, at age 22, she married John Hazlewood, a neighbor. They were married by Baptist preacher Alexander Monroe.
John H. Hazlewood was born in Virginia in about 1785. He had come to Kentucky as a young man and was in Scott County when the Jarvises lived there.
After marriage, John and Sarah bought a parcel of land near William and Margaret’s farm in Pendleton County. They had seven children.
Elizabeth Jarvis married William Conyers 1812
Elizabeth Jarvis was the second child of William and Margaret, born in 1790 in Harford County, Maryland.
In 1812, at age 22, Elizabeth Jarvis married William Conyers. They were married by Baptist preacher Alexander Monroe.
William was the son of Dennis Conyers, the neighbor on the adjacent farm. Dennis Conyers had brought his family from Virginia. They were originally in Scott County, and moved to Pendleton County at the same time as the Jarvises.
The Jarvis and Conyers families have multiple marriages and ties. They had lots of interaction, as their farms adjoined each other.
James Jarvis married Mariah Elder 1814
James Jarvis was born in Kentucky in 1794. In 1814, he married Mariah Elder, daughter of William Elder, a neighbor. They were married by Baptist preacher Alexander Monroe. James was 21, Mariah 19.
Parker Jarvis married Patsy Gaither 1814
Parker Jarvis married Patsy Gaither in 1814 in Mason County, Kentucky.
The Robinsons
Four Jarvises married four Robinsons!
Joel Robinson Sr and Margaret Denton Robinson (6G) brought their family from Philadelphia to Virginia and Tennessee and then to Kentucky.
Joel Robinson Jr and Margaret Hart Robinson (5G) inherited the parents’ farm near the mouth of Fork Lick Creek where it emptied into the South Branch of the Licking River.
The Robinsons are linked with the Jarvises through multiple marriages, including our grandfather Harvey Jarvis and Sarah Robinson (4G).
Malinda Jarvis married Armit Robinson 1816
Malinda Jarvis was born in Kentucky in 1796. In 1816, she married Armit Robinson, son of Joel and Margaret Robinson (5G). They were married by David Robinson, preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Malinda was 20, Armit 27.
Margaret and Susannah married Robinsons 1819
Margaret and Susannah Jarvis had a double wedding on April 8, 1819. Margaret, 19, married Joel Robinson III, 23. Susannah, 18, married Absalom Robinson, 22. Both couples were married by David Robinson, preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Harvey Jarvis married Sarah Robinson 1822
Finally, to complete the fourth marriage between the Jarvis and Robinson families, Harvey Jarvis and Sarah Robinson (4G) married December 22, 1822.
Harvey was 19 or 20, and Sarah was 20.
Gilbert Jarvis married Betsy Long 1824
Gilbert Jarvis married Elizabeth “Betsy” Long in 1824 in Fayette County, Kentucky.
A review
That was a lot to absorb. Here’s a review:
- Sarah Jarvis and John Hazlewood 1807
- Elizabeth Jarvis and William Conyers 1812
- James Jarvis and Mariah Elder 1814
- Parker Jarvis and Patsy Gaither 1814
- Malinda Jarvis and Armit Robinson 1816
- Margaret Jarvis and Joel Robinson III 1819
- Susannah Jarvis and Absalom Robinson 1819
- Harvey Jarvis and Sarah Robinson (4G) 1822
- Gilbert Jarvis and Elizabeth Long 1824
Timeline
Sources
- Image – photo sketch – Sarah Jarvis and John Hazlewood – from 1800 Antique Cabinet Photo Pioneer Couple Illinois Area – eBay – https://www.ebay.co0-s-antique-cabinet-photo-pioneer-couple-illinois-area-/223467171117m/itm/180
- Image- photo sketch – Malinda Jarvis and Armit Robinson – from Wedding Dresses in the Mid to Late 1800s – Petticoats and Pistols – Jeannie Watt – https://petticoatsandpistols.com/2017/05/24/frontier-wedding-dresses/
- Image – photo sketch – Margaret Jarvis and Joel Joseph Robinson – from Joel Spence (1832-1896) and Martha Jane Hood (1828-1887). Photo sent to me by Wayne Spence – https://bundlesoftwigsandflowers.com/category/family-history-and-genealogy/pewitt-family-history/
- Image – photo sketch – Absalom Robinson and Susannah Jarvis – from Women and the Law in the Early Nineteenth Century – Conner Prairie – https://www.connerprairie.org/educate/indiana-history/women-and-the-law-in-early-19th-century/
- Image – photo sketch – Harvey Jarvis and Sarah Robinson – from Recollections – Pioneer Clothing: What Women Wore in the Western Frontier – Janice Formichella – https://recollections.biz/blog/pioneer-clothing-what-women-wore-in-the-western-frontier/
- Pendleton County Marriage Book – Pendleton County Clerk – Pendleton County Courthouse, Falmouth, Kentucky
- Map – Conyers and Jarvis farms – composite using Google Maps 2020
- Map – Jarvis and Robinson farms – composite using An Atlas of Bracken and Pendleton Counties, KY – From surveys by J. M. Lathrop and J. H. Summers – D.J. Lake and Co. – 1884
Family Nibbles 