My Genealogy Hound

W. H. Gardner, manufacturer of wagon material, was born in Dresden, Weakley Co., Tenn., November 24, 1840, son of Hon. Alfred Gardner, who was born in Robertson County, Tenn., in 1805. He moved to Weakley County, in 1826, and was married in 1832. He was a man of determination and energy, and eventually became the owner of 10,000 acres of land. He was the first sheriff of Weakley County, and was a skillful rifleman and a great lover of hunting. He represented Weakley County in both houses of the State Legislature. At the time of his death, December 24, 1882, he was the oldest Mason in Tennessee. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Ann Stovall, was born in Tennessee, in 1819. Our subject is the third of seven children, six of whom are living, and was reared on his father’s farm. He was educated at the Union University at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and at the University of Virginia. In 1861 he enlisted in Company G, Ninth Tennessee Infantry, Confederate States Army, and returned home in 1865. He located in Hickman, Ky., engaged in general merchandising and there remained until the yellow fever epidemic, in 1878, when he came to Union City, and for four years was railroad agent for the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. In 1883 he engaged in his present business and employs forty men. He is a Democrat and for a number of years has taken an active part in politics. He has been a member of the County Democratic Executive Committee, and is now chairman. He is a director in the Bank of Union City and is chairman of the board of stewards of the Methodist Episcopal Church, also a member of the city council, and is president of the Prohibition Alliance and secretary of the Tennessee Furniture & Chair Company. He is one of the leading men of Obion County, and a representative business man of West Tennessee. He was married in 1863 to Mary Dozier, of Enterprise, Miss., who died of yellow fever at Hickman, Ky., in 1878, leaving five children: Will A., Russell E., Metta A., Fred D. and Carrie L. In 1880 Mr. Gardner married Jennie White, who was born in Henry County, Tenn., in 1848. They have four children: Fannie, Mamie, Bessie and Nora.