My Genealogy Hound

JOHN L. GARDNER. His farm consists of 160 acres of good land, well improved. He is a native of Essex county, N. Y., born July 11, 1829 and is a son of Richard and Anna (Bryant) Gardner, both natives of New Hampshire. His father was born in 1797, and is still living. His mother was born in 1799, and died in 1832, leaving a family of seven children, as follows: Matthew, Nancy, Ezekiel, Dennis, Elizabeth, John L., and James. The subject of this sketch was principally raised near Lake Champlain, his younger days being spent in the lumbering districts and boating on the above lake and Hudson River. In 1855 he went to St. Paul, Minn., and engaged in driving stage through that state and Iowa until 1858; then turned his attention to farming until 1860; then went to Arkansas on a hunting expedition, and when the late war broke out he was at Little Rock. His Yankee appearance was not favorable to the Southern people, and he escaped their wrath by shipping as a fireman on a steamboat, finally getting to Memphis, Tenn.; then to Paducah, Ky., and then to Davenport, Iowa, where he enlisted in Company K, First Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, and served until 1866, having participated in all the leading engagements and raids in the Southwest. He was in Texas when discharged, and there purchased several hundred cattle and drove them to Jasper county, Mo. After disposing of them he went east and visited his native place, returning to Jasper county in 1869, and engaging in farming. Aug. 19, 1877, he was married to Mrs. Margaret Bradford, nee Kirby, a native of Cayuga county, N. Y., born July 11, 1833, daughter of Isaac and Eleanor (Canfield) Kirby. Her father was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1796, was married in 1820, and settled in New York; afterward moved to Michigan, where her father died. Her mother was a native of Montgomery county, N. Y., born Aug. 23, 1802, and was married a second time July 12, 1840, to John Bradfield, a native of Montgomery county, N. Y., born Nov. 18, 1802. He is now a resident of Duval township, Jasper county, where he settled in 1871, having lived many years in Michigan, and assisted in building the first house in Toledo, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner have no children, but have an adopted son by the name of George Osgood.