At the conclusion of part one this biographical sketch of the Gardner brothers, the trio of Perry County brothers had been reduced to a duo, following the death of Private Jacob S. R. Gardner in 1862, and the advancement in military rank, and subsequent honorable discharges of his older brothers, Captain Reuben Shatto Gardner and Corporal John A. Gardner, on Christmas Day, 1865. Part two opens with their respective returns home to loved ones in Pennsylvania.

Return to Civilian Life—Reuben Shatto Gardner:

Following his honorable discharge from the military, Reuben S. Gardner resumed life in Newport, Perry County with his wife, Mary. Sometime in 1866 or 1867, they decided to make their way west, opting to make a new start in Minnesota. Together, they welcomed the arrival of: Edward C. Gardner (1867-1937), who was born in Minnesota on 13 October 1867.

In 1869, Reuben S. Gardner was awarded a U.S. Civil War Pension in recognition of the grievous wounds he sustained in battle during the American Civil War. He and his wife then continued to grow their family, welcoming the births of: Harvey Leroy Gardner (1871-1908), who was born in Minnesota on 23 August 1871, and Frank Worth Gardner (1878-1950), who was born in River Falls, Pierce County, Wisconsin on 20 February 1878.

Federal census records documented that, in 1870, Reuben S. Gardner was a miller residing in Elk River Station, Sherburne County, Minnesota with his wife, Mary A., and their son, “Custis E.” By 1875, the trio had become a foursome with the arrival of son Harvey. According to that year’s Minnesota State Census, they resided in Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota.

Still employed as a miller at the time of the federal census in 1880, Reuben S. Gardner was now residing on 2nd Avenue South in the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota with his wife, Mary, and their sons, “Custis E.” (aged 12), Harvey LeRoy (aged 9) and “Frank Worth.” Both Edward and Harvey were also described as being enrolled in school.

Sometime during the fall of 1882, Reuben Gardner received word that his mother, Elizabeth (Shatto) Gardner, had died in Newport, Perry County on 16 September of that year. Two years later, he learned that his father had also died in Newport on 30 September 1884, and had been laid to rest at the Old Newport Cemetery in Newport.

By 1 May 1885, Reuben Gardner and his family were back in Elk River Station, where he continued to work as a miller, according to that year’s Minnesota State Census.

Four years later, the Gardner family made a major move west, settling in the city of Seattle in King County, Washington in July 1889. He and his family had arrived roughly one month after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, in which twenty-five city blocks were destroyed, including every mill and wharf. Initially employed in the restaurant industry, he was subsequently hired as a street car conductor.

During the late 1890s, he and his oldest son, Edward, became involved in the gold rush, prospecting in both the western United States and British Columbia, Canada. According to a letter that Reuben penned to his brother, John A. Gardner, which was published in the 2 October 1897 edition of the Harrisburg Telegraph, he resided in Seattle after having gone “to the far west at the close of the war and [had been] prospecting for gold in British Columbia during the past summer.”

I have been thinking of writing to you ever since I got home, for I have been away up in the Upper Cariboo country all summer and just got home ten days ago. I was 600 miles due north from here in British Columbia, prospecting for gold, but did not find anything as rich as the Klondike, though there is gold all over the country I was in, and the hydraulic companies are getting it out by the hundred thousand. I did not go to the Klondike when the craze was on here, but Seattle sent about 2,000 of her population. A good many are coming back, being unable to get over the pass this fall any more, as the snow is now four feet deep already on the mountains. Many of the men have gone into winter quarters at Skaguay [sic] and will try it again in the spring.

Everybody was crazy for a month here when the steamer Portland came in with a million [in] gold dust aboard. They had the stuff piled up in every window in the city for a while. There are too many people over there now for the amount of grub that there is there, and they are organizing relief committees here now to send up provisions over the ice and snow. We expect two boats down from St. Michaels and Skaguay [sic] to-morrow, both loaded with returning prospectors. One man just down from there told me yesterday that there were 700 dead horses lying along the trail from the beach to the top of the hill. Several men were also killed there. But pell-mell they go for gold. When they know that not more than one out of every 2,000 will ever find paying dirt. I will send you a P. I. paper when they come out, with all the information up to date.

