 Abt 1624 - 1706 (82 years)
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| Name |
John GARDNER |
| Prefix |
Capt. |
| Birth |
Abt 1624 |
| Gender |
Male |
| Also Known As |
Gardiner |
| Reference Number |
146378 |
| Reference Number |
160180 |
| Reference Number |
60 |
| WWW |
https://www.WikiTree.com/wiki/Gardner-49 |
| Death |
May 1706 |
Nantucket, Nantucket, Province of Massachusetts Bay  |
| Person ID |
I511 |
Gummer |
| Last Modified |
1 Aug 2024 |
| Father |
Thomas GARDNER, b. Abt 1592, Sherborne, Dorset, England d. 29 Dec 1674, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony (Age 82 years) |
| Mother |
Margaret FRYER, b. Abt 25 Jun 1598, Sherborne, Dorset, England d. Aft 1636, Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony (Age > 39 years) |
| Marriage |
28 Apr 1617 |
Sherborne, Dorset, England |
| Family ID |
F116 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Priscilla GRAFTON, b. Abt 1634, England d. Bef 24 Apr 1717, Nantucket Island, Nantucket, Massachusetts Bay (Age < 83 years) |
| Marriage |
1653 |
Salem, Essex, Massachusetts |
| Children |
| | 1. John GARDNER, b. 20 Feb 1654, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts d. 1705, Nantucket, Massachusetts (Age 50 years) |
| | 2. Joseph GARDNER, b. 8 Jul 1655, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts |
| | 3. Priscilla GARDNER, b. 6 Nov 1656, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts d. 1702, Nantucket, Nantucket, Massachusetts (Age 45 years) |
| | 4. Benjamin GARDNER, b. 3 Feb 1659, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony d. 23 Aug 1662, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony (Age 3 years) |
| | 5. Rachel GARDNER, b. 3 Aug 1661, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony d. Bef 1711, Nantucket, Massachusetts Bay Colony (Age < 49 years) |
| | 6. Benjamin GARDNER, b. 17 May 1664, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| | 7. George GARDNER, b. 17 Apr 1665, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts d. 17 Feb 1750, Nantucket, Massachusetts (Age 84 years) |
| | 8. Ann GARDNER, b. Feb 1668, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts d. 1 Apr 1745, Nantucket, Massachusetts (Age 77 years) |
| | 9. Nathaniel GARDNER, b. 24 Sep 1668, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts |
| + | 10. Mary GARDNER, b. 27 May 1670, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts d. 27 Oct 1767, Nantucket, Massachusetts (Age 97 years) |
| | 11. Mehitable GARDNER, b. Abt 24 Nov 1674, Nantucket, Massachusetts d. 1704 (Age 29 years) |
| + | 12. Ruth GARDNER, b. 26 Jan 1676, Nantucket, Massachusetts d. 4 Oct 1748, Nantucket, Massachusetts (Age 72 years) |
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| Family ID |
F112 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
1 Aug 2024 |
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| Photos |
 | Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 52
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 53
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 54
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 55
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 56
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 57
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 58
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 59
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 60
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 61
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 62
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 63
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 64
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 65
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 66
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 67
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 68
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 69
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 70
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 71
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 72
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 73
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| Thomas Gardner, Planter; page 74
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| John Gardner's signature
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| John Gardner, bio
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| Richard Pinkham of old Dover, NH and his descendants, p.51
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| Monument to Founding Fathers of Nantucket
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| John Gardner Headstone
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Gardiner-3347 and Gardner-49 appear to represent the same person because: Correct death is 1706 by will. |
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| Notes |
- [[Category: Salem, Massachusetts]]
[[Category: Nantucket, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Nantucket_Founders_and_Descendants]]
[[Category:Puritan Great Migration Minor Child]]
== Biography ==
{{PGM Minor Child}} John Gardner was born about 1624 to Thomas and Margaret Gardner[The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995). p. 734.[https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/great-migration-begins-immigrants-to-ne-1620-1633-vols-i-iii/image/?volumeId=12107&pageName=734&rId=23895093 subscription] ] about the time they were living in Cape Ann and made the move to Salem. Because there is no record, John's time and location of birth are uncertain. '''Note: Research is ongoing with regard to the parents of John and whether they were from Sherborne, Dorset, England. There is a baptismal record of John Gardner, son of Thomas Gardner, on 7 Dec 1624 in Sherborne. (Ref: Dorset record office)'''
His name was first mentioned in the records of the General Court at Boston in 1639 when "the treasurer was ordered to pay John Gardner 20s. for witness charge & carrying Goodman Woodward, his instruments to Ipswich." The first reference to him in the town records of Salem was in 1642 when he and his brother Richard were each granted ten acre lots "nere Mackrell Cove next to Mr. Thorndiks playne to be laid by the towne." This lot was sold to Samuel Corning on May 2, 1659.[Frank Augustine Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner, Planter (Cape Ann, 1623-1626; Salem, 1626-1674) and Some of His Descendants'' (Salem: Essex Institute, 1907), 52-74 at 52, [https://archive.org/details/thomasgardnerpla00gard/page/52/mode/2up Internet Archive]]
John served as a juror from 1658 to 1661 and again in 1672. In 1659, he was an appraiser of the estate of William Jiggles. He was also appointed as an attorney for Henry Bartholomew in 1661 and served on a jury of inquest in 1662.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 53]
In Court Papers concerning the case of the town of Lynn vs. Thomas Brown, "Mr. John Gardener of Salem, being desired by the Select men of Lin to Run the bounds betwixt Bostone, Charlstown and Lynn upon a Nor. Norwest lyne, from the middle of Bride's brook upon the foote Bridge by Mr. Bennitts, by a meridian Compass, he the sayd John Gardener testifieth That the farm house which they call Roger Tylers is about One Hundred of Sixscore Rods with in the sayd Lyne."
John and Samuel Gardner and others were granted permission in 1663 to build a mill over the South river, provided it be built in two years or to lose their privilege.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 54.]
The most interesting document found in Salem concerning John Gardner was his map of the Merrimac River. A reproduction of this map may be found in the Essex Institute Historical Collections, Vol. XIV, p. 157.
John Gardner, mariner of Salem, "sold unto John Putnam, husbandman for forty shillings tooe acres of medow lying nere Ipswich River as by deed dated 6th day of Februarie 1653 apeth."[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 55.]
John Gardner, mariner, bought of Hanna, wife of Samuel Shattuck, a dwelling house with a shop and 1/4 acre of land, bounded "with ye broad streete ye comes from ye meeting house on ye north, with ye dwelling of Richard Prince on ye east, & som ground of Nathanyell Pitman on ye south & adjoining to the dwelling of Richard Gardner on ye west, to have & to hold." dated May 27, 1659, See Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1.
Several other land transactions were made in Salem by John Gardner until it was noted "John Gardner, late of Salem in Co. of Essex, now of Nantucket." John lived in a house which stood on a lot south of the corner of Herbert and Essex Streets near the water. In his will, dated Dec. 2, 1705, he made the following bequest, "I give my Grandson John Gardner, my house and all my lands, with one eight part of the water mill at Salem." On Apr. 30, 1713, his grandson, John Gardner of Mendham in County Suffolk later sold the house and land "formerly ye estate of my Hononred Grandfather John Gardner, Esq., late of the Island of Nantucket" to John Lansford.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 56.]
=== From Salem to Nantucket ===A grant was made on Aug. 5, 1672 by the town "to Mr. John Gardner of Salem, mariner, a seamans accommodation, with all appurtinances, etc. upon condition that he com to Inhabit and set up the Trade of fishing with a sufficient vessel fit for the taking of Codfish and that any of the Ingabitants shall have liberty to jiyne in such a vessall with him and that the aforesayd John Gardner shall use his best endeavor to prosecute the fishing trade effect in the fit season of the year and if he see casue to depart from the Island within Three years after the time that he shall com to Inhabit that then the land shal return into the hands of the aforesayd grantters, they paying for al necessary building or fencing that are upon it, as it shal be judged worth, also the said John Gardner is to be here with his family at or before the last day of April 1674 or else this grant to be voyd."[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 57.]
Other grants were made to him by the town as well as transactions made by John Gardner which were recorded in the Nantucket Registry of Deeds, book 1.
John went to New York with his brother Richard and returned in 1673 with orders from Governor Francis Lovelace that included a commission for Capt. John Gardner of the Island of Nantucket to bee the Captain of the Foot Company.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 58.] The Governor also gave John and Richard a patent of land of their choosing along the seaside.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 59.]
=== Capt. John Gardner vs. Tristram Coffin ===Some of the inhabitants of the island, under the leadership of Tristram Coffin, opposed the Gardners and their newfound favor with the Governor. They passed a resolution stating that Capt. Gardner and his friends were forbidden "to medal at all hence forward in any of the towns Consernes ether at Yorcke or elce whare under any colour or pretence what so ever." John Gardner sent a letter to the Governor dated Mar. 15, 1676-7,[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 60-61.] informing him of the situation. The Coffin party, who had taken control of the court, issued a warrant for John Gardner's arrest. He was brought by force into court, "when the magistrates spoke to him about his "contemptuous carriages," he listened in silence and without removing his hat, he sat down on a chest whereon was seated Tristram Coffin who said to him, "I am sorry you do behave yourself as a Delinquent." To which John Gardner replied, "I know my business; and it may be that some of those that have meddled with me had better have eaten fire." John was fined 10 pounds on Jun. 5, 1677 which he appealed to Governor Andros.[William Root Bliss, ''Quaint Nantucket'' (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1896), 42-43, [https://archive.org/details/quaintnantucket01blis/page/50/mode/2up Internet Archive].][Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 62-63.]
Governor Andros issued his final verdict stating that the court proceedings were illegal and beyond their authority.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 64.] John and his brother Richard were chosen by the town to be sent to the Governor "to know his plesuer as to choyse respecting a Chife Magistrate fo the year ensueing." Every townsman present at this meeting voted for the choice except one. Tristram Coffin "enters his protest against the choosing of Capt. John Gardner." John was commissioned Chief Magistrate of the Island on Nov. 10, 1680, 1682 and 1684.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 65.]
''Quaint Nantucket'' gives the following review of the life of John Gardner during this time:In the history of those times John Gardner stands as the greatest of all the men who had to do with the beginnings of Nantucket. He had the genius of a leader and his ability was recognized by Governor Andros in appointing him three times the chief magistrate of the island. The people made him their agent "to act in all matters of the towne at New York" and they said "Whatsoever captain Gardner shall agree for, about hireing a vessel to go, the towne will pay it." He was made the leader of a committee "to consult for the publicke good of the island against all invaders of the peoples Rights." and in May 1687, he was chosen "to go to New Yorke to manege such afeares as the town shall intrust him with." On his return he brought Governor Dongan's Patent to Certain Inhabitants of Nantucket," which made John Gardner with six associates, "one Body Corporate and Politiq to be called by the Name of the Trustees of the Freeholders and Comonality of the Town," with right of purchasing from the Indians all "Tracts or Parcells of Land" remaining in their possession, and to make such acts and orders "as they shall think convenient from time to time.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 66.][Bliss, ''Quaint Nantucket'', 51-53.]
=== Other Land Grants and Civic Duties ===The town made many grants of land to John Gardner and his brother, Richard, in the coming years, including a mill along with Thomas Macy. John also completed many land transactions including purchases of land from the Indians.
John Gardner occasionally returned to Salem to carry out certain business affairs. In 1678, he witnessed the signature of his brother Thomas to a land deed to his brother George. In 1682, he was in Salem again to see about the settlement of the estate of his father-in-law, Joseph Grafton. He appointed "his loving cousin Mr. Samuel Gardner Jun'r of Salem" to act as his attorney.[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 67.]
In 1692, Capt. John Gardner and Mr. William Gayer were chosen Representatives to the General Court from Nantucket, being the first representatives after the transfer of that island from the Colony of New York to the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
John was the Tax Commissioner for Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket for the years 1692 and 1693. He was also appointed that year as Judge of Probate, an office he held until his death in 1706.
=== Marriage and Children ===John Gardner married [[Grafton-15|Priscilla Grafton]], daughter of Joseph Grafton of Salem on February 20, 1653/4;[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 69.] They had twelve children:[Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 72-74.]
#[[Gardner-599|John]] b 20 February 165(3?) m Susanna Green
#[[Gardner-579|Joseph]] b 8 July 1655
#[[Gardner-620|Priscilla]] b 6 November 1656
#[[Gardner-569|Benjamin]] b 3 February 1658/9 d 23 August 1662#[[Gardner-609|Rachell]] b 3 August 1661 m1 John Brown m2 James Gardner
#[[Gardner-11689|Benjamin]] b 16 May 1664#[[Gardner-600|George Gardner (1665-1750)]] d 16 April 1750, m Eunice Starbuck
#[[Gardner-603|Ann]] b 30? February 1667/8, m Edward Coffin
#[[Gardner-594|Nathaniel]], b 24 September 1668
#[[Gardner-52|Mary]] b 27 May 1670 d 27 October 1767
#[[Gardner-622|Mehitble]] b 24 November 1674 m Ambrose Dawes Jr# [[Gardner-48|Ruth]] b 26 Jan 1676.6 d 4 October 1747 m James Coffin Jr
=== Death, Will ===John Gardner died in July 6,1706 at Nantucket, at the age of 82 years.
His will is transcribed in ''Thomas Gardner, Planter''. [Gardner, ''Thomas Gardner'', 70-71, citing Nantucket Probate, 1: 12-13.]
=== Notes ===John Gardner and Tristram Coffin were key figures in Nantucket's early governance. Coffin represented the "full-share" men, or original founders of Nantucket, while Gardner was one of a group of tradesmen who came to work on the island but received only half-shares. Bitter debates between the full-share and half-share parties raged on Nantucket about land rights, who could hold public office, and the future directions for the island. A tentative compromise between the two factions was reached in 1678, but it was not until Coffin's death in 1681 and the eventual marriage of his grandson into the Gardner family that a full resolution of this conflict occurred.
== Sources ==
See also:* Allen Coffin, ''The Coffin Family: the life of Tristram Coffyn, of Nantucket, Mass., founder of the family line in America'' (Nantucket: Hussey & Robinson, 1881), 53-56, [https://archive.org/details/coffinfamilylife00coff/page/53 Internet Archive].* Nathaniel Philbrick, ''Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890'' (New York: Penguin Books, 2011), Chapter 6 - Gardner versus Coffin: The Revolt.
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