History and Genealogy

1773-1977

By

Maurice Hyde Gardner  

  (publishers note: "Daniel and Lorena Gardner -- History and Genealogy 1773 - 1997" by Maurice Gardner is presented here in four parts for easier HTML download. Part I focuses on Daniel and Lorena's journey westward along the Oregon Trail in 1852.  Part II covers the period of 1853 to 1900 focusing on the Gardner contributions to the development of Clark County, Part III is a collection of family photos, and Part IV is a compilation of the sections of book that focus on individual family members). 

This genealogy records the progeny of Daniel and Lorena Gardner who settled in the Washington Territory in 1853. There are over 1270 blood descendants from them listed in these records. In addition, there are over 630 in-laws recorded. Over 150 additional blood relatives are estimated to be in the family but have not been located.

Many pioneers of the mid eighteen hundreds were farmers and raised large families. Daniel and Lorena were no exception. They had eleven children, two boys died in infancy and one boy died as a teenager. Only two male heirs lived to adulthood. All six daughters lived to an old age and five had large families. Therefore, many heirs relate to the names of Gerow, Kenyon, Houghton, Luelling, Oleson, and Wilson. There are relatively few Gardner surnames. 

Daniel was the grandson of Andrew Gardner. Although this genealogy does not attempt to find Andrew's heritage, Webster Kenyon, one of our relatives, wrote a report for a Gardner reunion suggesting that George Gardiner who in 1638 came to the Colonies, may have been an earlier ancestor. (See the Gardner Name and Coat of Arms section.) Some references state that Andrew came from England. The 1953 Gardner Genealogy gives the following information.

(1) ANDREW GARDNER, born 1749 in Needham, Mass. In 1773 moved to Leverett, Franklin County, Massachusetts. He was a neighbor of Paul Newton and served in the Revolutionary Army several years, fighting in the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill. (See Andrew Gardner's Revolutionary War Experience.) He gained distinction in the battle of Bunker Hill when his Commanding Officer ordered retreat. He yelled "Not till my ammunition gone," and kept on firing. He married Abigail (or Margaret Wesson?) who was born in 1753 and died 3-16-1829 at the age of 76. Andrew died 8-24-1840. Andrew and Abigail's children were:

(2) DEACON ELIJAH born 8-4-1788 in Levertt, Franklin County, Massachusetts and died 8-26-1859 at More's Corner, Massachusetts. Other children of Andrew and Abigail were Benjamin, Sarah, Eunice, Andrew, Charles, Henry, John, Elizabeth, Katie, and Nabby. He served as Captain in the War of 1812 and married Nabby Holden at Leverett, Massachusetts who was born there 7-4-1788, and died there 6-13-1863.

Ellen Gardner was the first born of Daniel and Lorena and was the child that became ill while the Gardners were on the Oregon Trail. She married Johnathan Titus Gerow November 13, 1856. Johnathan had come from Pennsylvania to work in the California gold fields in 1852. He apparently earned enough to buy a farm but he didn't return to Pennsylvania as he had planned and traveled to The Oregon Territory where he met Ellen.

David and Sophia 

Sophia Gardner married David Kenyon January 7, 1861. David had gone to the California Sutter gold fields in 1853. While panning gold there he heard of a gold strike on the Fraser River in British Columbia and headed there with his poke of dust. He was unable to find enough gold on the Fraser and intended to return to California but by the time he reached Portland he was out of money and he hired out as a woodcutter. While working for Jonathan Gerow, Ellen Gardner's husband, he met Sophia Gardner who was helping her sister Ellen in the cookhouse. David and Sophia were married and moved to a homestead on the south side of the East Fork of the Lewis River in 1862. Later they moved to a farm on the North Fork of the Lewis River across from the D. W. Gardner Donation Land Claim.

Amanda Gardner married Elisha Colvin. They adopted a son. Perry and in 1880 lived in Cowlitz County. Elisha was a carpenter and in 1881 broke his foot so was out of work for ten months. In the same year they provided a home for their nephew's six-month-old son, Edgar Colvin. The mother had died and the Colvins wanted to adopt the baby but the father, Tom, would not agree. Elisha and Amanda eventually moved to Ilwaco and then to Walla Walla, Washington where they managed the Odd Fellows home.

Sarah

Sarah Gardner married Henry Houghton. He was born in Detroit Michigan Jan. 21, 1840. He crossed the plains with his parents in 1852, arriving in California in 1853. The family moved to Oregon in 1865 and after a stay in Astoria came to the Lewis River in 1869. He married Sarah Gardner in 1869 and they set up housekeeping on a place joining the Gardner Donation Land Claim. Henry was a prosperous fanner and alert to business opportunities. The Lewis River farmers depended on steamboats to market their products and in 1891, when the farmers had become dissatisfied with the rates charged by Jacob Kamm's steamer Mascot, Henry joined a group of seven to form the Woodland Navigation Company. They bought the steamer Toledo and ran it as a competing boat. Unfortunately the venture failed.

D Wells Gardner as everyone knew him, was born in 1854 and died in 1924. He was Daniel White and Lorena Gardner's first son to be born in the Washington Territory. He married Martha Gilson in 1877. Somewhere along his adult life, probably before and after marriage, he taught school in several Clark County districts. He farmed, worked in logging camps, was Hayes Post- master, a Justice of the Peace, and Notary Public. He was a member of the board organized to construct the Gardner's Chapel. He was very musical, playing in the band and was a good singer and fiddler.

Daniel remained single for a number of years after Martha died in Clayoquot, B.C. of breast cancer in 1901. Eventually he wished to remarry and went to minister for advise. The minister recommended a young lady who had been raised in an orphanage.  Her name was Annie but nothing else was known of her background.

They married and she was an active member of the family. Unfortunately, nothing was recorded about her in the 1953 genealogy. She lived with her son and daughter-in-law, Curtis and Hattie until her death in 1928.

Mary 

Mary Gardner's husband Albert Luelling emigrated from Iowa with his father and sister in 1847. They brought the first wagonload of nursery stock to the Oregon country. It was seven-year-old Albert's job to keep the plants watered on the trip across the plains. Mary and Albert were married at a triple wedding ceremony on Oct. 4, 1874. Others married at the same time were Howard Bozarth and Adeline Martin, and Wiley Martin and Mary Bozarth.

Mary and Charles Oleson

She had married Albert when she was 18 years old and was widowed at age 27. She married Charles Oleson in 1888. Charles and their son owned and operated the Oleson Lumber Company in Forest Grove, Oregon. 

Emma and Thomas

Emma Gardner married Thomas Wilson June 17, 1880 at La Center, Washington. She had been living with her father and mother on the farm. Thomas was born in England and his parents moved to the United States and settled in Connecticut when he was a child. As a young man, Thomas worked his way across the United States. When he worked for the Union Pacific Railroad he decided to stay in the Northwest. Emma and Thomas obtained one hundred and twenty acres of wooded land in the Pine Groves area between La Center and Hayes where they built a small two-bedroom house and a barn. Over the next twenty years they were successful orchard farmers.

When Edward Gardner was 13 and his father 63, their cleared acreage was the largest in the neighborhood. Edward and Emma were the only children left on the farm in 1877. Brother George had drowned two years earlier. Work on the farm threw a heavy burden on both.  

Ed was a dashing young blade as well as a good worker on the farm. He squired the girls, took parts in plays, and belonged to debating societies. He courted Lida Littler while she was teaching at the Hayes school. When Ed and Lida were married, June 30, 1890 they received a grand reception from the neighbors. The Gardner church had been completed the year before. Lida was the organist as long as they lived there.