We got the ‘Telegraph’ you sent. If any of your acquaintances are going tell them to come here to fit out, as this is the nearest and best point and there will be three boats a week leave here next spring for Yukon points. I did not get much gold this summer, but made some good locations that I may sell sometime. Our oldest boy is over east in the mountains working a claim for himself. The other two boys are in the city, one in a bank, the other in a large book and printing house. Times are getting better and we expect that next summer will give us a boom again.

Two months later, Reuben Gardner penned a follow-up letter to his brother, John:

All is Klondike here. Our city is full of people already, and the rush has hardly begun yet. It is the opinion of everybody that people will be living in tents before the end of February, as all the hotels and lodging houses are full now and it is just about impossible to find a vacant house in Seattle to-day, while many families are on the house-hunt every day. Fifty stores could be rented in twenty-four hours in the business part of the city if we had them. A few brick blocks are going up, but they won’t half supply the demand and it is a conservative estimate that Seattle will double [her] population in the next twelve months, and we have no boom such as we had for a few years just after the great fire in 1889.

Money is plenty as white beans. Every scrub has a handful of gold in his pockets. We see very little paper money, all is gold and silver. We estimate that 20,000 Klondikers will out fit here. Some people put it at twice that number. I have had several offers to go in for parties, but have declined owing to the hardships one of my age would have to endure, although many older and worse broken down men than I are going into Alaska. While I was up in the Upper Cariboo last summer I came across some splendid hydraulic propositions which are easy of access. I am now trying to interest parties to put in a plant and work one of the claims of Lightning Creek, a famous old stream that yielded up $43,000,000 in her palmy days of 1863. I am sure I have a good thing, yet it seems almost impossible to divert the crazy throng from the Yukon long enough to present a cheap, common sense proposition to them. The whole plant can be put in for less than $5,000. There are now a half dozen hydraulic plants paying big money in that country.

From 1898 to November 1902, Reuben S. Gardner was the postal clerk in charge of the money order and registry departments at the U.S. Post Office in Seattle. According to the 1900 federal census, he resided at 1514 Ninth Avenue in Seattle’s 5th Ward with his wife of thirty-five years, Mary A. Gardner, who was described by that year’s enumerator as the mother of three children, all of whom were still alive at the time of the census. Living with them were their sons, Edward E., who was employed as a miner, Harvey L., who was employed as a railway mail clerk, and Frank North [sic], who was employed as a bank clerk.

Sometime after that census was taken, Reuben Gardner relocated to 503 East Republican Street in Seattle.

Death and Interment

Reuben S. Gardner died at his home in Seattle at the age of sixty-eight during the morning of 25 September 1903. Following funeral services at his home at 1 p.m. on 27 September, he was laid to rest at that city’s Lakeview Cemetery.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on his death in its 26 September 1903 edition as follows:

Reuben S. Gardner, aged 68 years, for four years prior to November last in charge of the registry and money order departments at the Seattle postoffice [sic], died yesterday morning at his home, 503 East Republican street. He leaves, besides his wife, three sons, Frank W., Edward and Harry L., all well known residents of this city. The body was removed to the Bonney-Watson parlors. The funeral will be held from there Sunday afternoon [27 September] at 1 o’clock.

Mr. Gardner came to Seattle in July, 1889. He was born in Pennsylvania, and enlisted, at the first call for the civil war, in the Forty-seventh Pennsylvania volunteers. He served three months [sic; three years] and resigned, and immediately re-enlisted in the Veteran volunteers of that state, and served until the close of the war. His regiment was stationed at Charleston, and after the surrender of Lee he was for two weeks officer of the day at Fort Sumpter. Just before the close of the war, he was promoted to the rank of captain.

In 1864 he was married to Mary A. Smith of Harrisburg, Pa., who survives him. After being mustered out of the army Mr. Gardner moved to Minneapolis, where for twenty-five years he was engaged in the milling business. On arriving at Seattle he engaged in the restaurant business, and sold out this to become one of the early conductors on the street car line. He served with the old company four years.

A little over four years ago he was appointed in charge of the registry and money order business at the postoffice [sic]. On November 12, last year, he was taken down with typhoid pneumonia, and was not able to return to his office after that time. Complications set in, and he gradually declined until the end came. During all his life here he has taken an active part in Republican politics.

