Jarvis, Thomas Jordan

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).