Solomon Gardner

Barbara,

Griffiths Valuation for 1863 lists a Robert Gardiner in Magheradartin. He had plots 22 & 23, which was a farm, outbuildings and roughly 60 acres. He had a further 5 acres on plot 8. I don’t see any Rogers households listed there then. That doesn’t mean there weren’t any. It could be they were lodging with someone else or they had a property of too low a value to be recorded in Griffiths.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

Looking at the Valuation revision books, I see that Robert Gardiner ceased to be the tenant of plots 22 & 23 in 1874 at which time the plots were split between a Brown and a Graham. However at the same time Patrick Gardner became tenant of plot 20, a 7 acre farm just adjacent to 22 & 23, so possibly there is a connection between the 2 families? That in turn changed to Campbell Gardner in 1881. Then to Patrick Gardner in 1907, and in 1918 he bought the freehold of the property under the Land Act. The occupant changed to John H Gardner in 1918 and his name remained occupant till at least 1929 when that series of records finishes. Looking at the revision books it looks as though the farmhouse on Magheradartin was abandoned sometime between 1880 & 1892, and that thereafter the family just farmed the land. (They presumably lived nearby but in a different townland).

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/searching-valuation-revision-books

There are no Gard(i)ners listed in Magheradartin in the 1901 census. However there is a Campbell Gardner nearby in Lisnastrean so he may well be the same person as is listed for Magheradartin.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Ballymacbrennan/Lisnastrain/1239352/

Campbell Gardner of Lisnastrean married Agnes Harrison on 3.3.1893 in Hillsboro’ Presbyterian church. His father was Patrick Gardner, farmer.

I looked for a death for Robert Gardner c 1874 but couldn’t see one. No probate file in PRONI either.

Hillsborough Presbyterian church has baptisms from 1833, marriages from 1845. Any earlier records have presumably been lost. Not too far away is Annahilt Presbyterian, with baptisms from 1780 and marriages from 1838. Copies of both churches records are in PRONI.

Wow, That is great information. Solomon and Eliza Rogers Gardner here in the US had a son they named Campbell and another named John H. Both died at very young ages in Salem, Ohio during a Cholera epidemic. They also lost two other children along with the oldest, Robert, who was about the age of 24 along with his 18 year old wife in the epidemic. Eliza Rogers Gardner came down with cholera also and lost all her red hair which grew back black after she recovered.  After these losses, Solomon and Eliza and their remaining children ( Solomon Jr., Mary Ellen, James, Edwardand another Robert) moved to Outagamie County, Wisconsin about 10 miles from Appleton.  Here, they purchased an 80 acre parcell of land that they cleared for a dairy farm. Solomon, Jr. married  Amelia Munger and moved to Seymour, Wisconsin about 20 miles from Appleton and 18 miles from Green Bay. Here, in 1850 he and  Amelia cleared about 160 acres of land for a dairy farm. It is on that farm that I was born and grew up. Solomon's son, Emery and his wife Mattie Foeckle took over that farm; then, my father, Fenton and and my mother Marjorie Fischer Gardner took over that farm. Latter, my brother and his wife Alicia Guildernick took over the farm before selling it about 18 years ago. The farm had been in our family for well over 120 years.

We always wondered how the names of Campbell, John H. and Robert were selected. I often thought maybe the names were of relatives in Ireland. Your response to my inquiry brings me closer to knowing a bit more about our family. 

I am of the impression, that Eliza Rogers may have come from a community maybe within 5 or 15 miles of Hillsborough.  They may have met through church or maybe even on the way over on the ship. We don't have any marriage records for Solomon and Eliza. 

Do you have the citations from the Griffiths Evaluation that I could look up myself via my computer? I never expected to hear from anyone so fast on my inquiry. Thank you so very much. What do I owe you for these clues?

Barbara Ebeling, 23016 Pilcher Rd. Plainfield, Illinois 60544. (Phone: 815-439-8184) (E-mail: CbarbaraL@AOL.com)

Barbara,

It sounds to me as though the Campbell Gardner in Lisnastrean is a close relation to your family. The farm that the Gardners had in Lisnastrean is today on the eponymous Gardners Road, just outside Lisburn. Presumably named after your family.

There were Gardners farming there in the 1930s, and might still be some today. Here’s a probate abstract, taken from the PRONI wills site. (The full will is held in paper format in PRONI in Belfast. They’ll copy it for you for a fee).

Probate of the Will of William John Gardner late of Lisnastrean County Down Farmer who died 9 December 1921 granted at Belfast to Patrick Campbell Gardner and Robert Gardner Farmers Effects £11 14s.

Gardner Patrick Campbell of Lisnastrain county Down farmer died 10 April 1930 Probate Belfast 17 November to Richard Gardner and Alfred Campbell Gardner farmers. Effects £361 11s. 10d.

Gardner Campbell of Lisnastrean county Down retired farmer died 12 August 1935 Probate Belfast 27 September to Frances Agnes Gardner Mary Eliza Gardner spinsters and David Harvey solicitor's assistant. Effects £245 13

Also:

Letters of Administration of the personal estate of William Gardner late of Lisnastrain County Down Farmer deceased who died 16 December 1876 at same place were granted at Belfast to Betty Anne Gardner of Lisnastrain (Lisburn) same County the Widow of said deceased.

