Robert Gardner

Other Events and Attributes:

• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 5139296
• _UID: 5CD893AE8CE1442092E5587C4E01796FC836

Notes:

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5139296

Died:
There is no known photo of Robert Sr. Pioneers Prominent Men of Utah incorrectly connected Robert Jr's photo to Robert Sr. The error has continued to be perpetuated because the publication of the book cannot be revised.

Son of William Gardner and Christian Henderson

Married Margaret Calinder, May 25, 1800, Falkirk Parish, Barony, Lanark, Scotland

Children - William Gardner, Robert Gardner, Archibald Gardner, Mary Gardner; the following children died in Scotland, baby girl Gardner, Margaret Gardner (b. 1801), Christine Gardner, Margaret Gardner (b. 1810), Janet Gardner, female child Gardner

History - Robert Gardner, age eighteen, and Margaret Calender, age twenty two, were married. Robert Gardner was a Lowlander. The lowlands have the best farm land, while the Highlands fill the entire northern half of Scotland and have scenery of exquisite beauty. Robert was a "good scholar." He was apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade. During his early married life he kept a grocery store and the Black Bull Inn tavern. He later rented the Garrel Mill from the Canal Company. The mill was located on the outskirts of Kilsyth.

Robert was imprisoned for in the Stirling castle for speaking out against the queen. He was found innocent and released. Nine weeks of imprisonment, however, was sufficient to fill him with resentment against the injustice meted out to him and to give him the determination to leave this the land of his birth and seek his fortune in a far country.

Historical records indicate that forty-seven men were taken to Stirling Castle, and twenty-four of them were tried and sentenced to death. Based on Archibald's autobiography, Robert must have been one of the men who was released without being tried. Nineteen of the death sentences were commuted, and those men were sent to Botany Bay in Australia.

The Gardner family sailed to Canada where they homesteaded in the area of backwoods of Canada in the Township of Dalhousie, Banthest District, Upper Canada. This was a very poor part of the country consisting of rocky ridges covered with heavy timber mostly hemlock, pine, cedar and some hardwood. Some swamps and mud lakes, and here and there small patch of land that would do to cultivate, after cutting and burning the heavy timber then there was a kind of a thistle that came up among the grain which compelled us to reap it with gloves or mittens on our hands, cradles, reapers, and thrashing machines was not in fashion in that country in those day. And it was hard, cold country to live in.

Robert's son, Archibald, was a young man and was tired of the poor country and started west in search of a better country which he found about 500 miles of in the township of Warwick then known as county of Kent, Western District called Canada West, near the lower end of Lake Huron. He then bought some land claims called W. E. claims that was then in the market, and entered some land and then returned home and soon as it was convenient he and his older brother William started for there new home in the West.

Meantime the rest of the family went to work to clear off another timbered farm the labor was hard they we had to cut down the timber, cut it in about sixteen foot lengths haul it together with oxen, pile it in piles four or five logs high and seven or eight logs wide and set fire to it and burn them up in the summer. Then they had to plant among the stumps which it took years to rout out. There was no prairie's in that country and it took a long time to make a start in a new country in them days. Those who have been raised in the far west has but little knowledge of the labor it took to make a start in the Canada timbered lands, although this was a much better country than the one we first settled in country of Dalhousie.

In the year 1844 that an elder named John Baraman brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the neighborhood. In the beginning of January 1845 in company with a few Saints the Gardner family went a mile and half into the woods and cut a hole in the ice about 18 inches thick and was there baptized in the township of Brook in a stream called Brown's Creek. Son, Robert Jr., was there baptized by his brother William who had been ordain elder, and he was confirmed by another elder, named Samuel Bolton.

Sister Mary and her husband, Roger Luckham, was the next to be baptized and the family has all joined now but father and he was the first one in the family to believe and said that it was only true church on the earth and when he heard anyone opposing he would stand up for it although he would not be baptized as soon as Robert. He embraced the gospel he had a strong desire to go to Nauvoo to see the apostle and the Saints in their gathering place, a distance of five hundred miles. He left Canada on 1st June, 1845 traveled 30 miles on foot to Port Sarnia, there took steamboat to Chicago and then traveled on foot to Nauvoo a distance 160 miles. He made the trip in two weeks his wife made him a lot of crackers and he put his crackers in a two bushel sack and he traveled on foot. He packed them on his back and the lasted him to Nauvoo. But it was a pretty good day for crackers, better than it was for money.

Robert and his family traveled with the Edward Hunter - Joseph Horne Company (1847)

Robert Sr., Archie and Robert Jr. sowed six acres of wheat and early in the spring of 1848 and moved camp six miles south of Salt Lake on Mill Creek. They moved their saw mill and they rebuilt on Mill Creek and commenced to make lumber and build houses and get them farms.

Archibald Gardner Blogspot

Autobiography of Robert Gardner, Jr.