He was a member of the North Star Lodge No. 6, I.O.O.F., of Minneapolis; St. John’s Lodge No. 9, F. and A. M., Seattle; Seattle Chapter No. 3, R. A. M.; Seattle Council, No. 6, Royal Select Master Masons, and the G.A.R. These orders will participate in his funeral. The funeral will be conducted with Masonic rites.

The members of John F. Miller Post, G.A.R., to which Mr. Gardner belonged, are requested by Post Commander Benjamin C. Levy to be present at the funeral. Postmaster Stewart, in speaking of the death of Mr. Gardner last night, said: “I took Mr. Gardner into the postoffice [sic] with me, and I never had a man in my employ who was more to be trusted. He was most generally liked, and when the news of his death reached the office this morning there were many wet eyes. He was absolutely trustworthy and a man in whom every dependence could be placed.

‘The postoffice [sic] employes [sic], or a many as can get off, will attend the funeral in a body.’

Return to Civilian Life—John A. Gardner

Following his honorable discharge from the military on Christmas Day in 1865, Sergeant John A. Gardner returned home to Pennsylvania and to his fireman’s job with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Sometime in 1868, he and his wife, Mary Ann (Gable) Gardner welcomed the birth of daughter Mary V. Gardner (1868-1928) at their Perry County home. He was then widowed by his wife sometime between the birth of their daughter and 1872, when he wed Malinda Catharine Cochran (1856-1886), a daughter of William Hetrick Cochran (1829-1870) and Rachael Ann (Crum) Cochran (1830-1861).

Within two years, they had begun their own family, greeting the arrival of daughter Maggie Alice Gardner sometime around early May 1872. Tragically, Mary Alice fell ill with cholera infantum and died in Harrisburg on 17 January 1873. She was just one year, three months and twenty-five days old.

As life moved on, they subsequently welcomed the births of: Jessie Ellen Gardner (1874-1917), who was born in Pennsylvania on 14 March 1874 and later wed John Henry Albright (1874-1950) in 1895; Laura May Gardner (1875-1943), who was born in Harrisburg on 3 May 1875 and later wed Charles A. Jury in Reed Township, Dauphin County on 15 August 1893 before divorcing him in September 1896 and then marrying Daniel Dougherty in Harrisburg on 28 January 1897; Charles Edward Gardner (1878-1929), who was born in Harrisburg on 29 August 1878 and later wed Emily M. Strauss; Joseph Lionel Clayton Gardner, who was born in Harrisburg on 5 January 1880, later wed Sarah L. Berk in Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania on 3 May 1902 before divorcing her in Berks County on 12 March 1906, served roughly a month in prison for larceny in 1907, and then married Mary Ellen Bird in Harrisburg on 30 May 1910; Reuben Steel Gardner (1883-1942), who was born in Harrisburg on 25 September 1883 and later wed Lula M. Miller, sometime around 1910; and an unnamed infant, who was born in 1886 and died that same year.

John A. Gardner and his new family were members of the United Brethren Church of Harrisburg. The 1870s and 1880s, while happy decades in many respects, also had their moments of sadness and adversity. One of the worst days occurred on 9 October 1873 when John Gardner was severely injured while working as a fireman on the Pacific Express for the Pennsylvania Railroad. According to The Perry County Democrat:

We have learned the terrible particulars of the accident that befell John A. Gardner, son of our old friend John K. Gardner, of Miller township, this county, on the 9th of last month [9 October 1873]. He was fireman on the Pacific Express. A portion of the train uncoupled. The engine was stopped and the detached cars came on causing a considerable crash. Mr. G. shortly after was in the act of coupling when his hand was caught between two bumpers and there held for two hours before it could be extricated. His suffering was intense Finally he was released from his terrible position. The hand was amputated at the wrist. The accident occurred on the Penna. Railroad near Rockville.

This accident actually occurred on the Rockville Bridge at Harrisburg. Unable to continue his job as a fireman, he was able to briefly maintain his employment with the Pennsylvania Railroad as a call messenger. He then opened his own transfer business in Harrisburg, which he continued to operate well into the new century.

