Riley Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-James F. Gardner
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
JAMES F. GARDNER was an early pioneer of Riley County, and to him belongs the distinction of having been the first Marshall of Manhattan. He is a veteran of the late war, and as an honorable member of a Massachusetts regiment he did valiant service on many a a hotly contested battlefield, and as a patriotic, loyal soldier, he did his share toward preserving the integrity of our Union. He is now managing
an extensive ice business in Manhattan, owning large stone store-houses for the storage of ice on the bank of the Blue River.
Mr. Gardner was born in that part of Meigs County now included in Cheshire County, Ohio, Sept. 9, 1818. His father, James F. Gardner, was a native of Rhode Island, and from the best information at hand, is supposed to have been a descendant of one of three brothers that were early settlers of Long Island. In early life he went to live with an uncle in Rensselaer County, N. Y. For a time after marriage he resided in Chenango County, and then removed to Ohio about 1814, and was one of the pioneers of Meigs County, the removal being made with a flat-boat down the Alleghany and Ohio rivers. He took part in the War of 1812, and his life was not of long duration after that, it being brought to a close in August, 1818, while in its prime. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Ann Ireland, and her birthplace was Catacook, Rensselaer Co., N. Y. By the death of her husband she was left with three children, the eldest but nine years of age, and being without means to support them, they had to go to live with other people until she could provide for them. She married a second time in York State, becoming the wife of Jesse Mulford, of Albany County. N. Y., where she lived many years. She came to Manhattan and spent her last days in this city.
Our subject was very small when the death of his father deprived him of his care and of a home, for he had to live with strangers. He continued in Ohio until he was twelve years old, and then his mother took him to her home in Albany County, N. Y., to live with her. When he was eighteen he went to Gardner. Mass., and there learned how to make chairs, and followed that occupation in that town three or four years. After that he returned to his native Ohio, find for two years was engaged in steamboating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Then we again find him in Massachusetts, this time working at the carpenter's trade in Gardner and Fitchburg until 1856. In that year he came to Kansas, traveling by rail to Jefferson City, Mo., then the western terminus of the railway, and from there by steamer to Leavenworth. and thence on foot to Manhattan. He soon found work at his trade here, and became identified with the public life of the city in 1857, being appointed Marshal of the city, the first to hold that office here, and while he was an incumbent of the office, law and order reigned supreme. In the fall of 1857, Mr. Gardner returned to Massachusetts, and was busily engaged at his trade in that State when the war broke out. In September, 1861, he laid down the saw and hammer, to take up arms in his country's defense, and had his name enrolled among those of the brave volunteers that composed the 25th Massachusetts regiment, he being a member of Company F. Our subject served with fidelity the three years for which he was enlisted, and was then honorably discharged, the perils and terrible hardships of life on Southern battlefields having told somewhat on his vigorous constitution, and making him glad to return to the peace and quietness of his old home where a fond wife and loved children anxiously awaited his return. He bore an honorable part in twenty-one engagements, including the battles of Cold Harbor. Bermuda Hundred, Petersburg, Roanoke Island, Newburn. and Norfolk. At Cold Harbor, 700 gallant men of his regiment went into battle, and of these, before the awful carnage was over, all but eighty were killed, wounded or missing. Our subject was wounded in that battle June 3, 1864, and did not again join his regiment before his discharge. After leaving the army. Mr. Gardner lived in Massachusetts until 1866, when he came once more to Kansas, and has ever since been a resident of the State. There was no railway here until that year, and he took a contract to carry the mail from Manhattan to Irving, forty miles distant, employing his son to drive for him, while he attended to his claim in Grant Township that he had taken under the provisions of the homestead law, and after getting a clear title to the land he commenced its improvement, and made his home there five years. At the expiration of that time be came to Manhattan, established himself in the ice business, and has ever since been engaged in it very profitably, building stone houses with a capacity of 20,000 tons for the storage of his ice.
Mr. Gardner was married in 1846, to Miss Sarah Mulford, a native of Watervliet. Albany Co., N. Y. She bore him seven children: Marcia, wife of
Fred Houghton, of Manhattan; Mary, wife of Lew W. Boggs, of Manhattan; George, a resident of Riley County; Charles, also a resident of Riley County; Edward F. M.; the latter residing in Texas. Two are deceased. After an unclouded wedded life of more than forty years, Mrs. Gardner was removed by the hand of death, July 26, 1887, from the home that she had cheered and blessed for so many years, and a large circle of friends mourned with the bereaved family for the loss of one who had so well fulfilled her duties as wife, mother and friend.
An early settler of Manhattan, Mr. Gardner saw it when it was in its first stages, a mere hamlet in a wild, sparsely inhabited region; coming hack to it after the war he could note the progress it had made since he first set foot within its bounds; identifying himself later with its business interests, he has witnessed the remainder of its development to its present condition as a well-built, well-governed, wealthy, flourishing metropolis, and it must be a satisfaction to him that he has contributed his share to bringing about this great change. He is a man of strong common sense, sound discrimination, liberal in his views and acts, and his course as a man in the various relations of life, as a patriotic citizen in times of war and peace, and as a business man has always been commendable, and the high position that he occupies in this community, is unassailable. He has always taken a lively interest in politics, and in early life lent his influence to the Free-soil party, and later to the Republican party.