Saturday, January 3, 2015

Surname Saturday ~ GARDNER of Salem, Massachusetts


GARDNER

I have two Gardner lineages, and they might be connected.  I don’t know because one is a brick wall I have been working on for about twenty five years.  If anyone knows a connection or any information, please leave a comment or email vrojomit@gmail.com  

Thomas Gardner is my 9th great grandfather.  He was an "Old Planter" with the Dorchester Company on Cape Ann in the early 1620s, and his family arrived in Massachusetts aboard the ship Zouch Phenix in 1624.  His first wife, Margaret, joined the church in Salem in 1639.  His second wife, Damaris, joined the church in 1641 as Shattuck, so the marriage to Gardner must be after that date. Two of her Shattuck children married two of Thomas Gardner’s children.   Damaris was probably a Quaker, or sympathetic to the Quakers because she appears in several records for being absent from meeting, or “present at a Quaker meeting”.   Damaris and Samuel Shattuck are my 10th great grandparents in another lineage.   Damaris died one month before Thomas.

Thomas Gardner was the first superintendent of the Salem Colony, and was succeeded by Roger Conant.  He was licensed as an innkeeper in the 1660s but this was amended to retail liquor to strangers, not to townspeople in 1667.  He held many civic positions over the years in Salem ranging from constable and fence viewer to juror and selectman.   Many of his descendants lived in Salem, Boston and Nantucket.  There is a long list of his famous descendants on his page at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gardner_(planter) 

For more information on the descendants of Thomas Gardner:

Contact the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc http://thomasgardnersociety.org/  (also on Facebook)

The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants 1620 – 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995, Volume 2, pages 731- 737.

Descendants of Thomas Gardner: Cape Ann (1624 – 1626), Naumkeag/Salem (1626 – 1674), compiled by Jean W. Henderson, Silver City, New Mexico (privately printed), 1997

Gardner Memorial: A biographical and genealogical record of the descendants of Thomas Gardner, planter, Cape Ann, 1624, Salem (Naumkeag), 1626 – 1674, through his son Lieut. George Gardner, compiled by Frank Augustine Gardner, Salem, Mass, 1933.  Available online at the Hathi Trust Digital Library website http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002304239;view=1up;seq=1

Thomas Gardner Family of Cape Ann, by Mary Walton Ferris, privately printed, 1943 (two volumes)

Thomas Gardner and his Nantucket descendants, by Howard Greene, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1917.
For more about Damaris (---) (Shattuck) Gardner, see The American Genealogist Volume 30, pages 165 -68)

My GARDNER genealogy:

Generation 1: Thomas Gardner, born about 1592 in England, died 29 December 1674 in Salem, Massachusetts; married first to Margaret, mother of his children; married second to Damaris, the widow of Samuel Shattuck.  Nine children.

Generation 2: Sarah Gardner, born about 1627 and died 5 April 1686 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married about 1650 to Benjamin Balch, son of John Balch and Margery Uknown.   He was born about 1628 in Beverly and died after January 1715 in Beverly. Eleven children.

Generation 3:  Mary Balch m. Nathaniel Stone
Generatoin 4: Josiah Stone m. Dorithy Fuller
Generation 5: Josiah Stone m. Martha Ashby
Generation 6: Josiah Stone m. Susanna Hix
Generation 7: Eunice Stone m. Peter Hoogerzeil
Generation 8: Peter Hoogerzeil m. Mary Etta Healey
Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings
Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

This may be a possible descendant of Thomas Gardner?

Generation 1:  Unknown Gardner, had two sons 1) Benjamin born 1720 possibly in Boston 2) Thomas Gardner born about 1722, died 22 September 1789 in Boston.  Both were ropemakers.

Generation 2:  Benjamin Gardner, born about 1720 and died 7 June 1797 in Salem; married first on 10 October 1751 at the West Church in Boston to Sarah Randall, daughter of Stephen Randall and Sarah Cannon.  She was the mother of three children.  Sarah Randall was born 16 October 1729 in Boston and died 1781 in Salem.  He married second on 2 November 1782 in Salem to Mary Briers, widow of Michael Ferguson and John Bassett.  She was the daughter of Elias Briars and Mary Pitman, baptized 29 December 1728 in Marblehead, and died 6 April 1787 in Salem.

Generation 3:  Mary Gardner, born in Boston, died before 1792; married on 24 June 1775 in Lynn, Massachusetts to Abijah Hitchings, son of Daniel Hitchings and Hannah Ingalls.  He was born 18 January 1753 in Lynn and died 27 March 1826 in Salem. Four children.
Generation 4: Abijah Hitchings m. Mary Cloutman

Generation 5: Abijah Hitchings m. Eliza Ann Treadwell
Generation 6: Abijah Franklin Hitchings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis
Generation 7: Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil
Generation 8: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

-----------------------
The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/surname-saturday-gardner-of-salem.html

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

7 comments:

  1. Appreciate the link to the on-line "Memorial" edition.

    When Thomas became "free" (was drummed into the group, so to speak) in 1637, he was elected as Deputy of the General Court along with Maj. Hathorne. Evidently, that experience was enough for him as his focus went back to being more local.

    Our bibliography has links to digitized material. http://thomasgardnersociety.org/html/bibliography.html

    For example, there is the 1907 book by Dr. Frank. A. that is available via either archive.org or Google books.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for posting about the Thomas Gardner Society. I descend from Thomas Gardner, too. My connection is Deborah Gardner that married John Macy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anderson (TGM 1995) felt that the Thomas Gardner children descended from an unknown first wife, rather than Margaret. Is there updated information indicating that she was their mother?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ann,

      Appreciate the questions. Gardner Research is looking into the matter and blogging as we go along. There have been several posts to date.

      To summarize recent work:

      In 2014, John Cook transcribed a Sherborne record that showed Thomas Gardner marrying Margaret Fryer. The kids are quoted as saying that their parents were from there. Researchers mentioned this several times. Dr. Frank A. did as well and said that he had not seen evidence yet (as of his time).

      http://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2014/09/thomas-and-margaret.html

      Our approach is to gather and organize everything that we can find about this subject (BTW, this is only one of many topics about T & M that will - ought to - undergo similar scrutiny) including all of the different interpretations that have been offered over the years. One thing that I am interested in, personally, is documenting these "opinions" with their supporting material (let's say, an anthropological view) and analysis thereof.

      In some of these areas of concern about T & M (and their offspring), the web is full of misinformation. One type of solution? Publish these "faults"with the appropriate analysis and correction in a manner that is visible. Over time, the improved view would shuffle up.

      That sort of activity is on the plate of the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. in which endeavor we would welcome any support and assistance. Our thought, too, is that organizations like The Hereditary Society Community ought to play a role, as would NEHGS, et al.

      Perhaps, the upcoming 400ths would provide the motivation and enthusiasm.

      JMSwitlik, President/Researcher, TGS, Inc.

      Delete
    2. Enjoyed seeing Nutfield Genealogy mentioned in the Baker article (American Ancestor, Fall 2021).

      We have been using WikiTree to coordinate with genealogical studies. This is the G2G about Margaret and Thomas.

      https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1129202/editing-margarets-past

      Delete
  4. Heather, thank you for doing the wonderful work you do on our ancestors. It is comforting to learn that my own efforts, as a novice genealogist, result in the same information as yours, as a professional. It is arduous and time-consuming, sure, but having an accurate picture of my personal connection as an adult with a past about which I knew NOTHING as a child is rewarding in itself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. James, my family knew nothing of our genealogy, not even the Mayflower lines, either. It was a surprise all around.

      Delete