The headstone of Levi Dalrymple Jarrard at Elmwood Cemetery in New Brunswick, Middlesex Co., NJ.  He was originally 
buried in another location, but his daughter, Mary Jane Jarrard Buckelew, who is buried next to Levi, had him reinterred at 
Elmwood Cemetery before her death in the 1920s.

Elmwood Cemetery in New Brunwick, NJ.  Levi's grave in in the lower right corner, 

the mausoleum in the background is for the Johnson family of Johnson & Johnson fame.

The graves of Jane Lewis Trowbridge (center) her son, David Trowbridge Jarrard (right) and her sister
Rebecca Trowbridge (left) who died the year before Jane. Both sisters may have died from complications from childbirth.

Closer view, the inscription reads: "Jane Jarrard, wife of Levi Jarrard, Daughter of David and Anna Trowbridge
who departed this life August 9 A.D. 1848 aged 26 years 8 months and 11 days"

 LEVI DALRYMPLE JARRARD I & JANE LEWIS TROWBRIDGE 

FROM THE BOOK "PIONEER FAMILIES OF NORTHWEST NEW JERSEY

 by W. C. Armstrong , (1979: Hunterdon House)

John Jarrard, of Sussex Co., N.J., married Mary Parke on
Feb. 15, 1785. Authority, the Archives of New Jersey, Vol. XXII, page 215.

One child of theirs is here recorded:

I. Jonas Jarrard, born June 4, 1786, died April 27, 1848. He was a maker of waggons and plows in Warren County. He married his first wife, Mary Bird, on August 2, 1807; she died October 8, 1820. He married his second wife Ereminah Dalrymple on September 22, 1821; she was born on March 17, 1793, and died July 1, 1844, she was the daughter of Levi and Mary Dalrymple. 

Eleven children of Jonas Jarrard, six of whom were by the first wife:
I. John, born (indistinct in the Bible record)
II. Garrett Bird, born November 21, 1809
III. Sarah Ann, born June 12, 1812, died Feb. 29, 1836, married William Beavers
IV. John Henry Garges, born June 18, 18154.
V. Mary, born Jan. 27, 1818, died April 5, 1848, married James Anthony.
VI. Benjamin Pettit, born July 9, 1820
VII. William, born July 8, 1822; first child by second wife.
VIII. Levi, born August 3,1824, died April 26, 1886; married (1) Jane Trowbridge and
(2) Margaret Evans; see below.
IX. Isaac, born March 16, 1827, died Jan. 20, 1834.
X. James, born March 5, 1829
XI. Ellen, born August 26, 1833.

Levi Jarrard, the eighth child of Jonas, was born in 1824 in Warren Co., N.J.; he removed to Morris County around 1842. Jane was born November 26, 1825, died August 9, 1848, buried at Mt. Freedom; she was the daughter of David Trowbridge, of Mt. Freedom, Morris County. Levi and Jane had two children, possibly three. The record is not clear about the possible third child. The first child was a daughter who died as an infant April 7, 1847; the second child, Mary Jane, we list below:

Levi married Margaret Evans on December 24, 1849. She was born December 15, 1832. They were probably married at Perryville, near Mauch Chunck, Pa., where Levi was living at that time.

The twelve children of Levi Jarrard:
I. Mary Jane, born August 3, 1848, the only known child by the first wife.
II. James Henry, born August 7, 1853, died April 3, 1854, the first child by the second wife.
III. Ellen, born Jan. 5, 1856, died March 4, 1857.
IV. Elwood Stokes, born March 18, 1858.
V. William Elmer, born October 3, 1859, died March 4, 1857.
VI. Winfield Scott, born Dec 3, 1861, died Sept 10, 1884.
VII. Esther Ann, born Dec 12, 1863.
VIII. Henry Dilatush, born July 9, 1865
IX. Elizabeth, born June 9, 1867.
X. Charles Edward, born March 26, 1872.
XI. Frederick, probably a twin, born 1872.
XII. Emma May, born October 8, 1873.