Letters of Administration of the personal estate of James Gardner late of Lisnastrain County Down Retired Farmer who died 18 November 1885 at Belfast were granted at Belfast to Elizabeth A. Gardner of Lisnastrain Widow the Mother.

The above William & James both died intestate and their probate files were lost in the 1922 fire. Only these abstracts survive.

With regard to citations, I have given you the links to the 2 websites where I found the information. The first is Griffiths Valuation and the second is the Valuation revision records. If you search them both you can find that same information on-line. Both are a bit esoteric but not too difficult to use. Search under the townland name Magheradartin.

Regarding how Solomon found his wife, in the early 1800s, in general people married someone close to home. Most travel, and therefore most courting, was done on foot. So it was very difficult to have a relationship with someone 25 miles from where you lived (unless you were in a mobile profession like a mason, soldier or police officer). But for famers and labourers, they needed to be around the farm a lot of the time and so significant travel wasn’t really an option. They married the girl next door. (The arrival of the railways and in particular the bicycle, in the 1850s, changed that a bit. It widened the gene pool a bit).

William Gardner junior of Lisnastrain signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912, so that tells you a little about his politics (ie he opposed Home Rule and independence for Ireland). You can see his signature on the actual covenant on the PRONI site:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-ulster-covenant

There is no charge for providing this information but if you would like to make a donation that would be gratefully received. There’s a donation tab on the home page. Right at the top of the page on the right hand side.

Thank you again for the added information. It all seems very possible that you have identified my family. When you mentioned Lisburn . . . I know there is a Lisburn, Ohio not far from Salem where Solomon and Eliza lived before heading to Wisconsin.  

Where are you located? If, I were to come to Northern Ireland someday would there ever be anyone who could help me get around to some of the areas that the Gardners apparently lived in? I have been wanting to do this for a very long time.  Is there any way to trace the Gardners further back? I am thinking they came to Ireland during the Plantation time but I could be very, very wrong. Who else could I talk to about this? 

Yes, I will make a donation. Thank you for your time and any more information you can find. Barbara Gardner Ebeling.

Thank you again for the added information. It all seems very possible that you have identified my family. When you mentioned Lisburn . . . I know there is a Lisburn, Ohio not far from Salem where Solomon and Eliza lived before heading to Wisconsin.  

Where are you located? If, I were to come to Northern Ireland someday would there ever be anyone who could help me get around to some of the areas that the Gardners apparently lived in? I have been wanting to do this for a very long time.  Is there any way to trace the Gardners further back? I am thinking they came to Ireland during the Plantation time but I could be very, very wrong. Who else could I talk to about this? 

Yes, I will make a donation. Thank you for your time and any more information you can find. Barbara Gardner Ebeling.

Barbara,

I live in Co Antrim which is the next county north from Down. However I am not too far from Hillsborough and I dare say I could meet you for a day if you decided to visit the area. E-mail me on Ahoghill@irelandxo.com if you decide you want to do that.

Yes your ancestors are almost certainly descendants of Scots who settled in that area in the 1600s. The clues are firstly, their denomination. Presbyterianism was established in Scotland by John Knox and was unknown in Ireland till it arrived with Scots migrants. Secondly, the Gardner surname is a common enough Scottish surname and finally the fact they lived in Co Down. Co Down was very heavily settled by Scots and by some English & Welsh settlers. Looking at the 1901 census there were 290,000 people in the county. 75,000 were RC (ie mostly representing descendants of the original native Irish) and the rest were Presbyterian and other Protestant denominations. So roughly three quarters of the population of the county are descended from settlers – mainly Scots - who arrived in the 1600s. (Some 100,000 Scots moved to Ireland in the 1600s representing 10% of the entire Scottish population of the time). There’s a couple of Gardners in the county in the 1630s Muster Rolls, so your family may even have arrived as far back as that. There was a big influx of Scots  in the 1690s though, (famine in Scotland) and probably 50% arrived in that final decade.

You are unlikely to be able to trace back to 1690s as there are very few records for that period. And the Scottish records aren’t much better either. Names of some of the big landowners in the 1600s are known. Together with details of where they came from in Scotland but there are no lists of individual tenants who accompanied them. Many in Co Down are known to have come from Galloway & Ayrshire (ie 20 miles from Co Down, just across the Irish Sea) but it’s harder to be more specific.

A good background read is Eagles Wings – the journey of the Ulster-Scots and the Scots-Irish, by Dr David Hume.  It traces the early migrants journey from Scotland to Ireland and then explains why so many of them later decided to move again to Canada. America, Australia and elsewhere.

Thank you again for the information. I will keep your e-mail address to follow up with if I can make a trip to County Down. You are absolutely fantastic. I hope your group received my donation that I sent the other day. I will try to get the book . . . it sound like a good winter read. Again thank you so very much for everything. Please keep in in mind if there is any other information that you come across. Barbara Ebeling

Could someone check an area in Antrim near the Down boarder to see if any Gardners/Rogers/Martins lived in that area around the early to mid 1800s. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Barbara Ebeling