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The Gardiner Family
of Long Island
Text available to view on Long Island Genealogy
Lion was an engineer, commissioned by
King Charles I to build a fort at Saybrook, Conn. He came under
interest of ministers of nobles wishing to settle in
America and was offered 100 pounds a year for 4 years to serve the Sir
Edward
Veie Company (of which he was a corporal in 1625) "only in the drawing,
ordering, and making of a city, towns, or forts of defense."
By July 10, 1635, all preparations had
been made. The Batchelor, a 25 ton
north sea bark made of oak, reached Holland from London and took Lion,
his
wife, her maid (Elizabeth Cole), and Lion's 40 yr. old work master
(William
Job) on board. The ship master, Jonathan Wibber,set sail for London to
get
supplies. The ship agent, Edward Hopkins, complained of getting a crew
that it was not easy "to gett any att this tyme to goe in so small a
vessell
and therefore I was forced to take some that otherwise I would not have
medled with att all." Finally, the passengers, which numbered 7, got
off
to sea at Gravesend, 5 weeks after leaving Woerden Holland. They
finally
arrived in Boston after perilous seas and hope of safe arrival had been
given up. Lion settled in what was to become Connecticut, where his son
David was the first child to be born. He soon became sick of the
politics
of New England and bought Gardiner Island from the Indians. He farmed
the
island for 14 years, living in close friendship with the Montaukett
Indians,
and genuinely loving them. His daughter Elizabeth was the first white
child
born in New York and was also her father's favorite. This veteran of
wars
of Princes of Orange began one of the few families to ever own a
private
paradise. In 1892, the island was still being handed down from father
to
son, just as Lion wished.
Lion was a Lieut. the Pequot Indian
War. David and Mary were born during his Command at Fort
Saybrook. David being the first English Child
born in Conn. It is said he bought the Isle of Wright " Gardiners
Island" from the Indians. He lived there for 14 years and left to live
in Easthampton where he had a lot to do with the Indians in the area.
NOTE:
David Gardiner's birth date is questionable. According to
Governor
Winthrops Journal, his father, Lyon, came to Saybrook November 28th
1635.
It is therefore likely that David was born in April, 1636, contrary to
Lyon's entry in the family bible.
For additional information on The Gardiner line please take
a moment and visit the Web Page of David L. Gardiner "THE GARDINERS OF NEW YORK."
David
has
been doing Gardiner genealogy since 1979 and now have over
50,000 connectec names listed in his genealogical database . He
is a direct descendant of Lieut. Lyon Gardiner.
Gardiner Query:
First,
hearty
congratulations
on a splendid website.
Re
your
good
commentary on Gardiner's Island, is the JOHN GARDINER you
mention the 17thC London merchant, John Gardiner, who was active in the
English Crown's West India trade & also Warden of the
Merchant-Venturers in 1626? Might you have a line on THAT particular
John Gardiner, if he's NOT 'your' John Gardiner? If this is
the same man, is your JG a Londoner who also traveled to
Africa in the mid-17thC, either as a merchant / privateer or in some
official capacity for the Court of Charles II? Have you any
information at all on these matters, please? (This is part of
a big & complex research project of mine.)
Maureen
E.
Mulvihill,
PhD
Fellow, Princeton Research Forum
Visiting
Professor of
Global
Literatures, and of Shakespeare, 2005-06
St John's University, Manhattan
Campus