HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Thomas J. Jarvis

Greenville, Pitt County, North Carolina

Marker Inscription

Thomas J. Jarvis. Governor, 1879-1885; Minister to Brazil; United States Senator. Home is 3 blocks S. Grave is 1 block W.

Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

The Story

Thomas J. Jarvis served as governor of North Carolina from 1879 to 1885, later representing the nation as minister to Brazil and briefly serving in the United States Senate. A leading figure in the state's post-Reconstruction politics, he was long associated with the cause of public education. His home stands three blocks south and his grave one block west of this marker.

Why it matters

His career reflects the rebuilding of Southern state governments and public institutions in the decades after the Civil War.

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Related people

  • ยท Thomas J. Jarvis

Related events

  • ยท Reconstruction-era North Carolina government

Themes & tags

EducationLandmark

Nearby & related markers

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The small town of Ayden once hosted two church-affiliated schools. Carolina Christian College, founded by the Disciples of Christ, operated from 1893 to 1903 and was a predecessor of today's Barton College in Wilson. Nearby, Free Will Baptists founded Ayden Seminary in 1896; later renamed Eureka College, it closed in 1929, and in 1951 the denomination established Mount Olive College instead.

W. L. Saunders

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William L. Saunders wore many hats in 19th-century North Carolina: Confederate colonel, historian who edited the monumental "Colonial Records of North Carolina," and secretary of state from 1879 to 1891. His scholarly editing preserved the documentary record of the colony's earliest history. His grave lies four blocks east of this marker in Tarboro.

Joseph Blount Cheshire, Jr.

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Joseph Blount Cheshire, Jr., trained first as a lawyer before entering the ministry and serving as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina from 1893 to 1932. A writer as well as a churchman, he led his diocese for nearly four decades. His birthplace stood a block to the west and his grave lies a short distance to the south.