Jarvis was born in Norwalk, Connecticut and graduated from Yale College in 1761.

Thomas Bradbury Chandler, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, Elizabeth, N.J.

Jarvis served as a chaplain to imprisoned Loyalist sympathizers during the American Revolution.

Completing his service in Middletown in 1799, he then served in Cheshire until 1803 and finally in New Haven, where he died.

His remains are interred under the high altar at Trinity Church on the Green.