Leonard Jarvis, Jr. (October 19, 1781 – September 18, 1854) was an American businessman and politician who served as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. Jarvis was the son of Leonard Jarvis, Sr. and Susan (Scott) Jarvis, he was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

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on October 19, 1781. He attended the common schools, graduated from Harvard in 1800. After his graduation from Harvard, Jarvis moved to France, he lived in France for the next sixteen years. In 1816, he moved to Surry, Maine. On August 15, 1816, he married Mary Hubbard Greene in Boston, Massachusetts, she died in November 1841. In about 1844, he married Anna Howard Spooner, (she died in 1888 or 1889 in California at the age of one hundred and one). He was the sheriff of

Hancock County, Maine Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,478. Its county seat is Ellsworth. The county was incorporated on June 25, 1789, and named for John Hancock, the first governor of ...

from 1821 to 1829. He was a collector of customs for the

Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic ...

district from 1829 to 1831. He was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress and the three succeeding Congresses. He served from March 4, 1829 to March 3, 1837. During the

Twenty-fourth Congress The 24th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1835, ...

, he was the chairman of the

United States House Committee on Naval Affairs The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of Def ...

. In 1835, Jarvis challenged Francis O. J. Smith to a duel, Smith declined. He was a

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

agent for the port of Boston from 1838 to 1841.

Death and burial

He returned to Surry, Maine, where he died on September 18, 1854. He was interred in Hillside Cemetery. He is buried at Columbia Masonic Cemetery, where the Hillside Cemetery was moved to in 1855.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, Leonard 1781 births 1854 deaths Harvard University alumni People from Surry, Maine Politicians from Boston Maine Democratic-Republicans Maine sheriffs Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine 19th-century American politicians