Friday, October 2, 2009

Robert Gardiner's Brothers and Sisters

Robert had the following brothers and sisters all of whom were born in Scotland:

Jane Gardiner 1838 - 1869
Jane or Jean married a major in the Crimean War, William Stewart. They were stationed in India for 7 years. She was a nurse to the soldiers. It is said they called her the Second Nightingale. They had two children and in while in India she died of cholera.

Jhansi 25 Aug 1869

Dear Mr. Gardiner

It is with much pain that I take on myself the sad duty of making you acquainted with the death of your daughter, Jane. She died on the 17th of this month of cholera after about 24 hours of illness. She had previously been much weakened through her too assiduous labors among the sick women of the regiment (and) through the anxieties connected (with the illness of her child who died) three days before her. I saw her twice during her illness. The first time she was quite sensible although s (coarsely) able to speak and seemed pleased with such ministrations as I was able to offer her.

You will be pleased to learn that there was no woman in the regiment more respected than hour daughter was. It is felt and said by everyone that there is not a woman in the regiment left who is capable of filling her place as hospital matron. We all feel her loss very much. I do so especially, for during the last seven years she has been my warmest and closest friend.

She has left two children behind her. For the present these are being cared for. What is to become of them ultimately has not been decided. Stewart says that if you are still at home he will come home with the regiment in the beginning of next year, but that if you have all gone to America as you were talking of doing, he will volunteer to the 92 highlanders where his sister is and continue in this country. Will you therefore kindly send out word at once whether you will be at home in April next, that Stewart may know what (to do),

Trusting that this letter will reach you safely

I am
With Christian sympathy
Yours faithfully

Hugh Drennan
Chaplain 93 Highlanders



William returned from India with 2 of Jane's children.
James Gardiner 1840 -
Annie Gardiner 1843 - 1847

Robert Gardiner 1845 - 1927
Richard Gardiner 1848 - 1850
Matilda Gardiner Gunn 1850 - 1930








Matilda Gardiner Gunn from K on Vimeo.

Frederick Gardiner 1852

Ralph Gardiner 1855 0 1949 Married Elizabeth Masterson


Ralph Gardiner 1852 – 1949
Ralph born 5:15 am at Smalls Wynd, Dundee, son of James Gardiner tinsmith, age 48, born Edinburgh; and Ann Gardiner, maiden name Gall 9th birth date 38, born Stonehaven. Parents married 1838 Aberdeen. 3 Boys and 2 Girls living 2 boys and one girl dead (#395 2 dist, Dundee FHL833233, item 2.)
Arlene Dunne: Ralph was a machinist and boilermaker. He settled in Ogden, Utah in 1880’s and had three children Jessie, John and William. Ralph and his brother Alfred worked together in Ogden in 1890. Ralphs wife was not generally liked by the family, at least not well accepted. Elizabeth Masterson came back to see her children in 1912 or 1915. After his wife disappeared he took his children to San Francisco area.

Alfred Gardiner 1858 - 1932 Lived in SLC, UT, married and had a family.



Alfred Gardiner from K on Vimeo.


Arthur Gardiner 1861 - 1945 Invented a snow plow machine and received a patent on that invention. He also married his brother's wife Elizabeth Masterson. With the drama of that event they both fled to Australia where the Gardiners again flourished.

A rivit boy in a shipyard in Scotland at age 9.

Betty Harris: In Scotland when the Gardiner boys were of school age children attended parochial school between the ages of 6 and 9 years only. At 10 they were at work. Grandfather's (Arthur) first job was a rivet boy in a shipbuilding yard. These little boys carried sacks full of rivets on their shoulders and balanced their way across a narrow plank from one side to the other of the ship when the Riveters called “Hi boy”. For this, they pay was 2 p a week if I remember rightly.

The family emigrated when he was about 10 so he probably did not work there for long. I have no idea of his American jobs until he was apprenticed as a Boilermaker, probably age 16. He at one stage ran a business selling coffee and doughnuts in Salt Lake City and lived at Terrace. I believe Grandfather invented a mixer or gadget of some kind for his brother (Robert). He also owned some land in Salt Lake City but when the big depression came in the 90’s it was practically worthless.

By the age of 30 according to his wife, Bessie, he was completely bald and became so self conscious that he was never seen without a hat out of doors, at work and in his workshop Indoors he wore a velvet embroidered smoking cap constantly.

He was a quiet gentleman but very forthright when the need arose. He must have had a pretty high IQ to have done what he did on the poorest education background. The end of his life was most sad. When “Mother” died in 1941 the shock sent him stone deaf. After a little while cataracts grew across his eyes and the operation was not a success.

Lost in the dark and silent would he could not understand an intolerable itching, which developed on his hands, and no one could communicate that it was dermatitis. When Dad or Uncle Stan went to see him he learned to know by the feel of their hands which son it was. In his long life this was his only illness, except for a bout of yellow Fever in America when he went looking for some ruins somewhere as a young man.


Elizabeth Masterson: