Richard Jarvis

Richard Jarvis was a graduate of Trinity College (1848) and Yale Law (1850).

He practiced law in New York before heading to Arizona as a representative of his brother-in-law, Samuel Colt. At the time, Colt was a financier of the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company.

When the company failed, Jarvis returned east and practiced law for a short time before moving to Hartford in 1860 to again work with Colt.

Colt Manufacturing

Jarvis was named the head of Colt’s Willow Works.

Founded in 1859, the Willow Works manufactured wicker furniture, baskets and more utilizing the European willows planted along the Hartford dyke (erected in 1855). By 1864, the company was producing one hundred different products.

In 1865, Jarvis was elected the third president of Colt Manufacturing. He served 35 years until the reorganization of the company in 1901.