Powerful or 'patsy'? PhD student researching P.E.I. chief justice ancestor

A PhD student at York University has won $8,000 in funding to study her great-great-grandfather, who was chief justice of P.E.I. in the 19th century.

Anna Jarvis won the R. Roy McMurtry Fellowship, an annual award for PhD students and recent doctorate grads researching Canadian legal history.

Her ancestor Edward Jarvis held his position from 1828 to 1852, during the time of the land question on P.E.I.

"I'm absolutely thrilled and very excited to have won it," Anna says."It means everything because as a student I try to make ends meet. Especially when you're travelling as a student and doing research."

Edward Jarvis was a key figure during a time when absentee landlords controlled the province, and tenants living on the Island were often squatting on properties and not paying quit rents.

However, he wasn't an "activist judge," Anna said."He would never have agreed to protesters being given the land."

He was also involved in a trial that saw a Mi'kmawman commuted for the death of another member of the Mi'kmawcommunity.

The goal of Anna's research, as she pores over Supreme Court rulings, newspaper clippingsand lettersis to figure out exactly what kind of role the chief justice played on P.E.I. or, as she puts it "To what degree was he simply a patsy of the government?"

'I love my time out east'

After schooling in London, England, Edward Jarvisheld a position in Malta before taking the job in Prince Edward Island.

And Anna considers herself just as lucky to bedoing her research on the Island.

"I love my time out east," said Anna."I enjoy being there."

Anna is planning on returning to P.E.I. this summer to do research in the province's archives.

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