If that had not been enough adversity, John A. Gardner also struggled to care for his mentally ill wife, Malinda. On 4 January 1886, Harrisburg area newspapers reported that “George R. Hursh, M.D., James I. Chamberlin and John Weltmer [had] been appointed [as] a commission to inquire into the sanity of Mrs. Malinda Gardner, of this city.” Malinda died just over a month later on 10 February 1886. (As of the publication of this biographical sketch in 2023, her burial was unknown.)

On 24 October 1894, the old soldier penned the following letter to the Harrisburg Telegraph:

EDITOR TELEGRAPH. – I see in your issue of the 22d inst. that you spoke as if there were only four old comrades in our city, who were present when General P. H. Sheridan made that famous ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek on the morning of October 19, 1864. I will just name a few more that I know off [sic] in and near Harrisburg: J. Y. Rupley, of Penn street; Luther Bernheisel, corner of Boas and Green streets; John Clemens, East State street; Jerry Siders, of Delaware avenue; Charles Small, of State and Front streets, and myself, of 1417 Williams street; D. H. Smith and Dan. Urich, of Penbrook, all of Company H, 47th Pennsylvania volunteers, and well do I remember General Sheridan’s words as he rode in rear of our front lines. He did not say colonel or captain, but men, when the signal gun is fired, up and at them. Cheer, boys, you can whip them by cheering, and so we did. Colonel J. P. S. Gobin was in command of the 47th Pennsylvania volunteers, and a good man was he.

(Signed) SGT. JOHN A. GARDER, 1417 Williams street, City.

That same year, on 20 December, John Gardner’s daughter, Mary, wed Charles R. Stock in Harrisburg. Just over a year later, John A. Gardner had a second major accident during which he was severely injured. Described as “an old soldier, with a crippled arm, whose residence [was] 1417 Williams street, this city,” Gardner “met with an accident late Friday afternoon [15 May 1896] while loading some household goods on his wagon at the home of Mrs. Fry, on Fulton avenue, near the Kelker street market house.”

The porch of the Fry residence is some eight or ten feet above the ground. While Mr. Gardner was in the act of carrying some article to the wagon, which had been backed up against the steps, he found a portion of the porch giving way and stepped to one side to save himself. He went down over one end, and fell a distance of nine or ten feet into an adjoining lot, striking his left side on a board, with its edge up, breaking two of his ribs, and receiving other internal injuries. Dr. H. W. Walter attended the case. Mr. Gardner is a hard-working, industrious man, a member of  Post 116, G.A.R., and feels this mishap keenly, as it will deprive him of earning a livelihood for a month or six weeks.

In August 1898, it was his horse, not John Gardner, who sustained a catastrophic injury. A hot, summer day, the horse suffered sunstroke and died instantly while hauling a load of furniture. That same year, his son, Charles Edward Gardner wed Katherine Kinsey in Harrisburg on 29 December. After welcoming the birth of one child, however, their marriage ultimately ended in divorce.

On 3 January 1900, John A. Gardner wed Anna E. Pollinger, a native of Cumberland County who was a daughter of George Pollinger (1808-1881) and Matilda (Etter) Pollinger (1811-1870). As of 7 June 1910, John was still operating his transfer business and was still residing at his home on William Street in Harrisburg. Also living with him at that time was his sixteen-year-old son, who was now employed as a day laborer; Annie Bollinger, their fifty-two-year-old housekeeper; and fifteen-year-old Mary Trout.

In poor health for the majority of this marriage, Anna (Pollinger) Gardner was confined to her bed from roughly 1909 to 1911. After entering the Reading Hospital in Reading, Berks County on 7 December 1911 for an operation, she went into surgery on 9 December, but died that same day at 3:20 p.m. from complications. Her remains were removed to her home of record at 522 Cedar Street in Reading by Berks County undertaker Theodore S. Auman and were subsequently returned to Harrisburg for burial at the East Harrisburg Cemetery.

Around this same time, John A. Gardner closed his transfer business in Harrisburg and relocated to the city of Reading, where he resided with his daughter—an arrangement he would maintain for the remainder of his life.

Illness, Third Injury, Death and Interment

Diagnosed with arteriosclerosis, John Gardner managed to stay active for much of his later life. Sometime around 1917, however, his health began to decline, hastened by a slip and fall accident on an icy sidewalk at the corner of Tenth and Douglass streets in Reading, during which he fractured his left arm in three places. This second injury drastically limited his ability to care for himself; as a result, he was essentially homebound until finally becoming bedfast in mid-February 1918.

At that point, death came quickly. Aged eighty, he died from congestion of the lungs and arteriosclerosis at 2 a.m. on 20 February 1918 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Charles Stock, 735 North Eight Street, Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Following funeral services, he was laid to rest at the Charles Evans Cemetery in Reading on 23 February.

On Thursday, 21 February, the Reading Times reported on his life and death as follows:

John A. Gardner, a Civil War veteran, aged 80 years, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Charles Stock, 753 North Eighth street, on Wednesday morning at 2 o’clock. Death was due to congestion of  the lungs and old age. He had been ill for a year and was bedfast only one week. Last December a year ago he fell on the ice at Tenth and Douglass streets and broke his left arm at three places. This rendered him practically helpless for the past year because many years ago he lost his right hand on the railroad.

Mr. Gardner was born at Newport, Perry county, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Gardner. His mother died a few years before his father, who died 30 years ago. At an early age he left Newport and went to Harrisburg. While there he worked as a fireman on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and it was on the Rockville bridge at Harrisburg that he lost his right hand. After being disabled in this manner he served as a call messenger for the company for a short time, and then went into the transfer business for himself. He remained in that business until he came to this city [Reading], eight years ago. In this city he has always lived with his daughter. He was a member of the United Brethren Church of Harrisburg.

On August 20, 1861, he enlisted as a corporal in Company H, 47th Regiment, of Pennsylvania Volunteers, to serve three years. He was discharged October 20, 1863 at Fort Jefferson, Florida. His brother, Reuben S. Gardner, was first lieutenant of the company. He soon re-enlisted in the same company, his brother having been made captain. He enlisted to serve three years and was discharged on December 25, 1865, at Charleston, S.C.

He had been married three times, his first wife having been Mary Ann Gable. After the death of his first wife he married Malinda C. Cochran and following her death married Anna E. Pollinger, on January 3, 1900. She died in 1911.

He is survived by the following children: John, of Sunbury; Charles E., of Allentown; Reuben S., of Reading; Clayton L., residence unknown; Laura, wife of Scott Suskey, of Harrisburg, and Mrs. Charles Stock, of this city. He was the last of his family. Eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild also remain.

Before his death he requested to be buried in Charles Evans cemetery, aside of his grandson, Chester Stock, who was a popular blind pianist in this city and who died three years ago.

What Happened to the Parents and Siblings of Reuben S. and John A. Gardner?

Reuben and John Gardner lost both of their parents within a two-year period during the 1880s. Their mother died in Newport on 16 September 1882, followed by his father, John K. Gardner, on 30 September 1884. His father, who had suffered from rheumatism for many years, was described by The Perry County Democrat as “a kind-hearted old gentleman [who] had many friends.”

Very little is currently known about their older brother, William. The life of their sister, Catharine, however, is reasonably well documented. After marrying Maryland native George Dunbar Hughes (1838–1908), she welcomed the births of: John Henry Hughes (1871–1937); Dora E. Hughes (1875–1966), who later wed Harry Clement Christ; Frank Allen Hughes (1878 – 1906); and Minnie Viola Hughes (1880 – 1929), who went on to marry Arnold Little, circa 1909. Catharine (Gardner) Hughes died in her late forties, and was interred at the Old Newport Cemetery in Newport, Perry County.

What Happened to the Wife and Children of Reuben Shatto Gardner?

Reuben and Mary Gardner’s son, Harvey Leroy Gardner, followed his father into federal government service. Employed as a postal clerk in 1900, he wed Sadie M. Finley in Seattle on 6 November of that year. She was a daughter of John and Mary (Brown) Finley. By July 1903, he was employed by the Spokane branch of the U.S. Post Service. He died on 4 May 1908, and was laid to rest at the same cemetery where his father was buried—the Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.

