Silas Wright Gardiner 1846-1907

GARDINER, LAMB, HERKEL, COX, WISNER

Posted By: Michael J. Kearney (email)
Date: 11/19/2005 at 20:19:26

The Clinton Daily Herald Thursday June 13, 1907 p. 8 Silas W. Gardiner, one of Clinton's foremost and most prominent residents, is dead at his home on Fifth avenue, his death occuring at 8:15 o'clock this morning, after a two weeks illness. A complete obituary and the funeral announcements will appear in these columns later.

The Clinton Herald Friday June 14, 1907 p. 1 Yesterday the Herald was called upon to chronicle the death of a man whom Clinton could little spare; and whose passing away is mourned by all: Silas Wright Gardiner, who died in the early hours of the day at his home, 502 Fifth avenue. The funeral arrangements were completed today. The remains of the lamented Clinton man will be laid to rest after simple services at the Fifth avenue home, conducted by the Rev. T.W. Jones, D.D., rector of Grace Episcopal church, at 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon. The death of Silas W. Gardiner followed an illness of two weeks. He had spent the winter in Laurel, where he had extensive interests; and while on a Chicago & Alton train, enroute homeward, he was taken very ill. It was believed that the sufferer would expire on the train; but he survived to reach Chicago, and later to come to his home in Clinton; taking at once to his bed upon reaching here, to rise no more. All the immediate family members were with him when the final summons came at 8:20 o'clock Thursday morning. The tidings of Mr. Gardiner's death going abroad through the city, were received with the most sincere expressions of regret. For Clinton people realized that in his death the city had lost one of her truest and staunchest freinds. Silas W. Gardiner was a son of the late Stimson B. Gardiner, one of the veteran lumbermen of Clinton and Lyons. He was born in Mount Carroll, Ill., August 20, 1846, and when quite young accompanied his parents to Penn Yan, N.Y., whither the father had gone to accept a position. It was in this eastern town that the future associated director in large lumbering enterprises spent his youth, and secured his education. -- small saw mill and during his minority the son worked in the mill. He attended the public schools and local academy, graduating from the latter when he was 16 years of age. In the year 1863 Mr Gardiner became assistant postmaster at Oil City, Pa. in the winter of 1864-1865 he supplemented his education by a course in the Eastman college at Poughkeepsie, N.Y., one of the early business educational institutions. In 1866 the father and son came west, remaining for a time in Chicago. At this time Chancy Lamb, an old friend of Mr. Gardiner's was in business in Clinton, and he offered Mr. Gardiner the position of yard superintendent, which was accepted. Ini 1868 Silas came to Clinton. This marked the first connection of the Gardiner family with lumber manufacturing interests in the west. Two years after Mr. Gardiner located in this city, C. Lamb & Sons bought an interest in what was afterwards known as the Lamb-Byng Lumber company with a mill in the lower part of the city. Mr. Gardiner and his son took an interest in this concern, retaining it until the year 1877. At this time the firm of Wadliegh, Welles & Co., was operating a mill in Lyons. Mr. Wadleigh desired to close out his holdings in the compnay, and they were bought by Stimson B., Silas W. and George S. Gardiner, and the name of the concern was changed to Welles, Gardiner & Co. Later it became the firm of Gardiner, Batchelder & Welles. Of recent years Mr. Gardiner had been interested in lumber manufacturing in Mississippi, where he had large holdings. Mr. Gardiner had two homes, one in Clinton and the other in Laurel, Miss., and he divided his time between those two cities, usually spending the winters in the south. Although preferring the life of a private citizen, Mr. Gardiner was once prevailed upon to enter politics and he served in the state senate. He acted as a director of the Lyons public schools for seven years. On Nov. 9, 1870 Silas W. Gardiner and Miss Louise C. Henkel were united in the bonds of matrimony. Of this union four children were born; Philp S., Elizabeth Louise Cox, Mary Jeannnette Wisner, and Charlotte Margaret Gardiner. A quiet philanthropist and a public spirited citizen who was ever ready to extend a helping hand to a worthy individual or cause, Mr. Gardiner's removal from the scene of his worldly labors is mourned by the people of all classes, and in the annals of Clinton his memory will long live for the good he has done.