TRANSCRIPTION OF LETTER WRITTEN BY JOHN HUNTER GARDNER DECEMBER 15, 1963

            

            Richmond, VA
            Dec. 15, 1963

            Misses Sue & Margaret Courtney & Margaret Bellamy
            "Walnut Hills" Ronceverte, W. Va.

            My dearest Nieces,

            I am sending you for a Christmas present something which I
            hope will please you and which you will cherish through the
            rest of your lives and then pass on to some other member of
            the family of your choosing.  It is a photograph of your
            Grandfather and your Grandmother Gardner, reproduced from an
            old daguerreotype picture which you brought to me forty
            years ago for which I have been deeply grateful, and always
            shall be.  The following is a brief biography of both, as
            nearly accurate as I have been able to verify.

            JAMES MEREDITH GARDNER was born in the year 1842.  The exact
            day and month I have been unable to establish.  He was the
            sixth son of Miles Hunter Gardner and his wife Mary
            Elizabeth Beale.  There were also two daughters.  In order
            of age they were as follows: DANIEL, NELSON, GEORGE, JOHN,
            MILES H., AND JAMES MEREDITH, ALBINA and ELIZABETH.

            His parent owned an estate known as "Spring Farm" comprising
            about 1000 acres just north-west of Richmond, now completely
            lying within the city's limits, where they lived and where
            all of their children were born.  They were Episcopalians
            and attended Emanuel Church at Brook Hill.  Both are buried
            there in a plot owned by the family, as is my father, (your
            grandfather), my brother George, and many others of the
            family.  His parents died when he was very young, his father
            in 1848 and his mother in 1850.

            In his father's will provision was made for the education of
            he and his younger sisters.  Elizabeth died very soon after
            her mother and he and Albina were educated in private
            schools in the city, owned and operated by the Episcopal
            Diocese.

            The Virginia General Assembly voted April 17, 1861 to secede
            from the Union, its action was ratified by popular vote May
            23, 1861, the total vote being 128,884 for secession and
            32,134 opposed.

            On May 9, 1861 your Grandfather enlisted in Company "I",
            Tenth Virginia Cavalry, Captain Z. S. McGruder, where he
            served throughout the war.  On May1, 1863 he was promoted to
            Sergeant of the Cavalry and detailed to the Department of
            Commissary under Captain P. M. Kabled.

            His detail must have been among the troops with Lee at
            Appomattox on the date of surrender, April 7, 1865, because
            the date on the oath of allegiance which he signed was April
            12, 1865.  (This info is on microfilm at the Virginia State
            Library here in Richmond.)  And he was either married to
            your Grandmother before the surrender or very shortly
            thereafter, as their first child, your Aunt Minnie was Born
            March 12, 1866.

            Following the end of the war and the emancipation of the
            slaves, your Grandparents went to live with your
            Grandmother's family in Louisa County.  The home was known
            as "Cherry Hill" and was located about 4-1/2 miles southwest
            of Cuckoo, on Cubb Creek, tributary to the South Anna River.
            The place was formerly owned by a Dr. Dickerson and had been
            owned by the Dickersons family for many generations, the
            original house having been built prior to the Revolutionary
            war.  It was added to through the years as the need arose.
            The last time I visited there it contained eighteen rooms
            plus the necessary service quarters.  It was owned at that
            time by a Mr. Otis Perkins.  There is a burial ground there
            on the land, part of the original tract, in which is buried
            many Dickersons, Herrings, and Gardners.  Your Grandmother
            Gardner is buried there also, however there is no way to
            identify any grave therein, nor to enumerate how many or
            who.

            Of your Grandfather's brothers and sisters, Daniel graduated
            in business law and accountancy, was one of the Executors of
            his fathers will & he was left the sole administrator, of
            both estates, and was required by the terms of both to sell
            all the properties including slaves.  During his life he
            served as School Trustee for Henrico County, Senior Warden
            of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, and for a period was a special
            deputy sheriff for the County.  Being a cripple he did not
            serve in the armed forces of the Confederacy, and after the
            war he was employed as personal secretary by Major Lewis
            Ginter.  He died in that employment.  George and Miles tried
            farming, horse trading, store keeping, but made little
            success at either.  Both died young, as did Elizabeth.  John
            studied medicine and became a successful practitioner.  His
            home was at Frederick Hall in Louisa County, and some of his
            descendants still live in the County.  He lived longer than
            any of the brothers and sisters, dying at 95.  I know very
            little about Nelson except that he was employed in clerical
            work by several business firms here at various times, and in
            his later years by Major Ginter.  Daniel and Miles never
            married.  Nelson married Newell Gardner, a cousin, and
            descendant of Reuben Gardner who was brother to my Great
            Grandfather, Daniel Gardner, of "Gardner's Cross Roads",
            Louisa.  John married Mollie Miller of Richmond, VA., George
            married Isabella Blair of Richmond.

