George Gardiner (settler)
| George Gardiner | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1610 |
| Died | c. 1677 |
| Other names | George Gardner |
| Occupation | Constable, Sergeant, Ensign, Commissioner, Juryman |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Herodias (Long) Hicks (2) Lydia Ballou |
| Children | (first wife): Benoni, Henry, George, William, Nicholas, Dorcas, Rebecca; (second wife): Joseph, Robert, Lydia, Mary, Peregrine |
George Gardiner (c. 1610 - c. 1677), sometimes spelled Gardner, was an early inhabitant of Newport in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and one of the original settlers of Aquidneck Island. He held some minor offices within the colony in the early 1640s, shortly after which he began a common-law marriage with Herodias (Long) Hicks, who came to live with him after separating from her first husband. This relationship lasted for nearly 20 years, after which Herodias petitioned the court to have Gardiner leave her alone, and she left Newport to go west of the Narragansett Bay and live with John Porter, a land-rich settler who was one of the original purchasers of the Pettaquamscutt lands (later South Kingstown, Rhode Island).
Gardiner had seven children with Herodias, and after her departure, remarried and had five more children, and leaves a large number of descendants. A grandson, John Gardner was a Deputy Governor of the Rhode Island colony.
George Gardiner was one of the earliest settlers of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and first appears in the public record in 1638, when he was admitted as an inhabitant of Portsmouth, on Aquidneck Island. A genealogy published in 1937 claimed he was born about 1600, the son of a Michael Gardiner of Great Greenford, County Middlesex, England, but the prominent genealogist, G. Andrews Moriarty, demonstrated that evidence for this was lacking, and in fact was unlikely. Moriarty's strongest evidence against this arrangement is that Gardiner would have sired five children while between the age of 67 and 74, which, though possible, is highly improbable. He gives a birth date in the range of 1608 to 1615 as being far more likely for Gardiner.
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