ULYSSES SIMPSON JARRETT

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 520-521
Kanawha

ULYSSES SIMPSON JARRETT. For over thirty years Mr.
Jarrett has been a working force in all that concerns the
growth and progress of the little community of St. Albans.
In that time St. Albans has grown from a very small village
to one of the thriving little cities of Kanawha County. He
was in charge of the business of the railroad at this point
for a number of years, has been a merchant, head of the
city government, and is now postmaster.

Mr. Jarrett was born on Cabin Creek, Kanawha County,
June 26, 1870. The Jarrett family has been represented by
several branches of the name in Kanawha County since
pioneer times. One of the original settlers was Owen Jar-
rett, who came from Greenbrier County, and was the second
man to settle on Elk River at Jarrett's Ford in Kanawha
County. He died at the age of fifty-three. Eli Jarrett, a
son of Owen, spent his life at the old farm and died in
1897. His wife was Nancy Newhouse, daughter of Michael
Newhouse. She died in 1899, at the age of eighty-eight.
Her children were Squire Bennett, Eli T., John T., Mark S.,
Mary E., who married Marshall De Pew of Roane County,
Caroline, who married Burdett Price of Elk River, and
Nancy Catherine, who married D. S. Jarrett. Another repre-
sentative of the name was William R. Jarrett, a grandson
of William Jarrett and a son of Strawther Jarrett. Wil-
liam R. spent his life mainly on Elk River, and in his last
year kept a hotel on Kanawha Street in Charleston. His
son Strawther, born in 1848, and died June 22, 1898, was a
cooper by trade and made salt barrels and later was identi-
fied with gas production. He married Nancy Young, and
their son, William R., has been in the postoffice service at
Charleston since 1895 and became superintendent of mills in
1908.

The parents of U. S. Jarrett were Addison and Margaret
(Keeny) Jarrett.  Margaret Keeny was a daughter of
Moses Keeny, representing another old family. Addison
Jarrett spent thirteen years of his life in Missouri, near
St. Joseph, and was a member of the Home Guard there
during the Civil war. He returned to West Virginia about
1868 and located at Cabin Creek. He was a carpenter, and
he worked at this trade for thirty years with one coal com-
pany. He died at the age of seventy-four and his wife, at
seventy. Their two sons were John A., a former sheriff of
Kanawha County, and U. S., who was named for General
Grant, then President.

U. S. Jarrett attended country schools, at the age of
fifteen learned telegraphy, and for twenty years was in the
service of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company as
telegraph operator and agent. He was assigned to duty at
St. Albans in 1889 as operator, and became agent in 1893,
continuing in that capacity for eight years. When he came
to St. Albans in 1889 the place had a population of only
100. There are now between 3,000 and 4,000 people living
in this community. After leaving the railroad service in
1901 Mr. Jarrett was in the hardware business, was also
deputy revenue agent, for a time resumed work as a tele-
graph operator, and during Taft's administration was
appointed postmaster. He held that office until the change
of administration, and later was called back to the duties
of postmaster for a year and a half during Wilson's second
term. Soon after the Harding administration came in he
was selected as postmaster, and his present term began
January 1, 1922. The business done by the postoffice while
he has been connected with it is a graphic illustration of the
growth of St. Albans itself. The receipts of the office are
two times now what they were when he first became post-
master. The receipts now average about $12,000 per year.
There are four clerks and two rural carriers.

Mr. Jarrett has been interested in all civic movements
in St. Albans, and he served eight terms as mayor and twice
as a member of the city council and also a city recorder.
He is a member of the Baptist Church, and is a past
master of the Masonic Lodge and has represented it in the
Grand Lodge. Mr. Jarrett married Clara A. Henley, whose
father, Capt. C. W. Henley, was a Confederate officer and
later a builder of railroad tunnels along the line of the
Chesapeake & Ohio. He died at the age of seventy-four.
Mr. and Mrs. Jarrett have one daughter, Margaret J., now
a student in Lewisburg Seminary.

Submitted by:  vfcrook@trellis.net (Valerie F. Crook) 

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