George Jarvis
submitted by: Benjamin Christian
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- George was born 3/25/1823
- His parents were Elizabeth and Thomas Jarvis
- His dad was a farmer and a hostler
- His mom was a nurse
- He lived in Harlow England
- He was a farmer when he was ages 9-15
- After George was a farmer he worked at a grain mill for two years
- Then he became a sailors apprentice for four years
- Next he was in the British navy
- One of his trips was to West Australia, China, and Indonesia loaded with tea, that lasted almost two years
- George lost his big toe on his way home from one of his trips, and went blind in one eye on a different trip
- He was the first settler in St George, UT
- He died in 1913 in St George, UT
Now let's start the story on his trip to west Australia, (his second trip) and from there to Indonesia and China. George returned to London about two years later. The next adventure was to Cape of Good Hope; then, on the same trip he went to Ceylon, and Calcutta. After that he changed ships and went to China with tea. On the way home George lost his big toe. Then he went to America with lots of wood (Now let's get a little more detail in the story).
With his apprenticeship over he joined the British navy, and traveled to the West Indies. There he was unfortunate because he got sick and went to a hospital in Jamaica. Then he went blind in one eye. The doctors thought he was going to be blind in both eyes and that he got lucky. He stayed in the hospital for four months. He passed a medical examination by a naval doctor. George got sent home to London since he had so many injuries recently. That meant he couldn't work for the navy, and he got sixpence for life. Amy Tanner Thiriot said in her article “He lost his sixpence when he moved out of London.”
George met a wonderful girl named Ann Prior. They were married on September 17, 1846. Then they moved to Woolwich. In Woolwich George got a new job as a ship-keeper in the British navy. When he was there he met some men named Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, they were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints (I am also in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints). When he got home he told Ann what had happened and that Joseph Smith saw an angel in a vision. George told her that Joseph Smith had organized the church and that now people were becoming missionaries to teach people about the gospel. She listened very closely and after he was done she said, “George it’s true.” They were baptized in 1848.
Soon George got a job for Ravenhill and Miller in Blackwall, London. His job was to be in charge of buying the pulley systems to lift the heavy machinery onto the ship. He sometimes went on short voyages. He really wanted to move to Utah (I live in Utah!). George went to China to get money so he and his family could travel to Utah! On the voyage the captain was kind and liked him, he told George to stay on the steamboat, but soon he was let go. George was sad and angry. He said, “Was I not good enough for you, did I not satisfy you?” The sailor said “George you know I like you but you have kids and a wife, you need to go home, and find a job back in England.” George felt like everything was against him. He prayed and the Lord told him to go home. On the way home he found out the crew on the ship had been massacred, and he knew that a war between China and England had started. If he would have stayed he would have been killed with the other sailors, but the Lord overruled and kept George safe.
He tried to find another job in England but couldn’t because he had a very large bubble blister on his hand and had to go to the hospital which cost a lot of money. His trip to China took about a year, and he still barely got enough money to go to Boston, let alone Utah. But who cares, he was stubborn and they started their journey. (This is where it gets exciting!)
They started in the spring of 1857, and they had five kids. On board the SS George Washington the chief cook got sea sick and George had to be the cook for the rest of the trip because all the other men were too sick. He served 815 passengers with only one assistant cook. That meant Ann had to look out for the little ones the whole trip, ALONE.
While they were in Boston they had a very tough life. It was very expensive and they were poor. They went bankrupt several times and it was just hard money wise. It was very hard to get a job and the jobs paid very little. George was willing to work whatever he could, though he was mostly at home and didn’t have a job. They had a hard time affording a house, which meant they lived in the poor part of town. It was also the unhealthy part of town and most of the time George’s family didn’t have very good food. It was also hard to get good gas for their furnace in the winter, and they were freezing because of the cold and harsh weather. Even with all the horrid weather Ann had another child and that made her extremely sick. Ann had to stay in bed for four months and she couldn’t even nurse her own baby. She had to hire someone to look out for her kids. Her baby was small and struggled to live (now remember they aren’t in Utah yet.). In March of 1859 George and Ann had another baby. It was sad because two days after she was born she died from a disease called cholera. Ann was not fully recovered yet and was very, very sad from the loss.
At last, and at least, they moved and got a better house, and things that would be a necessity in a household. Ann’s health grew worse again. George Q. Cannon visited and advised them to go to Florence Nebraska right now. He said that they might lose Ann on the way, but they would definitely lose her if they stayed in Boston! They sold what they had so they could get enough money to travel to Nebraska, which is still about a thousand miles away from Salt Lake City.
When they got there they met some people with the names of Amasda Lyman, Charles C. Rich, and Frances M. Lyman; which were the people who traveled with them to Utah. Right before they left Florence, on their way to Utah, their light bags were distributed between companies. George and another man shared a wagon, but George didn’t know how to drive a team so the other man had to drive the whole time. This meant George’s family had to walk the whole way, except for Ann, who got to ride in the wagon because of her health.
They got to Salt Lake City in 1860. After two weeks of being in Salt Lake they had another boy (his name was Heber!)
George and his two oldest sons found work, and Brigham Young always gave them enough water and food. They were all happy because they were gaining health and strength.
In the October conference of 1861 Brigham Young asked for volunteers to settle the Dixie area. George was one of the first people to volunteer. Ann was not happy with this but they were ready by early December. They did not have the right clothes nor the right equipment but, like I said earlier, they were stubborn and went anyway. Once they got there they had to stay in their wagons for like three months.
On one special day they got to go pick where their properties were going to be. On that day George woke his family up way before light to go pick their property. George’s family was the first family to settle in Saint George! At first they lived in a tent, but later on they made adobes. Eventually they had a top floor and a ground level floor. For the first few years they had trouble getting flour and they had to substitute with bran and corn, sometimes the flour was sticky. Sometimes they didn’t even have enough food to feed their children. Ann said that, “sometimes their kids would cry because they didn’t have enough food.” In fact, one time their daughter got so hungry she ate the greens off the back of the carrots and George thought that the chickens got out but she never told him that it was her. Eventually, they managed to get their homes, gardens, and the whole town running OK.
They made the Saint George temple. George was in charge of the scaffolding. He was also in charge of putting in the font because he was used to lifting heavy stuff with a pulley system (he did that when he was a sailor). He only had one chance to get it just right. He got it only 1/8 of an inch off and that bothered him for the rest of his life. Later George sent a letter back to London to get grape seeds because it was easy to grow grapes in St George, but they had no grape seeds. After they got the grape seeds George’s family’s backyard had lots of fruit and veggies.
Right before George died George’s daughter said “I never heard my father say any bad or vulgar words.” George died in 1913.
THE END!