The Loyalist Collection

Munson Jarvis was the son of Samuel Jarvis and Martha Seymour of Stamford, Connecticut. Because he supported the British cause during the American Revolution, he was called before revolutionary committees on several occasions, and was finally forced to leave all his possessions and flee to Long Island. Here he received a lieutenant's warrant to raise men for the Prince of Wales American Regiment, which he was sussessful in doing, and served seven months with that corps. Later, he made his way to New York where he established a business. With the evacuation of the city, he settled in Saint John, New Brunswick, and became a merchant, a member of the Common Council, one of the first wardens of Trinity Church, and a justice of the peace. His younger brother William Jarvis went to London, England, and then to York (Toronto) where he became the first provincial secretary of Upper Canada during the administration of John Graves Simcoe. Other members of the Samuel Jarvis family, ie. John Jarvis, Polly Dibblee and Martha King, were also Loyalists and settled in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, while still others remained in the United States.