Just over two years later, on 8 June 1910, Reuben and Mary Gardner’s youngest son, Frank Gardner, wed Nebraska native Myrtle Irene Paul, who was a daughter of New York native Charles Paul and Caroline (Rosenstihl) Paul, a native of Virginia. According to his marriage certificate, Frank was employed as a bank teller. Their wedding was officiated by the Rev. William Kirkhope, a Presbyterian minister.

During that phase of her life, Reuben S. Gardner’s widow, Mary filed for a U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension on 12 October 1903. Initially awarded a pension at the rate of  eight dollars per month, she received an increase to twelve dollars per month in 1908. During the fall and winter of 1910, Newport, Pennsylvania newspapers reported that she had traveled from Seattle, Washington to Perry County, Pennsylvania for a visit with her aunt, Mrs. C. K. Smith of North Fourth Street in Newport in October and November. Newspapers also reported that she was serving, during that time, as National Chaplain of the Grand Army of the Republic’s Women’s Relief Corps, and was looking forward to attending the annual reunion of the surviving members of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. She subsequently spent the month of December in Mankato, Minnesota, and then returned to Seattle on New Year’s Day in 1911.

As she aged, she was awarded regular pension increases until reaching the rate of $50 per month in 1926. Sadly, her final years were difficult ones. Suffering from dementia, she died at the home of her son, Frank, at 703 Columbia Street in Seattle at the age of eight-eight on 9 January 1929, and was laid to rest beside her husband at Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery on 12 January.

Reuben and Mary Gardner’s son, Edward, resided with his parents in 1900. By the time of the 1920 federal census, however, he had relocated to Metaline Falls, Washington, where he owned and operated a general farm. Shown as single on both of those federal census documents, he appears to have never married. Tragically, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A farmer, he had last been seen alive on 3 January 1937, according to the coroner, and was found dead on 16 January 1937, just over a mile north of Metaline Falls. The coroner noted that Edward’s body was frozen when it was discovered, and observed that the bullet entered roughly two-and-one-half inches above Edward’s right eye. A note (presumably a suicide note) stated that Edward’s stomach was “sore as a boil.” He was laid to rest at the same cemetery where his parents were interred, the Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.

Frank Worth Gardner, who had cared for his mother until her passing in 1929, proved to be the hardiest of the children of Reuben and Mary Gardner. Residing with his mother, Mary, at 4110 Linden Avenue in Seattle in 1910, and then at that same address in 1920, with his wife, Myrtle, their sons Paul S. and Hugh E., and his mother, Mary, he was employed as a bank clerk during this time. By 1940, he was employed as a State Examiner with the State Auditor’s Office, and was residing at 8330 12th Avenue, Northwest in Seattle. He died in Seattle on 6 May 1950, and was interred at the Oak Lake Cemetery (also known as the Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park).

What Happened to the Children of John A. Gardner?

John A. Gardner’s daughter, Jessie Ellen (Gardner) Albright, made a life with her husband in Enola, Pennsylvania, raising their three children there. But her life proved to be a short one. Hospitalized at Harrisburg’s City Hospital after contracting typhoid fever on 8 January 1917, she succumbed to complications from that disease at the hospital on 19 January, and was interred the next day at the East Harrisburg Cemetery in Harrisburg. She was just forty-two years old.

Very little is presently known about the final days of Joseph Lionel Clayton Gardner. The obituary of his stepmother, Anna (Pollinger) Gardner indicated that he was a resident of Ashley, Pennsylvania in 1911 while the 1928 obituary of his half-sister, Mary (Gardner) Stock, noted that he was a resident of Pittsburgh in 1928.

Mary (Gardner) Stock, who was known to family and friends as “Mamie,” died at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Reading on 5 January 1928 from heart failure after likely suffering a cerebral embolism that same day. A factory worker with the A. Wilhelm Company, she had been a twenty-five-year resident of Reading and was a member of St. Stephen’s Reformed Church. Following funeral services that were also handled by Theodore Auman, she was laid to rest at the Charles Evans Cemetery on 10 January.

Reuben Steel Gardner and Charles Edward Gardner were residents, respectively, of Reading and Allentown in 1928, according to the obituary of their sister, Mamie. Their sister, Laura (Gardner) Dougherty, had been widowed by her husband by that time, but was still living in Harrisburg.

