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Note: He was born at Lot 6 Con. 8 of Elma twp. The middle name on his birth certificate is written 'Jervis'; however, he appears to have changed it to Jarvis, perhaps keeping it more in line with its origins in Jarvaulx Abbey, Yorkshire. He attended elementary and high school in Listowel. He looked after his brothers and sisters in childhood, to whom he was very kind. He had intended to be a minister and had qualified for a bursary to Queen's Univ. in the 1890s, but a financial crisis in his family prevented his going. Instead, at age 16, he became the manager of a cheese factory near Atwood. He attended Model (teaching) School in Mitchell. In the year 1900 he was helping a lot at the Elma farm and was at the same time trying to get a renewal certificate from the County Board of Examiners to teach. He taught school for three years. At that time, he was also a member of the Perth Regiment Militia. He felt that he could sell his father's home (Atwood?) and make money off it. He wanted to improve the farm house by planting shrubs along a walkway from the road to the house. An elder at 21, he devoted much of his life to the work of the church. Moira MacLeod remembers her grandmother, Euphemia Graham MacLeod, saying that the Smiths (Ernest Jarvis and his parents) were the smartest people the MacLeods had ever encountered. He was liberal throughout his life and an admirer of Laurier and King. When he was living in Brockville in the mid-1920s, he was approached about running as a Liberal in the federal election, but he preferred having the security of working at Whyte Packing Company. He was involved in the local organization of the Liberal party in Perth county.
Originally presbyterian, he was a member of Knox Presbyterian Church in Stratford, the First Presbyterian Church in Brockville, Wall Street Church in Brockville (United) and finally, of St. John's United Church in Stratford. He was an important factor in the merging of the Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian Canadian churches into the United Church of Canada. He attended with his young son, Ernest, the Council meeting on June 10, 1925 in Toronto where the Basis of Union was signed, at Mutual Arena, the future site of Maple Leaf Gardens. There were thousands of people and every seat was filled. Back in Brockville, Dorothy was making a statement by marching with her Sunday school class from the Presbyterian Church to the new United Church. Ernest later was appointed to the finance and missionary committee of the General Council of the United Church of Canada, and was honoured by the church when he was one of the few laymen chosen to be a member of the Western Section of the Presbyterian Alliance of Reformed Churches. He was also Chairman of the M. & M. Committee in Kingston Presbytery, President of the Bay of Quinte and the London Conference Lay Association, member of the first five General Councils, Vice-Chairman for Ontario of the M.& M. Committee.
Especially interested in children, he was an elder since 1908, a Sunday school superintendent for 42 years and was Clerk of Session of St. John's United Church in Stratford, a position he held for many years. Active in civic life in both Brockville and Stratford, he served as President of the Board of Trade, the Red Cross, the Children's Aid Society, the YMCA, the Liberal Association, and was Chairman of the Board of Education and the Mothers' Allowance Board. He was a member of the Gondemar Preceptory No. 16 Knights Templar in Brockville, Rameses Temple, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), and the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was a charter member and president of the Brockville Rotary Club and a past master of the Stratford Masonic Lodge. He was very active in the community and was often out at meetings.
In the 1920s, because Ernest was considered a successful rising businessman and had just earned a promotion, the bank had the confidence to lend him $100,000 (a huge sum for that time) to buy stocks. He lost most of his investments in the stock market crash of 1929, the beginning of the Great Depression. The interest on his loan took half his salary, which had been reduced 10% like everyone else's. From 1901 to 1916, he was the Secretary-Treasurer of Whyte Meat Packing Coompany; from 1916 to 1926, he was the Manager of the Brockville branch of Whyte; and from 1928 on he was President and General Manager of Whyte in Stratford, Ontario. (The Whyte Meat Packing Company was known for packing both white and dark meat, but it folded in about 1960 due to tough competition, perhaps from Canada Packers.) In 1930, he was still able to send Dorothy, Ernest, and his niece Edith to the Taylor-Statten camps. During the 1930s, times got tougher, and although the family's standard of living remained good, Ernest asked if the family could use salt instead of toothpaste, and Eva cut out the whipped cream on pudding. They gave up their maid, and Ernest gave up his Rotary and Country Club membership.
At his 70th birthday a banquet was held in Stratford. One of the speakers was the Rt. Hon. Arthur Meighen, former Prime Minister of Canada. He also received a letter from Rt. Hon. Louis St. Laurent. In 1913 the Smiths bought their 76 St. Vincent St. house in Stratford. In 1916 they bought their 123 Pine St. house in Brockville. In 1928 they moved from Brockville to Stratford and bought 66 Britannia St. In 1949 they sold 66 Britannia St. in Stratford and bought 218 Water St. for $12,000. The house was sold in the spring of 1970 after Eva's death for $22,450.
In 1928, the Smiths bought five compartments of section 27 of the Mausoleum in the Avondale Cemetery, Stratford, and later sold two of them. Their infant son, Gordon, and later Ernest and then Eva are in them. He died in the Homewood Sanatorium in Guelph, where he had been for about two years after he could no longer manage at home, suffering from "hardening of the arteries".
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