The origin of this family is not certain, although it is said that the family was of Norman blood and went into England with William the Conqueror in 1066 and there adopted the name by which it is now known.

By the end of the sixteenth century families of the name were to be found in the counties of Wilts, Essex, Oxford, Devon, Somerset, Gloucester, Dorset, Lancaster and London, in England and also in Scotland and Ireland.

Of the Gloucester line, one Stephen Gardyner was Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of Queen Mary.  Sr. Christopher Gardiner, who was in New England for a short time in the early seventeenth century, is believed to have been of this family.

Sir Osborn Gardiner, Knight, Lord of the Manor of Oral on Douglas River in Wigan Parish, West Derby Hundred, was one of the most prominent members of the Lancaster branch of the family.  He is believed to have been the ancestor of the George Gardiner, who was resident in the Rhode Island Colony in 1638 and of whom further details will be given later.

Probably the first of the family to come to American shores was Richard Gardener, who came on the "Mayflower{" in 1620.  He became a seaman and is thought to have died at sea and unmarried.

In 1624 Thomas Gardner or Gardner or Gardiner emigrated from Dorsetshire, England to Salem, Mass.  His first wife is believed to have been Margaret Friar and their children were, Thomas, George, Richard, John, Samuel, Joseph, Sarah, Miriam and Seth.  He took as his second wife Damaris Shattuck, a widow, but had no further issue.

Lion Gardiner was born in England about 1599 and emigrated to Saybrook, Mass., in 1635 with his wife Mary Wilemson whom he had married n Holland.  They later removed to East Hampton, N.Y. where they were the parents of David, Mary and Elizabeth.

George Gard(i)ner of Newport, R.I., said to have descended from the Lancaster, England line of the family, emigrated in 1638 and was married shortly after to Horodias (Long)Hicks, a widow, by whom he had issue of Benoni, Henry, George, William, Nicholas, Dorcas and Rebecca.  By a second wife Lydia Ballou he was the father of Samuel, Joseph, Lydia, Mary, Perigrine, Robert and Jeremiah.

Another Thomas Gardner came to Roxbury in 1638, brining with him wife and grown son, also named Thomas, who married Lucy Smith in 1641 and had issue by her of Andrew, Thomas, Abigail (died young) Mary, Peter, Abigail, Lucy, Joanna, Joshua and Caleb.

[portion missing] ...1633 James Garner settled at Gloucester, Mass., and was married in that year to Elizabeth Vinson or Vincent, who was the mother by him of Sarah (died young), James (died in infancy), George, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, Joseph, Rebecca, John, and James.

Joseph Gardiner was at Wickford early in the seventeenth century and later removed to Marraganset.  He was the father of a son named Benoni, who had a son named William in 1671.

Two brothers of the name of Gardner, Jacob and Joseph, made their homes at Hatfield sometime prior to 1676, in which year Jacob was the father, by his wife Hannah of a son name Jacob.  Joseph was the father by his wife Mary of a daughter Mehitable and perhaps others.

In 1682 one Samuel Gardner was married at Plymouth to Susanna Shelley, who gave him a sone named Samuel in 1683 and probably others at later dates.

Still another Samuel Gardner or Gardiner, recorded as Lieutenant, made his home at Newport, R.I., where he was the father in 1684 of a daughter named Elizabeth by a wife of the same name.  They later had Martha, Patience, Sarah, and Samuel and removed to Swansea.

Others of the family, who came to New England in the seventeenth century but left little record of themselves and their families, were Edward, who came from London in 1635; Edmund of Ipswich, Mass., in 1640; Nathaniel of Boston in 1649; Nicholas of Wickford, R.I., in 1674, Samuel of Roxbury, who was killed in the Indian wars in 1676; and John of Woburn in 1670.

The descendants of these and later branches of the family in America have spread to practically every State of the Union and have sided as much in the growth of the country as their ancestors aided in the founding of the nation.  They have been noted for their courage, adventurous spirit, indomitable will, integrity, piety, moral, mental and physical strength, straight-forwardness and ability to lead.

Among those of the name who fought as officers in the War of the Revolution were Captains Christopher, Francis and James Gardiner of Rhode Island, Lieutenant-Colonel Caleb Gardiner or Gardner of Rhode Island, Captains Aaron, Benjamin, Isaac, and James Gardner of Massachusetts, Colonel Thomas Gardner of Massachusetts, and Captains Edward Gardner of Virginia, Joseph Gardner of Pennsylvania, and James Gardner of North Carolina.

Joseph, Richard, Samuel, James, John, Thomas and Edward are some of the Christian names most highly favored by the family for its male members.

A few of the many members of the family who has distinguished themselves in America in more recent times are;

Frederick Gardiner of Maine, Protestant Episcopal clergyman, 1822-1889
Eugene C. Gardner of Massachusetts, architect, 1836-1915
Augustus Peabody Gardner of Massachusetts, congressman and military officer, 1865-1918
Harry Norman Gardiner of England and New York, educator, 1855-1927.

The coat-of-arms, which is believed to have been most closely related to the greatest number of the Gardner and Gardiner families of America, is described as follows;

Arms -- "Argent, a chevron gules between three bugle-horns stringed sable".
Crest - "An arm in armor, proper, hand grasping the broken shaft of a lance."

(Arms taken from P. XIX of "Lion Gardiner and His Descendants" by C.C. Gardiner)