            Albina married Eldridge Herring, a cousin, son of Wilson
            Herring, my Grandfather on mother's side of the family.
            James Meredith also married a cousin, Margaret Alice
            Herring, daughter of Wilson Herring.  He was not a success
            at any occupation.  First he tried farming.  Failing that he
            came to Richmond just after my birth and got a job with the
            street car company, he worked at that until about one year
            after her death, which occurred May 25, 1880. He then tried
            working as a "miller" at Dunlop Flour mills until some time
            in 1895.  Your mother having married in 1893 left only
            Maggie and Minnie at home with him and they both needed to
            work to keep the home going.  Both Lynn and George were then
            in West Virginia working for the C&O Rwy. Co., and when I
            came down sick with malaria and chronic diarrhea, and the
            doctor told the family that I had to be taken away from the
            Richmond environment or die, Lynn came here and took me to
            Hinton to your mother and Aunt Sallie.  Under their loving
            care I finally recovered my health and lived on to write
            this letter.  Margaret was about a year old and you were a
            baby in arms when I was taken to Hinton, and Maggie and
            Minnie have told me that after that year father seemed to
            just give up trying, and died, either the year before or the
            year after your mothers death, at the home of his sister
            Albina, on Chamberlayne Avenue, here in Richmond.  I never
            saw him in life again after Lynn took me to Hinton.  He is
            buried in the Gardner family plot at Emmanuel Church, in an
            unmarked grave.

            My Great Grandfather, Daniel Gardner, came to Louisa County
            from Charles City County during the turbulence just
            preceding the Revolutionary War.  He settled at the junction
            of the Louisa and Cartersville Roads, to be later name
            Gardner's Cross Roads.  He married Mary Anthony of Hanover
            County.  They had three sons and three daughters; George I;
            Miles H.; Eldridge; Sallie; Lavinia and Mary Lewis (Polly).

            Polly married Wilson Herring.  They purchased "Cherry Hill"
            and set up their home and reared their family there.  Their
            children consisted of seven sons and six daughters.  Aunt
            Sallie (TaTa) being the youngest and your Grandmother,
            Margaret Alice, next to the youngest.  The others were,
            Lavinia Lewis, (your aunt Minnie was named for her and
            because the Negroes called her "Miss Veenee"; she changed it
            to Minnie.) Oscar; Albert; George; William (called Buck);
            Richard; Eldridge; John Hunter, for whom I was named; Mary
            Lewis, for her mother, Aunt Lavinia having died before her
            birth the Lewis name thus survived; followed by your
            grandmother and TaTa.

            Wilson Herring was a native of Rockingham County and there
            is substantial evidence indicating his kinship to Abraham
            Lincoln.  Old records found in Rockingham Court House
            indicate that a Bathsheba Herring, a daughter of a Leonard
            Herring of that County married a man named Abraham Lincoln,
            either the Grandfather or Great-Grandfather of the civil war
            President.  Leonard Herring had a brother named John Hunter
            Herring, who sired a son named Wilson Herring.  As I found
            in so many cases dates did not appear to be important to the
            persons recording births, deaths, etc. during those times,
            so, you will just have to treat this as I did, a co-
            incidence in names, however, the site of the home in
            Rockingham where Thomas Lincoln, father of the civil war
            President was born has been officially established and the
            State of VA has recently placed one of its historical
            markers there.  The site is on Linville Creek near the
            village of Free Union.

            Following is a list of the children of your Gardner
            Grandparents.

            Lavinia Lewis Gardner         Mar. 12, 1866  Jun 24, 1950
            James Evelyn Gardner          Aug. 23, 1867  Oct. 2, 1948
            Mary Beale Gardner       Feb. 9, 1870   Oct. 20, 1898
            Margaret Alice Gardner        Apr. 2, 1872   Nov. 27, 1941
            George Iverson Gardner        July 12, 1874  Aug. 10, 1926
            John Hunter Gardner      Apr. 15, 1884  Living 12/12/63
                                          (died June 13, 1970)

            If I be permitted to paraphrase the poet Gray, this is the
            short and simple story of one of the poor families of the
            Southland.  Nothing to be ashamed for and very little to be
            proud of.  Today, 100 years after the economic structure of
            the region was wrecked, its foundation destroyed, and the
            only assets of its people, (land and slaves) wiped out and
            redivided, those of us who survive have much to be thankful
            for, and to hope for the future.

            Mary joins me in much love to you both, with all good wishes
            for a Happy Holiday Season.

            Your affectionate Uncle
            /s/Hunter