Dr. Joseph Jarvis
Co-founder, President and Left Fielder of the Kingston St. Lawrence Base Ball Club
The Kingston St. Lawrence Base Ball Club was formed in 1872 by Dr. Joseph Jarvis and Robert Eilbeck. Established as a social club for men, there were up to sixty members and the married men often competed against the single men in baseball contests with the club further divided into the ‘first nine’ which comprised the main club and the ‘second nine’ being the junior or second-rate players. The St. Lawrence club participated in the Limestone City’s first officially recorded baseball game1 on July 1, 1872 against the Ontario Base Ball Club of Cape Vincent, N.Y. The match was played on the Cricket Grounds located in front of the Frontenac County Court House and drew a crowd of over a thousand spectators who witnessed the visiting team narrrowly defeat the local nine by a score of 26 to 24.
At the second annual meeting of the St. Lawrence Base Ball Club held at the Anglo American Hotel on April 9, 1873, the elected officers were Dr. J. Jarvis, President; Mr. T. Driver, Vice-President; Mr. R. J. Eilbeck, Secretary-Treasurer; Mr. J.A. Wright, Captain of the first nine.
So who was Dr. Jarvis?
Born in Oxford, England, in 1842, Joseph Jarvis came to Canada with his parents Jonathon and Eliza in 1844. In 1862 he graduated from high school in Ingersoll, Ontario, and in 1864 he enrolled as a medical student at the New York City Bellevue Medical College2. He later returned to Canada and continued his studies at Victoria College, Toronto.
In 1869, Joseph married Mary Amelia Schell,3 daughter of Daniel and Eliza Schell of Ingersoll, Ontario on October 6, at the residence of Daniel Schell. Dr. Jarvis was 26 years old, Amelia Schell 19 years. Joseph was practicing medicine from his residence on Wellington Street. It is interesting to note he provided free consultations to the poor between 6:30am - 7:30am.
Dr. and Mrs. Jarvis had a son, Joseph Stanley Jarvis4, born January 23, 1872 and sadly, the following death notice was published in the Daily British Whig, June 19, 1873:
In 1877, Dr. Jarvis, wife Amelia, daughter Bertha and son Clarence5 headed to the Pacific Coast, settling in Riverside, California where he became a very successful business man.
Biography of Joseph Jarvis, M. D.
Mary Amelia Schell Jarvis Obit
Kingston British Whig. July 2, 1872
California State Archives; Sacramento, California; Annual Physician Directory, 1896
Source Citation: Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 1
Source Citation: Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Series: Registrations of Births and Stillbirths, 1869-1913; Reel: 6; Record Group: Rg 80-2
Clarence Jarvis, Born 16 February 1876, Kingston, Ontario; Died 12 January 1937
Funeral services for Dr. Clarence Crawford Jarvis, 62, pioneer Riversider, whose death occurred Tuesday evening at his home in Brea, will be held Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock in the chapel of the McAulay mortuary, 411 North Spadra street, Fullerton, it was announced by relatives here today.
Mr. Jarvis, who was the oldet son of Dr. Joseph Jarvis of this city and a nephew of the late J. T. Jarvis, who served a term as mayor, was a dentist by profession. His death was unexpected, occurring as the result of an apoplectic stroke.
Coming to Riverside from Canada with his parents in 1877, Mr. Jarvis was only one year of age. He attended the city schools, graduating from the Riverside high school, and a few years later from the dental college of U.S.C.
Besides his wife, Mrs. Eva Jarvis, and his father, he leaves two sisters, Mrs. Edith Higday, Riverside, and Mrs. Beatrice Coalter, Salt Lake City, and a brother, Charles H. Jarvis, Compton.
Source: Riverside Daily Press, Riverside, California January 15, 1937 Page 3
Clarence Crawford was a son of Dr. Joseph Jarvis and Mary Amelia (nee Schell) Jarvis.