“Captain William Jarvis, 81, builder of the first gigs used by the famous Cornell crews in 1874, and for 49 years leading boatman of Ithaca, died at his home, 108 Elston place….
He is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Sydney Tuttle, Miss Florence G. Jarvis of this city and Mrs. Ward B. Smith of Utica….
Captain Jarvis was born in Lowestoft, England, in 1841. He served a seven-year apprenticeship in ship and boat building at Lowestoft and later served six years in the British navy yards at Woolwich, England, one of the largest navy yards in the British Empire.
Before leaving England for America he married Miss Marcia Smith. The couple arrived in this country on July 4, 1869, and located at Watkins where for three years he was in charge of the Morris Run Coal Company’s boat yard. Through inducements offered by the late Fitch Hibbard he came to Ithaca, purchased a large tract of land near the old steamboat building, erected a home, workshop and a building for housing his boars, afterward devoting his time to constructing rowboats and other watercraft.
He constructed for the Cornell navy the two six-oared gigs with which, rowing the first races for the university, the Red and White oarsmen won fame at Saratoga and established the greatest collegiate rowing prestige in the world.
For more than 25 years Captain Jarvis conducted the boat livery in connection with Renwick Park, now Stewart Park. Five years ago he retired from active business and sold his boat livery to Fred Johnson the present proprietor.”
“Captain Jarvis, Noted Boatman, Is Dead at 81,” Ithaca Journal-News, May 21, 1923, 5.