Subsequently employed as a yeoman and conductor with the Lehigh Valley Transit Company before being forced to take a less active position with the Bailey Underwear Company due to his declining health, Charles Gardner had remarried and resided with his second wife, Emily Mae (Strauss) Gardner. Suffering from emphysema and multiple cardiac ailments, he died at the age of fifty-two at the Allentown Hospital on 20 December 1929, and was interred at Allentown’s Linden Street Cemetery on Christmas Eve of that year.

After a long, full life with his wife in Berks County, Reuben Steele Gardner developed heart disease and died from a coronary occlusion at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Reading on 11 November 1942. Aged fifty-nine, he was cremated by Seidel’s Crematory on 13 November 1942.

After making a life with her husband, Daniel Dougherty, in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, where they raised their son, Laura May (Gardner) Dougherty also developed heart disease and also died from a coronary occlusion in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County on 4 March 1943. Aged sixty-seven, she was laid to rest at the Prospect Hill Cemetery.

 

Sources:

1. “A Terrible Position” (injury of John A. Gardner during railcar uncoupling accident). Bloomfield, Pennsylvania: The Perry County Democrat, 5 November 1873.
2. “Accident to a Veteran: Falls a Distance of Ten Feet Breaking Two Ribs” (injury of John A. Gardner). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, 16 May 1896.
3. “Body of Pioneer Sent to Seattle” (death of Reuben S. Gardner’s son, Edward). Spokane, Washington: Spokane Chronicle, 22 January 1937.
4. “Charles Gardner” (death certificate of John A. Gardner’s son, file no. 122562, registered no. 1633; death date: 20 December 1929). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
5. “Charles E. Gardner” (obituary of John A. Gardner’s son). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 21 December 1929.
6. “Comt. Appointments” (news brief about the mental health assessment of John A. Gardner’s wife, Malinda). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, 4 January 1886.
7. Ellis, Franklin and Austin N. Hungerford, ed. History of That Part of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys, Embraced in the Counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, vol. I. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886.
8. Gardner, Harvey Leroy, Reuben S. Gardner and Mary (Smith) Gardner, Sadie M. Finley, John Finley and Mary (Brown) Finley), in Marriage Records (Seattle, King County, Washington, 6 November 1900). King County, Washington: King County Public Health Department, Vital Statistics.
9. “Gardner” (death notice of Maggie Allice Gardner, daughter of John A. Gardner). Newport, Pennsylvania: The News, 26 July 1873.
10. “Gardner,” in “Died” (death notice of the Gardner brothers’ mother, Elizabeth (Shatto) Gardner). Bloomfield, Pennsylvania: The Perry County Democrat, 27 September 1882.
11. “Gardner,” in “Deaths and Funerals” and “Reuben S. Gardner Dies at Home: Old Resident of City, Grand Army Veteran and Four Years Employed in Local Postoffice [sic]” (obituary). Seattle Washington: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Saturday, 26 September 1903, pp. 12 and 16.
12. Gardner, Edward Custis (alternate middle initial “E,” a son of Reuben S. Gardner; death certificate, record no. 8, 19 January 1937). Olympia, Washington: Washington State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
13. Gardner, Edward (Reuben S. Gardner’s son, U.S. Census, Metaline Falls, Pend Oreille County, Washington: 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
14. Gardner, Frank Martin (son and groom), Reuben S. Gardner and Mollie Smith (parents), Myrtle Irene Paul (wife), Charles Paul and Caroline Rosenstihl (parents), in Marriage Records (Seattle, King County, Washington: License 27476), 8 June 1910. Olympia, Washington: Washington State Archives.
15. Gardner, Mary, in U.S. Veterans’ Administration Pension Index Cards. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
16. Gardner, Mary and Frank W. (U.S. Census: Seattle, King County, Washington, 1910). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
17. Gardner, Frank W., Myrtle, Paul S., Hugh E. and Mary, his mother (U.S. Census: Seattle, King County, Washington, 1920). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
18. Gardner, Frank W., Myrtle, Paul S., Hugh E. (U.S. Census: Seattle, King County, Washington, 1940). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
19. Gardner, John A., Ruben S. (John A. Gardner’s son), et. al. (U.S. Census, Harrisburg, Ward 6, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1900). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