Robert married Margaret Calender on 25 May 1800 in Falkirk Parish, Stirlingshire, Scotland. Margaret was born in Jan 1777 in Falkirk Parish, Stirlingshire, Scotland; died on 28 Apr 1862 in East Millcreek, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States; was buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 5135285
• _UID: D9B3D2F58B324DD3A8A910190811A4AA1112

Notes:

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5135285

Died:
on of Robert and Margaret Calinder Gardner

Married Margaret Livington, 19 Feb 1839, Alvinston, Brooke Twp, Lambton, Ontario, Canada

Married Abigail Sprague, 19 Apr 1849, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Mary Ann Bradford, 26 Apr 1849, Millcreek, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Laura Althea Thompson, 3 March 1951, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Elizabeth Elinor Lewis, 20 Apr 1851, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Jane Park, 24 Aug 1852, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Serena Gahrsen Evensen, 26 Feb 1856, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Sarah Jane Hamilton, 21 Jun 1857, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Harriet Armitage Larter, 21 Jun 1857, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Elizabeth Dowding, 2 Mar 1867, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Mary Larsen, 20 Dec 1869, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, Utah

History - Archibald Gardner was one of Utah's earliest entrepreneurs, made history in the state of Utah as a mill builder, canal builder, irrigation developer, bridge builder, bishop and as husband to 11 wives, father of 48 children and grandfather to 201.

Archibald, born in Scotland, immigrated to Canada as a young man. There he built his first mill. There he met and married his first wife, Margaret. Together, they traveled with Utah's early pioneers, crossing the plains from Missouri River to the Great Salt Lake Valley, arriving there in 1847.

In his lifetime, he built more than 36 mills, as well as canals and bridges. He was also instrumental in the building of the Salt Lake Temple. Gardner provided the valley with valuable irrigation water through his canals.

In 1858, in the face of the threat of Johnston's Army and the Utah War in the Valley, he and his family moved to Spanish Fork, consisting of nine wives, fifteen children, seven step-children and an adopted Indian girl, Fanny. Archibald left behind a homestead at Mill Creek, the mills in the canyon above, a grist mill and carding machine on the Big Cottonwood stream, a grist mill and saw mill on the Jordan River, and the "big hay field" of about 1,000 acres in the river bottoms in the southern end of Salt Lake Valley. Archie began to build a large home for his family in Spanish Fork. However, in 1859, he was called to return to the Valley as bishop of the West Jordan Ward, a position he held for 32 years being released in May of 1891.

Archibald built the original mill in West Jordan in 1853. In 1877 the mill was dismantled and moved to Fairfield. Archibald then built what he referred to as a "bigger and better" mill on the West Jordan site, with a stone basement. Surrounded by a mattress factory, a broom factory and a blacksmith shop, the flour mill became the center of activity in the area. A general store was located just west of the mill (where the Gardner Monument now stands) and supplied goods to settlers from miles around.

He also built the Red Rock Church, which is still standing, near his mill starting construction in 1861. People were poor, and when it was ready for roofing, the money was gone. It was decided to hold a ball as a fund raiser. A tarp was stretched overhead and officers from Fort Douglas arrived in uniform adding a military touch. Many church officials were present including President Brigham young and George Q. Cannon. The church was completed in 1867.

Archibald served two terms in the territorial legislature and was also instrumental in the discover of ore in the area. The first location claim in Bingham Canyon is signed by Gardner, Ogilvie and others. The document is dated Bingham Kanyon, Sept 17, 1863.

In 1886 he spent several months in Mexico to escape the federal marshals, who were on the trail of polygamists. In 1889 he moved to Star Valley, Wyoming, to escape the persecution. From this time his family were spread across three locations - Spanish Fork, Utah; West Jordan, Utah; and Afton, Wyoming.

Each of Archibald's wives had a home and acreage in West Jordan. Some of those houses are still standing. There are more than 20,000 descendants of Archibald and wives, living in every state except Delaware and in 22 countries.

Excerpts from Eagle Newspapers, 17 Nov 1994 by Olga Milius

Family/Spouse: Jane Park. Jane (daughter of David Park and Ann Brooks) was born on 15 Apr 1834 in Ontario, Canada; died on 27 Jun 1916 in West Jordan, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States; was buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 35477292
• _UID: B59F90FEE4944955850EBAB02321B4C9B6C0

Notes:

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35477292

Other Events and Attributes:

• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 37073627
• _UID: D350BC572957463DAF3C337862C8FF261EC7

Notes:

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37073627

Ann married Samuel Wesley Egbert on 20 Jan 1873 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. Samuel was born on 26 Aug 1852 in West Jordan, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States; died on 3 Apr 1919 in Grace, Caribou County, Idaho, United States; was buried in Grace Cemetery, Grace, Caribou County, Idaho, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]