In the summer of 1887, Sarah Beaty Jarvis died. Newton became a widower at age 31. He had two daughters – Arminta, age 10, and Myrtle, age 5.
Newton and Anna married
On March 27, 1889 Newton married Anna Elizabeth Burton. Anna was age 19. She was 14 years younger than Newton, who was 33.
And they had children
On February 17, 1890, Elmer E. Jarvis was born to Newton and Anna. Another son Thomas Edwin was born on November 18, 1891.
Our grandparent Ralph Hayden Jarvis (1G) was born August 16, 1894.
A daughter Opal was born in 1899. Sadly, Opal died in 1902 at age 3.
Ralph Hayden Jarvis (1G)
Ralph was born August 16, 1894 in Sugar Branch, Switzerland County, Indiana. He was the 3rd child of his mother, Anna Burton Jarvis. His father, Newton, was listed as a farmer. Newton was age 38.
Aaron and Sugar Branch
Newton and Anna Jarvis were living around Aaron and Sugar Branch, in Switzerland County. Some of the citations list Sugar Branch, others list Aaron.
I haven’t found land records, so I don’t know exactly where they were living. I think they were living on the same property, perhaps even the same household, with Newton’s brother Charles and his family.
Charles had married Anna Adams in 1879, the same year Newton had married Sarah Beaty. Charles and Anna had seven children during the 1880s and 1890s. Charles is listed in the census as a farmer, but later in life became a salesman for farm equipment.
The news from Sugar Branch
In Vevay, the county seat of Switzerland County, there were as many as three newspapers in town. Most county seat towns had a newspaper. These papers had correspondents in the smaller towns like Cross Plains and Sugar Branch and Aaron to report on local happenings and gossip.
Here are some of the happenings in the year 1898:
Aaron – Mr. and Mrs. Newton Jarvis and little son Ralph spent Sunday with Mrs. Eliza Billings.
Vevay Reveille – April 28, 1898
Aaron – Mrs. Newton Jarvis has been quite poorly but is improving.
Cross Plains – John P. Jarvis is having a large and commodious porch built in front of the post office which will be quite a convenience to the public.
Vevay Reveille – June 23, 1898
Cross Plains – The ice cream supper at Milton Jarvis’s, near town, was one of the most pleasant events of the summer.
Cross Plains – Sam Jarvis, who went into business at Fairview a short time ago, reports trade good.
Vevay Reveille – July 28, 1898
Sugar Branch – Miss Myrtle Jarvis was the guest of relatives here Sunday.
Vevay Reveille – December 29, 1898
Sugar Branch – Miss Gertrude Jarvis is at Ghent, Ky., where she is taking a course of music lessons.
Vevay Reveille – January 12, 1899
Cross Plains – The next one to be happy is M.S. Jarvis. It is a girl.
Sugar Branch – Mr. Sam Jarvis, of Friendship, was visiting relatives here a few days last week.
Vevay Reveille – January 12, 1899
Timeline 1890s
Sources
- Marriage license – Newton Jarvis and Anna Burton – 1889 – Ohio County Recorder – Rising Sun, Indiana
- Birth record – Ralph Jarvis – Switzerland County Health Department, Vevay, Indiana
- Photo – Ralph Jarvis, age 3 – JarvisFamily Photos, Chleo Jarvis collection
- Map composite – Ohio County and Switzerland County, Indiana – D.J. Lake and Co. – 1883 – Ball State University – https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/InHisAtls/id/611
- Newspaper quotations – Vevay Reveille – various dates – http://www.vevaynewspapers.com/category/news/
- Image – Widower and his daughters – Studio portrait of man with four girls. Northwood brothers :Photographs of Northland. Ref: 1/1-005722-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22786200
Family Nibbles 