Joseph Gardner, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Joseph Gardner
JOSEPH GARDNER, banker, was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., June 10, 1821, and is the seventh son of a family of nine children, two yet living, born to Robert and Martha (Maine) Garner. He is a grandson of Robert Gardner, who was a native of Scotland, afterwards a resident of Ireland, where he died. The father of Joseph Gardner was born in Ireland, about 1784, married Martha Maine , at Belfast, and in 1818, emigrated to the United States, locating in Chautauqua County, N. Y., where he engaged in farming until his death, June 5, 1855. The widow moved to Porter County in 1861, and died on the farm of her son Joseph in July, 1864. Both the parents were of the Presbyterian faith. Joseph Gardner remained with his parents in Chautauqua County, N. Y., until his sixteenth year. In 1836, he began life's battle on his own responsibility, and for three summers engaged as a sailor on Lakes Huron, Erie and Michigan. He hen entered as laborer in a warehouse at Michigan City, In., remaining there principally until the spring of 1844, when he went to Mackinac, where he engaged in fishing and coopering for five years. In company with five others, February 6, 1849, he left the straits, bound for California. There they mined on Bear Creek, near what is now known as Little York, their individual profits per day being about $16.00. At the end of about two months they went to Sacramento, where their company was dissolved, and in January 1850, Mr. Gardner went to Nevada City, where he remained about two years, mining. He then went back to Little York, and engaged in mining and 'ditching.' Mr. Gardner, in the last named business, invested $100, 000. Which he had made out of the mines. The ditch he operated, is yet in fine condition, and is owned by what is known as the York Mining Company. In 1868, he returned to Indiana, and for three years farmed in Essex Township, Porter County. He then came to Valparaiso, and in 1874 established the Valparaiso Savings Bank, which, in February 1879, was merged into the Farmer's National Bank, with a cash capital of $50,000. Mr. G. is a Republican, and a member of the Blue Lodge in Masonry, and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He was married in 1858 to Sarah H. Hill, and to this union was born one son, William H., who is assistant cashier of the bank.
Source: Goodspeed, Weston A., and Charles Blanchard. 1882. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, Illustrated. Chicago, Illinois: F. A. Battey & Company. 771 p.
Page(s) in Source: 246-247
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook