Gardner, William H.

GARDNER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 00:17:33

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.988

WILLIAM H. GARDNER
William H. Gardner, who is one of the prosperous farmers and highly esteemed citizens of Allen Township, was born in Troy, New York, on the 17th of September 1833, a son of Truman Gardner. Learning the carpenter's and joiner's trade, the father was engaged in contracting and building for many years in various states and was also employed as an architect. Remov­ing to Ohio, he bought a farm in that state, which his sons operated while he continued to work at histrade, and later removed to Logan County, Illinois, settling on a farm of five hundred acres, whereon he spent his remaining days. He died in 1862, at the age of sixty-four years, and his wife passed away at Palmyra, Iowa in 1900.
During the boyhood of William H. Gardner the family resided in Albany and Buffalo, New York, for a time, but he was principally reared in Girard, Erie County, Pennsylvania, and later removed to Parkman, Geauga County, Ohio. For a time he was employed as a clerk in a store in Cleveland. He had good educational advantages and pursued an academic course. He re­moved with his parents to Logan County, Illinois, and in the fall of 1861 came to Warren County, Iowa.
In the meantime the country had become involved in Civil War and in December 1863 Mr. Gardner joined Company A, First Iowa Cavalry as a private, and went south with his command to Missouri, being first under fire in the battle of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was later in the engagements at Fort Smith and Benton, was in the Camden expedition, and the battles at Helena, Arkansas, and Holly Springs, Mississippi. He went from Memphis, Tennessee to Texas, being stationed for a time at Austin, San Antonio, Hemp­stead and other towns, and did considerable scouting and skirmishing. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged at Austin and returned north, first locating in Davenport, Iowa, where he engaged in clerking for a short time.
Before coming to this state, Mr. Gardner was married in Peoria County, Illinois, in January 1856, to Miss Mary Walch, who was born, reared and educated in Ohio, and they have four sons and two daughters, namely: Alfred H., a resident of Carlisle; Austin, a farmer of Palmyra Township; John, a farmer of Clay County; Frank, who is operating the home farm; Alice, the wife of William Pearson, who is a farmer and business man living near Mitchell, Iowa; and Sallie, wife of William Lindawood, a farmer of Marion County.
For some time after his marriage Mr. Gardner was engaged in farming in Peoria County, Illinois, and as previously stated came to Warren County, Iowa, in the fall of 1861, purchasing a farm in Squaw Township. After the war he sold that place and removed to Palmyra Township, where he commenced with twenty acres of land, but from time to time as his financial resources increased he kept adding ten and twenty acre tracts to his original purchase until he owned about three hundred acres. He erected thereon a good residence, barn, granary and other buildings for the shelter of grain and stock until he had one of the best improved farms of the locality. He raised considerable stock of all kinds and to some extent engaged in the dairy business, and also gave considerable attention to fruit culture, having an orchard of one thou­sand selected apple trees in good bearing, besides a large number of peach, plum and cherry trees, and also small fruit. He lived upon his farm until 1900, when he purchased a house in Carlisle, which he has since remodeled and improved and which is now his home. Mr. Gardner began life for him­self empty-handed but through his own industry, enterprise and good manage­ment he has acquired a handsome competence which now enables him to live retired, enjoying the fruits of former toil.
Since casting his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont in 1856, he has voted for every presidential nominee of the Republican Party, and has served as a delegate to state and county conventions. He has served on the grand and petit juries and for nine years was president of the school board in his district. In early life he was a member of the New Light Church, for which he preached for some years, but is now connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Carlisle, of which he is a trustee. He is an earnest Christian gentleman and does all in his power to advance the moral, educa­tional and material welfare of the community in which he resides.