John Harvie Sr.

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John Harvie Sr. (December 20, 1706 - December 3, 1767) was a prominent inhabitant of early Albemarle County. He temporarily served as the guardian of Thomas Jefferson.

Biography

Harvie was born on December 20, 1706 in Gargunnock, Stirlingshire, Scotland. At the time that Albemarle County was being organized, he was living in the plantation at Belmont near Keswick, a property he had bought from Matthew Graves. Following the death of Thomas Jefferson's father in 1757, Harvie became a guardian of the young man. One of Jefferson's earliest letters was addressed to Harvie and concerned the method of his education, with Jefferson desiring to attend the College of William and Mary to further his studies.

View of the Southwest Mountains near John Harvie's land. Photo by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

While living in Albemarle County, Harvie labored as a planter. His land was located near the Rivanna River and had views of the Southwest Mountains to the north and the mountain that would become Monticello to the south. He lived near Peter Jefferson and Dr. Thomas Walker of Castle Hill. Harvie possessed 189 books at the time of his death, with many of them in French and Latin and having been lent to his neighbors.[1] He was also a founding member of the Loyal Company of Virginia, a land speculation business devoted to recruiting settlers for the western portion of the colony.[2]

Harvie died on December 3, 1767.

Family and descendants

Harvie married Martha Gaines (November 11, 1719–October 7, 1801). They had four sons named Richard, John, Daniel and William and five daughters named Martha, Elizabeth, Janet, Margaret, and Mary. Daniel married Sarah Taliaferro, William married Judith Cosby, Martha married John Moore, Margaret married John Davenport, Elizabeth married James Marks, Janet married Reuben Jordan, and Mary married David Meriweather. With the exception of John, who inherited Belmont and remained in Virginia, all of the aforementioned couples eventually moved to Wilkes County, Georgia in the 1780's along with Richard and Martha Gaines.[3]

References

  1. Web. The Inner Jefferson: Portrait of a Grieving Optimist, The Washington Post, 1995
  2. Web. Dr. Thomas Walker and the Loyal Company of Virginia, American Antiquarian Society, April 1931
  3. Web. Albemarle County in Virginia, C.J. Carrier Company, 1901