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Thomas Gardner (1840-1909), Emeline Denning (1848-1925)


 

Thomas Gardner, b. 1840 in Wales, came to the United States with his parents, Francis Gardner of South Wales and Hester (Esther) Hoppes Gardner of England in 1843, sailing into the port of New York. As would be a common theme among our ancestors who mined coal, Tom’s father Francis tried to make a living by farming, but had to fall back at times to mining.

The family first settled in Strabane, Pennsylvania where Tom’s father is listed as a collier (coal mine) in the 1850 census. Though I could not find them in the 1860 census, from other census records, the family likely moved to Iowa in 1860 or 1861 where it appears Francis succeeded in farming. This family has ties, including many burials, to Black Hawk Township, near Fairfield, Iowa.

Tom enlisted as a soldier in the Civil War in Company D, 19th Iowa Infantry in August, 1862, until July, 1865. I have not yet researched this company’s record to know where he might have gone or fought.

In 1866, Tom married 18-year-old Miss Emaline Denning of his former county of Washington, Pennsylvania. Emaline’s parents were Charles and Jemima (Toland) Denning, her father being a lifelong coal miner who immigrated from England. Someone has traced the Dennings’ family history in England back several generations, but I have not yet.

It is not known when or where the Dennings and the Gardners made their acquaintance, in England, Wales, or Pennsylvania, but the families had coal mining and the United Kingdom in common. It is also not known if Thomas traveled back to Washington County, or whether Emaline traveled to Iowa for the wedding. Emaline’s parents remained in Washington County, PA where they died, while the Gardners had moved to Iowa several years before the marriage.

The photo of the couple is possibly commemorating their wedding.

From family stories, it is possible Tom Gardner worked in the coal mines in northern Missouri and southern Iowa in what may have been lean times for farming, but he was always listed as a farmer in census records.

The Gardners relocated to Linn County, Missouri by 1884, and it is there that their daughter Hester Ann (named for her grandmother) met and married Orval Henry Stark. Tom Gardner died in 1909, leaving a life estate to his farm to his wife who died in 1925. She owned several lots of land in her own right, and at the time of death had many bushels of wheat and corn, a cow, and a lot of hens.

There is much more research done on the Gardners in Iowa (while I was in Fairfield visiting David!), and possibly on the Dennings in England by others. These are interesting people for many reasons, and they deserve further attention. (David? David?) I wish I knew more about the Gardner siblings of Hester Ann, because they and their children always kept in touch with and looked after my beloved grandmother, Jennie May Stark DuBois.

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