w »'»!' immi: w y i>' Boston Public Ubrary r€" Bi ciW... CSll,Gr.a2ix» 1^1^ I'UKCHASKI) FROM THE INCOMK OF THK t JOSIAH H. BENTOX FUND ^ c The GARDINERS of NARRAGANSETT THE GARDINERS OF NARRAGANSETT Being a Genealogy of the Descendants of George Gardiner The Colonist 1638 By CAROLINE E. ROBINSON AUTHOR OF THE HAZARD FAMILY OF RHODE ISLAND Cbitcb iuitt i^oteg anb Snbex By DANIEL GOODWIN, Ph. D., D. D. SOMETIME RECTOR OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, WICKFORD, NARRAGANSETT PROVIDENCE ^rtnteb for ttje Cbttot MDCCCCXIX A Copyright, igig, by Benjamin F. Robinson, Samuel R. Robinson and Rowland R. Robinson. All rights reserved. ;: :: :; :: :: :: :: c4'f In compliance with the expressed purpose of Sarah Abigail Woodward who departed this life september 24, i9i3, the present volume is inscribed as an affectionate memorial to her late beloved sister Caroline Elizabeth Robinson its accomplished author by the editor EDITOR'S NOTE T the time of the decease of Mrs. Robinson, July 7, igo6, her ''Genealogy of the Gardiner Family," comprising the labor of years, had been substantially completed. Without doubt, however, had her life been pro- longed, she would, from- time to time, through further research and by means of opportune discoveries, have made valuable additions to the work. fl Nor can it be questioned that she regarded the result of her patient toil rather as an honest contribution to a recognized intricate problem, to be farther elucidated by the study of others, than as a final and complete treatment of the subject. No one more readily than the Author herself would have acknowledged that there are in the book, from the very nature of the case, where information is largely gathered from unwritten family tradition, considerable matter of a tentative and even conjectural character, and probably a few assignments of individuals to groups, to be ultimately found inaccurate. ^But in view of the great mass of invaluable material collected by the Author, the loss of which, if left unpublished, would prove irreparable, it has been judged expedient to print the manuscript as Mrs. Robinson left it, with only such corrections of mere clerical errors as she would herself have made, had she been spared to put it through the press. ^Wherever she has apparently come to a deliberate decision, even if the Editor has reluc- tantly found reason to question its accuracy, he has permitted it to stand, relegating to Notes, towards the end of the book, the grounds of his dissent and such further light upon the question as may have come to his knoivledge. ^Beyond the point of a faithful rendering of the manuscript, he does not assume responsibility for the correctness of the body of the work. ^The Editor gratefidly expresses his appreciation of very valuable and extensive assistance supplied by Mrs. Louise Prosser Bates, of Oaklawn, Rhode Island, Mrs. W. H.Birckhead, of New York, and Mrs. H. F. Hunt, of Kingston, Rhode Island, the latter having also very courteously contributed the likeness of Doctor Sylvester Gardiner, inserted opposite the Title-page. f^The names of other obliging furnishers of Gardiner family lists are given in connection with the material. vn A Table of CONTENTS Page EDITOR'S NOTE vii Portrait OF Doctor Gardiner {see p. J2) To face title-page FIRST GENERATION i SECOND GENERATION 4 THIRD GENERATION 10 FOURTH GENERATION 28 FIFTH GENERATION 69 SIXTH GENERATION I18 SEVENTH GENERATION 166 Notes I99 Draft OF GARDINER FARMS To face page 204 The Index 283 The GaRDINERS of NARRAGANSETT Jf irsit feneration GEORGE GARDINER, the Colonist. In writing the history of a family whose first ancestor in America is found early in the seven- teenth century, it is often necessary to discard many traditions cherished for centuries by descendants. More especially is this so I ^^ in the case of the Gardiner family, since their traditions cannot be substantiated by documentary proofs or the slightest documentary evidence. In an old Family Bible, a record made in 1790, over one m hundred and fifty years after the name of Gardiner is found in our Colonial records, and over one hundred years after George Gardiner's death, the statement is incorrectly made that the first ancestor of the family in Rhode Island was Joseph, a son of a Sir Thomas Gardiner, Knight, the birth and death assigned to him corresponding fairly well with the birth and death of the veritable George Gardiner.^ George Gardiner was evidently an educated man and took an active part in the affairs of the Colony. He was admitted an inhabitant of Newport^" in 1638. In 1640 he was present "att the Generall Courte of election," and from that time until his death, about 1677, his name often appears in the State records. In the Colonial records the name is spelled Gardner, or Gardener, until 1670, when we find it occasionally Gort/twer. After 1780 the name is indexed as "Gardner," or "Gardiner." In Burke's Commoners many families are given as Gardner, and as many more Gardiner. But as the family arms have a curious similarity, the evidence points to a common ancestor. i The The Gardiners The Roxbury, Massachusetts, records give "Thomas Gardner, born in England, died in Roxbury, November, 1638." His aged widow was buried October 7, 1658. His son, Thomas Gardiner, born in England, married in Roxbury, in 1641. Now these dates, curiously enough, answer perfectly to the supposition that George Gardiner of Newport may have been an elder son of Thomas of Roxbury.^ This supposition is somewhat supported, too, by the fact that Caleb Gardiner, a known grandson of Thomas, settled in Newport and died there, drawn thither, possibly, by the consideration that his relatives were already established in that place. Some time, not far from 1640, George Gardiner married Herodias (Long) Hicks. She made the statement that she had been married to John Hicks, in London, without the knowledge of her friends, when between thirteen and fourteen years of age. Soon after coming to Rhode Island Hicks deserted her, going to New Amsterdam, or, as she expressed it, ""to the Dutch," taking with him the most of the property left to her by her mother. Her marriage to George Gardiner was rather irregular in form, to say the least, con- sisting in going before some friends and declaring themselves husband and wife.' As she was a Quaker, and a fanatic at that, cheerfully walking from Newport to Boston, with a young child in her arms, to receive a whipping at the post for her religious(?) beliefs, possibly she would not consent to be married after any established forms. Accord- ing to her own account, George neglected her and would not provide for her numerous family. It may have been her pressing needs, and it may have been the superior attrac- tions of John Porter, with his great wealth in lands (he being one of the original Petta- quamscutt Purchasers) and his promises to provide for her children, that awakened her religious(?) scruples about the legality of her marriage with George Gardiner. At any rate, she petitioned the General Assembly for a divorce, which was granted, thus proving the legality of her marriage.* John Porter, having conveniently gotten a divorce from his wife, married Herodias and faithfully kept his promise.^giving large farms of several hundred acres to each of her sons, and possibly to her daughters, for the land of John Watson, who married two of her daughters, joined the Gardiner lands. George Gardiner married, as a second wife, Lydia Ballou, a daughter of Robert and Susannah. Children of George Gardiner by his First Wife, Herodias (Long) (Hicks) 2. Benoni Gardiner, was born before 1645, and died about 1731. He married Afary . Nothing has, as yet, been trustworthily discovered concerning Mary's parentage. 3. Henry G.\rdiner, was born about 1645, and died April 26, 1744. He married, first, Joan , and second, Abigail, a daughter o{ Edward and Abigail (Davis) Richmondandthe widow of John Remington. 4. George Gardiner, was born , and died in 1724. On Feb. 13, 1670, he married Tabitha Tefft, a daughter of John and Mary ( ) Tefft. 5. William Gardiner, was born in i65i(?), and married Elizabeth . He died in 1711. 6. Nicholas Gardiner, was born in 1654, and married Hannah . He died in 1712. 7. Dorcas Gardiner, was born about 1656, and married, about 1675, John Watson, who died in 1728. 8. Rebecca Gardiner, was born , and married, as second wife, John Watson. Rebecca was probably tlie infant "still at the breast," which her mother carried to Boston in 1658. 9. Samuel Gardiner." By First Generation By Second Wife,' Lydia Ballou 10. Joseph Gardiner, married, Nov. 30, 1693, Catharine Holmes, a daughter of John and Frances (Jlolden) Holmes. She married, second, Daniel Wighlman. 11. Lydia Gardiner, married, April 4, 1689, Joseph Smith, a son of John and Sarah {Whipple) Smith. 12. Mary Gardiner. No record. 13. Peregreene Gardiner. 14. Robert Gardiner, died at Providence, R. I., in 1690. His will was proved April 28, 1690. It mentions his brothers, Peregreene and Joseph, also his father-in-law, i.e., stepfather. 15. Jeremiah Gardiner, married, about 171 1, Grace . Cnb of tfje Jf irsft (generation THE The Gardiners S)econti #cneratton BENONI GARDINER, 2 (George, i), was born not far from 1647.' In 1727, when he had become "a sojourner at Portsmouth," he gave 2 ^ his age, in testimony, as ninety and upward. But this would give the date of his birth as 1637, before his mother was left by her first husband. Consequently it must be an error, and accounts for the family traditions of the great age attained by these men.