Jarvis, William W., House

About this property

The William W. Jarvis House is a historic house located at 317 East Center Street in Troy, Illinois. The house was built in 1867 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. William W. Jarvis was a Madison County, Illinois native, born on 11 March 1842, the fourth child of Wesley Jarvis, a farmer. His grandfather, John Jarvis, was an early Troy Settler and was one of the first practical abolitionists in Madison County. On 10 Sept 1814, John Jarvis and Titus Gregg made the first entries of land that would become the current city of Troy. The township in which the city is located still bears his name. William built the house in 1867, in anticipation of his marriage to Ms. Sarah Barnsback on 23 Dec of that year. The property, on which the home sits in its original location, was a 13-acre land grant given by President Monroe, approximately two acres of which remain. By all accounts, Jarvis received a good business education in the schools of Troy. In 1861, as the Civil War broke out, he was an early volunteer for the Union Army, Company One, Ninth Illinois Infantry. After serving an initial three-month enlistment, he re-enlisted for three years and mustered out as a Sergeant in 1864. He served in nearly all of the Ninth’s 110 engagements with distinction, was wounded twice, and was taken captive by the enemy twice. After the war, he took up farming and studied law. He soon abandoned his study of law in favor of matrimony and mercantile pursuits. In partnership with J. A. Barnsback, he opened the first lumberyard in Troy. He purchased his partner's interest in 1869 and conducted the business successfully as sole owner until 1876, when he entered the livestock commission trade at the National Stockyards at St. Clair, Co., Ill. In 1885, with H.H. Padon as his partner, he opened the Troy Exchange Bank and became sole proprietor in 1887. While political office did not appeal to him, he still served his fellow citizens as one of the first commissioners of Madison County, from 1874 to 1876, before inauguration of the township system. === Friendship With General William Tecumseh Sherman === Jarvis had met General William Tecumseh Sherman during the Civil War and the two became friends, corresponding often by mail. Numerous letters, newspaper accounts, and stories from his descendants document his management of Gen. Sherman's business affairs in the Troy area, and their friendship. Gen. Sherman was a guest at the Jarvis home when he visited the area, and Mr. Jarvis named one of his sons (Willie Sherman Jarvis, who died in childhood) after the General.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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