Trowbridge Household
Nine children of David Trowbridge; David was a Justice of the Peace and lived at Mt. Freedom:

I. J. J., born May 10, 1820.
II. Rebecca Ann, born May 11, 1824, died Feb 8, 1847,
married Paul Garrison.
III. Jane, born Nov. 26, 1825; married Levi Jarrard; see above.
IV. D. A., born Feb. 21, 1828.
V. Mary E., born June 14, 1830.
VI. Edward, born May 22, 1832.
VII. Sarah, born June 22, 1834.
VIII. Mahetty, born April 12, 1836.
IX. Eliphalet, born Apr 30, 1838.


Nearly all the data given in the above records are based on Levi Jarrard's Bible, which Bible was published in 1843 by Luther Roby at Concord, N.H., and which is now owned by a grand-daughter, now a resident of Lansing, Mich. Levi's signature is on the first fly-leaf with the date 1846 written by himself. Levi Jerrard was a proprietor of a ship chandler's business at New Brunswick, N.J., and a member of the legislature; a sketch of his life maybe found in the Biographical Encyclopedia of New Jersey, page 332."

Notes about Levi Jarrard Bible:It is unknown if Levi's son, David T. Jarrard was not listed in his bible, but I think reason was simple: the names were probably listed in the family bible between 1875 (the year David died) and 1886 (when Levi died) by either Levi, his second wife, or one of the surviving children that relocated to Pontiac, Michigan in the mid 1880s. When they listed the names, they only included members of the family who were still living, which after the death of her younger brother David in 1875, Mary Jane was the only surviving child from Levi's first marriage to Jane Lewis Trowbridge. For more information on the Jarrard family, you can visit the webpage of Norma F. Jennings.

FROM A BIG HOUSE TO THE BIG HOUSE

  

  

Levi D. Jarrard's house in New Brunswick, NJ, clockwise from the upper left: the house in the early 20th century, students from the 1920s or 30s when it became part of Douglass College, a womens college in New Brunswick, and a watercolor and pictures of the house today, which was renamed College Hall for the college, which is now part of the New Brunswick campus for Rutgers University.

Looking like Venice, Italy, Burnett Street in New Brunswick, NJ following a flooding of the Raritan River in 1882. Jarrard's businesses
were located here, including a cigar manufacturing plant, a grocery store, and his canal way towing company.

New Jersey State Prison in Trenton around the time when Levi D. Jarrard was incarcerated during the 1880s.

A floor plan of a wing of the prison during the 1800s.




In his later years, Levi served in public office, most notably in the New Jersey Senate, as well as a County swhich led him from his mansion in New Brunswick, which he was forced to sell to the Carpenter family in 1880. In an attempt to ease his financial difficulties, friends obtained the position of Collector for Middlesex County, a post which led to his disgrace and downfall (see below). Like so many policitians of that era known as the Gilded Age, many had their hand in the till, which Levi appears to have been no different. His motivations, however illegal, appeared not to be completely selfish. He seemed to be generous to a fault, losing money while helping others in need. But in the process, he seemed to have angered some very powerful people in Middlesex County, and in the state capital, Trenton, who suceeded in destroying him. This information had been unknown during my early research on Levi, and while doing a Yahoo search on Levi D. Jarrard,brought up an interesting document from the 1883: an arrest warrant signed by the President of the United States, Chester Alan Arthur.  Even though the arrest warrant was issued for "Levi D,. Jarrard", the webpage selling the document, Gallery of History,  was uncertain if it was issued by President Arthur for Levi.   The reason for President Arthur's involvement may have had something to do with probably connected with the extradition battle between British colonial authorities in Canada and Middlesex County Prosecutors to return Levi Jarrard to stand trial in New Jersey. My cousin, Angie Dethloff, who put together the following timeline of the life and career, and downfall of this forgotten figure in New Jersey politics:

More Personal Info

It seems that part of Levi's downfall was his generosity. His obituary reads: "He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and members said he lost $10,000. In 1879 he is said to have lost heavily from going, surety for friends, and it was to relieve him from his pressure that he was elected to the office of County Collector." He was liberal in his charities in the days of his prosperities, and his generosity amounted almost to a fault. Those who were in his employ and those who knew him most intimately speak the warmest terms of his large hearted liberality which sought out and assisted very many families in distress."

