Leonard Jarvis

Leonard Jarvis, Jr. (October 19, 1781 – September 18, 1854) was an American businessman and Jacksonian politician who represented Maine in the United States House of Representatives in the early nineteenth century. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 19, 1781, the son of Leonard Jarvis, Sr., and Susan (Scott) Jarvis. Raised in New England, he attended the common schools of Boston before entering Harvard College. He graduated from Harvard in 1800, joining the ranks of the region’s educated professional class at the outset of the new century.

Following his graduation, Jarvis moved to France, where he resided for the next sixteen years. His long stay in France, beginning in 1800 and extending through the Napoleonic era, exposed him to European political and commercial life at a formative period in his adulthood, although the specific nature of his activities there is not well documented. In 1816, after this extended residence abroad, he returned to the United States and settled in Surry, in Hancock County, in what was then the relatively new state of Maine. On August 15, 1816, he married Mary Hubbard Greene in Boston, Massachusetts. The couple established their home in Maine, where Jarvis began to build his local standing in business and public affairs. Mary Hubbard Greene Jarvis died in November 1841. Around 1844, he married Anna Howard Spooner; she later died in California in 1888 or 1889 at the age of one hundred and one, having survived him by more than three decades.

Jarvis’s public career in Maine began at the county level. He was appointed sheriff of Hancock County, Maine, serving from 1821 to 1829. In that capacity he was responsible for law enforcement and the execution of court orders in a large and sparsely populated coastal county during a period of growth and development in the state. His performance in this role helped establish his reputation as a capable local official. In 1829 he was appointed collector of customs for the Penobscot district, a federal position he held from 1829 to 1831. As collector of customs, he oversaw the collection of import duties and the regulation of maritime commerce in one of Maine’s important coastal districts, linking his local prominence to the broader economic and regulatory concerns of the federal government.

Building on his local and federal administrative experience, Jarvis was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress and was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1829, to March 3, 1837, representing Maine during the administrations of Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. As a Jacksonian, he aligned himself with the political movement that supported a strong executive branch, opposed the Bank of the United States, and advocated for what its adherents viewed as the interests of the “common man.” During his congressional service he participated in the major legislative debates of the era, including those surrounding federal finance, internal improvements, and the expansion of American commerce and naval power.

Jarvis attained particular prominence in the House during the Twenty-fourth Congress, when he served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Naval Affairs. In that role he was involved in oversight and legislation concerning the United States Navy at a time when the nation was seeking to maintain and modernize its maritime forces. His chairmanship placed him at the center of decisions affecting naval appropriations, shipbuilding, and the organization of naval resources, reflecting both his seniority and the confidence of his Jacksonian colleagues. In 1835, during his congressional tenure, Jarvis also figured in a notable personal and political episode when he challenged fellow Maine Representative Francis O. J. Smith to a duel; Smith declined the challenge, and the matter did not result in violence, but it underscored the intensity of political disputes in the period.

After leaving Congress in 1837, Jarvis continued his service to the federal government in a civilian naval capacity. He was appointed Navy agent for the port of Boston, serving from 1838 to 1841. As Navy agent, he was responsible for procuring supplies and managing contracts and expenditures for naval operations in one of the nation’s principal maritime centers, further extending his involvement with naval affairs beyond his legislative chairmanship. This position drew on his experience in both customs administration and congressional oversight of naval matters.

In his later years, Jarvis returned to Surry, Maine, where he resumed private life. He died there on September 18, 1854. He was originally interred in Hillside Cemetery. Following the relocation of that burial ground in 1855, his remains were moved to Columbia Masonic Cemetery, where he is now buried. His career, spanning local law enforcement, federal customs administration, four consecutive terms in Congress, and subsequent naval service, reflected the trajectory of an early nineteenth-century New England politician who linked regional interests with the evolving institutions of the federal government.