Thomas Jordan Jarvis

Jarvis, Thomas Jordan, 1836-1915, governor of North Carolina (1879-85), b. Jarvisburg, Currituck co., N.C., grad. Randolph-Macon College (B.A., 1860; M.A., 1861). Wounded at Drewry's Bluff (1864) in the Civil War, he left Confederate service as a captain. He was admitted to the bar in 1868 and served in the North Carolina legislature (1868-69, 1870-71), as speaker in the last term. Jarvis, elected lieutenant governor in 1876, became governor when Zebulon B. Vance went to the U.S. Senate; he was elected for a full term as governor in 1880. He furthered educational projects, industrial development, and private railroad construction. He was U.S. minister to Brazil (1885-89) and a U.S. Senator (1894-95).