Well, that sure says it all, when when Levi came helped David and Anna and their family, the Trowbridges of Mount Freedom, they would have been in deep trouble without his generosity, which was motivated by his love for Jane and her family, such a deep love that he spared no expense bringing Jane's body back to Mount Freedom from Pennsylvania four months after her death, which must have been expensive for the time, and the elaborate memorial that he erected over her grave at Mt. Freedom. Jane's death did not sever his ties to the Trowbridges. Circumstantial evidence indicates that helped the Trowbridge family during financial difficulties caused by thedeath of Jane's father, David Trowbridge. David Trowbridge's death left his widow, Anna Youngs, with a $2,000.00 mortgage on their farm in Mount Freedom which she could pay, forcing the bank to foreclose on the property. The bank then subdivided the Trowbridge into small parcels, which it auctioned off, collecting only $1,800.00 out of the $2,000.00 owed. The bank then forced poor Anna, facing eviction, to go to court in Newark to settle this debt. It was probably during this time the Trowbridge family appealed to the only person who could help them at the time, Levi. John Jabez Trowbridge, Jane's eldest brother who was also married to Levi's cousin, Eunice Dalrymple, seems to have continued his friendship with Levi after Jane's death,  namimg a son after him.  John was placed in charge of straightening out the financial mess left by his father's debts, and may have appealed to Levi for help.  Levi bought up several parcels of land that had been auctioned off by the bank, and paid off the balance of the money owed to the bank. Even though he kept most of the land in his name, he allowed Anna to keep her house along with the surrounding half acre of property. Even though he, and his son David, were now owners of much of the former David Trowbridge land, the Jarrards continued to reside in New Brunswick. But during the course of these events, that a romance was kindled between Levi's son, David, and his first cousin, Esther Ann Garrison, the daughter of Levi's late sister-in-law, Rebecca Ann Trowbridge Garrison, who was living with her grandparents at the time. For unknown reasons, Esther Ann's father, Paul Garrison, left her to be raised by her grandparents after the death of her mother, who died a couple of days after giving birth to Esther Ann. Thre is indirect evidence that the relationship may have started around this time because Levi's daughter Esther Ann Jarrard, was born in 1863, around the same time he rescued Anna and her family, and may have named her after his daughter-in-law. After his son married Esther Ann, Levi appears to have set his son up with his own grocery business in New Brunswick, where David and Esther Ann lived at least until the 1870 census, and may have been in business with Cornelius Buckelew, who was married to Levi's other child by Jane Trowbridge, Mary Jane Jarrard. Sometime after 1870, David and Esther Ann  moved to Mount Freedom with their children, presumably on the land Levi owned.  After David left New Brunwick, it appears that his son in law Cornelius Buckalew, and  Levi's younger sons ran the grocery store, because Buckelew is listed in the 1880 census as a grocer, operating the same store that was owned by David Jarrard ten years previously. Levi continued to assist the Trowbridges at least until around the time his son died in 1875. He served as a founding director of the Dime Savings Bank, and was on the board of trustees for Elmwood Cemetery in New Brunswick, where his daughter, Mary Jane, had his body moved from another location, probably Trenton, where, loyal after death, is buried next to her father.

President Chester Arthur (left) & NJ Gov. Leon Abbett (right).

Arrest warrant signed by President Arthur.  Click on the picture for a larger view.

THE OBITUARY FOR LEVI D. JARRARD

TRENTON TIMES,  MAY 4, 1886, FORTY-EIGHTH VOLUME, NO. 38

Levi D. Jarrard Dead
Ex-State Senator Levi D. Jarrard, of Middlesex county, died at the State Prison Monday afternoon, aged 62 years. Mr. Jarrard had been suffering from a complication of diseases for some time, but the immediate cause of his death was a severe internal abscess...He leaves a wife and five children.

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