Visiting Jarvis Family

 When I was young, Uncle Carol (Robert Carol Jarvis or Bob), came and got us and took us three boy to visit Grandma Jarvis. It was not a long ride so it had to be near Akron. She seemed to have a farm for she had a cow and chickens. I remember that she made the best rhubarb pie. I think we never went back again. 

Once Ken and Garrett saw Charles when Garrett was on leave from the army in 1970 in Akron. not remember him saying anything. never saw him again - it was after the accident and he didn't say much of anything. 

(Charles' semi truck was hit by a train and he suffered brain damage.)

From Arthur John Merrick - I knew Charles Jarvis (Edith's 1st husband), too. He and I were truck drivers together.

Your mom (Edith) and I used to visit Bessie Jarvis (Edith’s ex-mother in law). In 1974 Bessie said to us that her son, Charles, leaving Edith was, “Not my fault”. Gary visited Grandma Jarvis too. She lived in Ohio. She had a cow and made strawberry rhubarb pie. We (John and Edith) visited her often. She said, “Boys are a joy to raise.” She had an old gray house. Gary went to see Charles in the early 1970. Gary met him on Newton Street at Commercial Freight. Charles had a brain injury.

Charles and Edith Jarvis

Mom, Edith Conley, never said much about her first marriage and neither did anyone else, so this is what little we have. If you know more please share it, and I'll correct and fill in the story.

Charles Jarvis lived in Oka, Calhoun, West Virginia in 1930, but it seems that his family later moved to Akron, Ohio. Therefore he and Edith may have met in high school, at a USO dance, or around town.  Arthur John Merrick, Edith's second husband said, "I knew Charles Jarvis, too. He and I were truck drivers together."

A year before the end of WWII, on September 3, 1944, Charles and Edith married. They were both 21 years old. Charles was serving in the Army at this time, but we know nothing of where he served or what he did. It appears that they lived with Grandma Eunice Conley during their marriage. 

As Aunt Marie Conley Cendro explained, many of Grandma's children came back and lived with her at some time.  Marie remembered the summer of 1945 when she was only 14 years old and living at home on 508 Ohio Street in Akron. "Mill and Lorraine lived in the attic. Edith and Charles lived in the two little rooms at the back of the second floor below the attic. Mill and Lorraine had to go through there to get to the attic. Don and Ruth had the second floor, front, four room apartment, and they all shared the same second floor bathroom at the top of the stairs. . .  Edith got a divorce and later moved to the third floor across the street" with her three sons: Mel born March 29, 1945, Garrett born December 15, 1946, and Ken born November 10, 1948.

We think that Charles came and left several times during their marriage before Edith divorced him, but this is not confirmed. We do know that Edith had many rough years trying to provide for her three sons, but she didn't quit and she kept her family together. For a while she worked for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. 

Ken does not have many memories of Charles, for it seems that they divorced shortly after he was born. Garrett was probably only two years old at this time and doesn't remember his father being in their home. Mel, we surmise, was about three or four years old at the time of his parents' divorce. He seems to have been the most deeply affected by his father's leaving.