20. Gardner, Reuben S., in Death Records, State of Washington, 1903. Olympia, Washington: Washington State Archives.
21. Gardner, Reuben S., Mary A., Curtis, and Harvey, in Minnesota State Census (1875: Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota). St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society.
22. Gardner, Reuben S., in U.S. Census (1880: Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota). Minnesota and Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
23. Gardner, Reuben S., in U.S. Census (1900: Seattle, King County, Washington). Washington State and Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
24. Gardner, Ruben [sic], Mary A., and Custis E. in U.S. Census (1870: Elk River Station, Sherburne County, Minnesota). Minnesota and Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
25. Gardner, Reuben S., Mary A., Custus E., Harvey L., and Frank W., in Minnesota State Census (1885: Elk River, Sherburne County, Minnesota). St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society.
26. Gardner, Ruben [sic] S., in U.S. Census (1890: “Special Schedule.—Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and Widows, etc.,” Seattle, King County, Washington). Washington State and Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
27. Gardner, Reuben S. and Gardner, Mary A., in U.S. Civil War Soldiers’ Pension and U.S. Civil War Widows’ Pension files (soldier’s application no.: 145587, certificate no.: 155791, filed on 9 July 1869; widow’s application no.: 792811, certificate no.: 573436, filed from Washington, 12 October 1903). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
28. “Going to the Klondike: Seattle is Crowded with the Alaskan Gold Hunters.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, 16 December 1897.
29. Hain, Harry Harrison. History of Perry County, Pennsylvania. Including Descriptions of Indians and Pioneer Life from the Time of Earliest Settlement. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Hain-Moore Company, 1922.
30. “John A. Gardner” (U.S. Census, 1890 Veterans Schedule, Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
31. “John A. Gardner, Civil War Man, Dies; Aged 80: Lost a Hand in Pennsylvania Railroad Service Many Years Ago: Invalid Since December.” Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times, Thursday, 21 February 1918, p. 4.
32. John A. Gardner, in Death Certificates (file no.: 18457, registered no.: 293; death date: 20 February 1918). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
33. “John K. Gardner,” in “Attention!” (death notice of the Gardner brothers’ father). Bloomfield, Pennsylvania: The Perry County Democrat, 8 October 1884.
34. “Klondike Rush: A Former Harrisburger Writes of the Pell-Mell Hunt for Gold.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, 2 October 1897.
35. “Laura May Dougherty” (death certificate of John A. Gardner’s daughter, Laura May Gardner, file no. 26297, registered no. 343; death date: 4 March 1943). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
36. “Lost a Horse” (death of John A. Gardner’s horse). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, 10 August 1898.
37. “Mary A. Gardner” (death certificate, registered no. 166; death date: 9 January 1929). Olympia, Washington: Washington State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
38. “Mrs. John A. Gardner” (obituary of Anna E. (Pollinger) Gardner). Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times, 11 December 1911.
39. “Mrs. Charles Stock” (obituary of John A. Gardner’s daughter, Mary V. Gardner). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Call, 9 January 1928.
40. “Mrs. Jessie Albright” (death certificate of Jessie Gardner, file no. 3357, registered no. 87; death date: 19 January 1917). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
41. “Mrs. Mamie Stock” (death certificate of John A. Gardner’s daughter, Mary V. Gardner; file no. 9025, registered no. 32; death date: 5 January 1928). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
42. “Mrs. Mary A. Gardner,” in “Personal” (notice of the visit by Reuben S. Gardner’s widow to Newport, Pennsylvania). Newport. Pennsylvania: The News, 20 October 1910.
43. “Mrs. Mary A. Gardner,” in “The Ebb and Flow of Those You Know” (notice of the visit by Reuben S. Gardner’s widow to Newport, Pennsylvania). Newport. Pennsylvania: The News, 1 December 1910.
44. “Reuben S. Gardner” (death certificate of John A. Gardner’s son, file no. 95565, registered no. 1520; death date: 11 November 1942). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics.
45. “Sergeant Gardner Was There.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, 24 October 1894.
46. “Work of the Court” (news brief about the mental health assessment of John A. Gardner’s wife, Malinda). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Daily Independent, 4 January 1886.