He's Not in the Family Photographs

Dusty D had a fun time today in the Archives. The whole gang was there; James Mann, Gerry, Al, and intern Derek. I enjoyed the convivial atmosphere.

Dusty D was researching former oddball Ypsilantian Charles Jarvis. James has written about him in "Footnotes in History." It's well-written (waves to James).

Charles was odd. He lived alone in a house he built himself (and it looks it) where the DPW yard is now at Huron and Forest. He held a handful of somewhat menial jobs, and rarely left his home except to go in his yard. He is said to have had a "bowel disease" that doctors thought would kill him soon, but he lived for almost 3 more decades. James Mann remarked that he thought that this might have just been, um, a gaseous condition. I wonder if it is a euphemism for something else. Don't know.

I am always drawn to, and sympathize with, and often come to care for if that can be said, the fringey people. The misunderstood, the somewhat different, the people, like Charles, whose photos are absent from the collection of family photos. There is a wealth of beautiful Jarvis photos in the Jarvis family file and in one photo album. The family members have an unusual amount of character in their faces.

No photo of Charles. I found this saddening---if he were excluded because he was an eccentric. He is buried with other Jarvises, however, in Highland, though I haven't seen his grave yet. Charles is a puzzle. He never married. "Unmarried" is one of those red-flag words that to me signals that there is something interesting about a given person to find out. At any rate, I will continue to research him and see what I can find.