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Today marks death of woman pioneerYpreacher%buried in RiversideBy KATRIC1A COCHRAN Staff WriteriLife must have been hard on Sarah Jarvis, wife of an itinerant preacher in the 1870s.A. W. Jarvis, when he wasn't preaching, worked on ranches in the North Texas area. In, 187!), Jarvis settled in Wichita Falls — only a sparsely populated community at the time, three years before it was incorporated as a city — perhaps because Sarah was “with child.”The couple rented a room from the family of Andrew J. Taylor, a Confederate veteran who moved here in 1876.ONE OF THE TAYLOR children. D.P., known as “Phy,” was 9 years old when Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis moved in with the Taylors. He later recalled for Louise Kelly, former history and English teacher at Wichita Falls High School, that he remembered Mrs. Jarvis as being a “fine, beautifulwoman.” 'Phy didn’t recall that Mrs. Jarvis gave birth Dec. 12, 1879.HE DID REMEMBER that one night she became “suddenly” ill and died — 95 years ago today. :• V \Sarah A.E. Jarvis, at age 30, was the first person to be buried in Wichita Cemetery, later-renamed Riverside Cemetery.A FEW WEEKS LATER, there was a second funeral. “Baby Jarvis/' died Jan. 9, 1881).Records indicate Preacher Jarvis apparent 'y had intended to stay here since on Oct. 20. 1879. he purchased a lot at the northeast corner of what is now Ohio and Seventh. . •HOWEVER, PERHAPS BECAUSE of the dent n of his wife and infant, Jarvis sold the property on June 26, 1880 and left. Phy Taylor did.not recall what became of Jarvis, according to Miss Kelly.Additionally, .there is a bit of a mystery aboutthe stone marking the graves of Sarah and her baby. Their names are engraved on two of the four sides. But on the third side are the words: “Genevieve L. Jarvis, Consort of A. W. Jarvis.”SINCE THE WORD “consort” means “spouse or “mate,” does this indicate that Jarvis married again? No dates accompany Genevieve’s name and no one seems to know who she was.inThe fourth side of the monument is blank -- «tended, perhaps, for the traveling preacher.EVEN THE ORIGIN of the stone - an elaborate marker some seven feet tall — is somewhat mysterious.One of the early-day monument dealers her? was A. G, Peatherage, who set up business in 19(18. In 1911, Deatherage voluntarily placed a stone monument at the common grave of Foster Crawford and Elmer “The Kid” Lewis, bank roh-bors who were lynched in February 1896, since the wooden marker was deteriorating. However» Dealherage's widow does not recall if he did the same at the Jarvis grave. (Incidentally, flowers occasionally are placed on the Crawford-Lewisgrave — there is a poinsettia there now — but not at the Jarvis grave.)IT IS LIKELY THE Jarvis monument was shin-ped in from elsewhere to become the first of more than 9.000 grave-markers in the cemetery.Bill llursh, assistant director of the city’s parks and recreation department which has responsibility for the cemetery, said there are 8.757 recorded graves and “maybe another 1,000” for which there is no record. •• * i '• • 0 m •A FIRE IN 1921 destroyed the cemetery'schapel and records. ' •Hursh said/ “We have good records from 1922 on.” He said the cemetery was platted in 1915 and it probably was then that the name was changed from Wichita to Riverside.ng★Many• B •It ISeasierto patronize cafeterias than cookV TOO, influences;h none is open onof busy shoppersneb and it seems-: Christmas mood, nd more and try 3ox observed.lt;ecl into the Pic-which has served ? its October, open-1 Brock.TERIA eating is han several years not gone up nearly in supermarkets,”assistant manager uiilly.9they don’t buy as many high-priced items as they used to,” he said.' ■.• BECAUSE OF SUGAR'S skyrocketing price, packets have been disappearing.; from tables, “and we've had to go backto the sugar bowls,” Lawrence said.• • • • . . . }Furr's manager. M. O. Spain, said, “Sugar has gone up to us about *100 per . cent: If we raised our prices like they've ■ gone up, it would be disastrous.”Underwood's office manager, David Simons, added, “We’ve had'to go up once in prices, hut we haven’t had any complaints. I think everyone knows inflationhas hit.”* * •WEATHER ALSO affects business. If it is real hot or cold, it is a big factor inwhat nu'r Uncinpss will hr Lawrencesaid. “If it's too bad, people won’t get out. And they eat less in hot weather.”, Most cafeterias, therefore, do not plan for a certain number each day, but cookin small quantities (^ to 1 gallon at atime); “The food is hot and fresh all the time that way,” Spain said. Cox added, “We slow down when the line slows down, so we don't have as many leftovers.”BUSINESSMEN AND SHOPPERS averegular customers at most cafeterias, “Rut we have a lot of older people who never cook at home and eat two or three meats a day with us,” Cox said. “It's really better for them because we offer balanced meals they wouldn't take the time to nrenare at home.”V 1♦ •s %$»«ff Photo by Jim CochranMYSTERY SlTRROlTNDS JARVIS MONUMENT... Sarah Jarvis, her baby and another womanburied here
Newspaper Details
Wichita Falls Times
Wichita Falls, Texas, US
Wed, Dec 18, 1974
Page 41
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 17 Mar 2019
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