
The Civil War ended on May 9, 1865. The country was about to enter a period of prosperity and expansion.
But before we go forward, let’s take a look back at where we’ve been.
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The Civil War ended on May 9, 1865. The country was about to enter a period of prosperity and expansion.
But before we go forward, let’s take a look back at where we’ve been.
Continue readingIn 1791, William and Margaret Jarvis (5G) decided to leave Harford County, Maryland and go west. William was age 31, and Margaret was 29.
Most of Margaret’s family was leaving Harford County and heading west to Kentucky. William and Margaret would accompany them.


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Continue readingIn fall of 1683, Elizabeth Jervis and her two children disembarked their ship at Chester, Pennsylvania. That’s the moment that our Jarvis ancestors first arrived in America.


The 1790s in Harford County started off just as badly as the 1780s had ended.
James and Elizabeth were insolvent, living on a rented farm in exchange for their labor.
William and Margaret were living in James’ household, with no means of support. They have a five-year-old and a newborn.
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Like much of the new nation, economic hardship worsened in Harford County in the years after the war.
The Jervis families didn’t fare well.
Continue readingBel Air, Belle Air, Belle Aire, Bell Air, and once, enchantingly, Belleaire, but never, never Belair.
Bel Air: The Town Through its Buildings
It had been Scott’s Old Fields, a played-out crop field. In 1780 there were four houses. James and Elizabeth Jervis and their children lived in one of them.

The British are coming!
On April 19, 1775, the first battles of the American Revolution took place at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. British troops were sent to capture military supplies at Concord. But the colonial militia had been warned and were waiting for the British.
The first shots were fired on Lexington green, and the war had begun.

During the 1760s, the Jervis families had moved to Maryland.
Whatever their reasons, they did as their two previous generations had done. They moved west. This time, southwest to Maryland.
