David Gardiner (May 29, 1784 – February 28, 1844) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of
New York State Senate from 1824 to 1828. He was the father of
Julia Gardiner Tyler
Julia Tyler ( ''née'' Gardiner; May 4, 1820 – July 10, 1889) was the second wife of John Tyler, who was the tenth president of the United States. As such, she served as the first lady of the United States from June 26, 1844, to March 4, 184 ...
, second wife of
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
John Tyler
John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig tick ...
. He died in an explosion aboard the
USS ''Princeton''.
Early life
Gardiner was born on May 29, 1784, the son of Abraham Gardiner (1763–1796) and Phebe Dayton (1757–1810). He was a descendant of
Lion Gardiner
Lion Gardiner (1599–1663) was an English engineer and colonist who founded the first English settlement in New York, acquiring land on eastern Long Island. He had been working in the Netherlands and was hired to construct fortifications on t ...
(1599–1663) who was an early English settler and soldier that founded the first
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
settlement in what became the state of
New York on Long Island, including
Gardiners Island
Gardiner's Island is a small island in the Town of East Hampton, New York, in Eastern Suffolk County. It is located in Gardiner's Bay between the two peninsulas at the east end of Long Island. It is long, wide and has of coastline.
The isl ...
.
[Gardiner, 84] He graduated from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
in 1804 along with future U.S. Senator from South Carolina,
John Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun (; March 18, 1782March 31, 1850) was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina who held many important positions including being the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He ...
.
Career
He practiced law for several years, but beginning in 1815 when he married Juliana McLachlan, one of the wealthiest women in New York, he managed her extensive real estate holdings in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
He was elected to one four-year term as a member of the
New York State Senate representing the 1st District of Suffolk County from 1824 to 1828. Gardiner was a supporter of
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...
, member of the People's Party, which was opposed to the emerging
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, led by
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
.
He later lived at 430 Lafayette Street in Manhanttan, "when that sections was one of the social centres of the city".
In the 1840s, he took his family to Washington, D.C., for several months of the year, in part to find an appropriate husband for his daughter
Julia
Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g ...
. His family became part of the social circle of President John Tyler and his family.
Death aboard the ''Princeton''
Gardiner died in an explosion aboard the
USS ''Princeton'' on February 28, 1844. President Tyler had proposed to his daughter Julia in February 1843. She had refused him at first but sometime in 1843 they agreed to marry at some future time out of respect for the fact that the President had only been a widow since September 1842. David Gardiner and his daughters Julia and Margaret were aboard a pleasure cruise on the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
.
As the neared
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
, the world's biggest naval gun, The Peacemaker that was being demonstrated exploded, killing Gardiner and six others. Funeral services for the five white victims were held in the
East Room of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
. Gardiner was interred in the
Public Vault at the Congressional Cemetery
The Public Vault at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. is an early classical revival structure built 1832–1834 with funds appropriated by the United States Congress to store the bodies of government officials and members of the publ ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
His remains were later moved to the Gardiner family plot at the South End Cemetery in
East Hampton, New York.
President Tyler proposed marriage several more times before being accepted. He and Julia Gardiner wed on June 26, 1844. They named their first child
David Gardiner Tyler
David Gardiner Tyler (July 12, 1846 – September 5, 1927) was an American politician and the ninth child and fourth son of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States.
Born in New York, Tyler went to school in Virginia and fought in ...
in honor of his maternal grandfather.
Personal life
![Julia Tyler](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Julia_Tyler.jpg)
In 1815, he married Juliana McLachlan (1799–1864), the daughter of Michael McLachlan, who was born and raised in
Jamaica, West Indies
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispanio ...
.
His father had been a Scottish warrior in the
Battle of Culloden in 1746, between the
Jacobites
Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to:
Religion
* Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include:
** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometime ...
and the military forces in the service of
King of England, who was beheaded.
They family moved from Jamaica to New York and established a successful brewery in lower Manhattan that led to their purchase of some thirteen pieces of commercial and residential Manhattan real estate, which Juliana inherited, making her one of the wealthiest women in New York.
They lived for several years on
Gardiners Island
Gardiner's Island is a small island in the Town of East Hampton, New York, in Eastern Suffolk County. It is located in Gardiner's Bay between the two peninsulas at the east end of Long Island. It is long, wide and has of coastline.
The isl ...
in
East Hampton, New York
The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a tot ...
, though he did not belong to the branch of the Gardiner family that owned that eponymous island. Together, they were the parents of:
* David Lion Gardiner (1816–1892),
Princeton College
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
graduate and lawyer and Gold Rush investor who owned
Sagtikos Manor,
and who married a distant cousin, Sarah Gardiner Thompson.
* Alexander Gardiner (1818–1851),
who was the Clerk of the U.S. Circuit Court and an unofficial aide to President Tyler.
*
Julia Gardiner (1820–1889), who married the 10th U.S. President
John Tyler
John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig tick ...
(1790–1862), shortly after Gardiner's death aboard the ''USS Princeton''
* Margaret Gardiner (1822–1857), who married John H. Beeckman (d. 1850)
[Henry B. Livingston to Gilbert L. Beeckman, Fremont, April 27, 1850, Beeckman MSS Sacramento. Gardiner helped Beeckman’s cousin Henry B. Livingston solve issues surrounding the estate] on January 8, 1848.
He was a New York merchant and the cousin of Henry Beeckman Livingston who both set up a mercantile operating during the Gold Rush.
Descendants
His grandchildren include:
David Gardiner Tyler
David Gardiner Tyler (July 12, 1846 – September 5, 1927) was an American politician and the ninth child and fourth son of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States.
Born in New York, Tyler went to school in Virginia and fought in ...
(1846–1927), a lawyer and public official,
John Alexander Tyler John Alexander "Alex" Tyler (April 7, 1848 – September 1, 1883) was the second son of President John Tyler and his second wife, Julia Gardiner Tyler. He was born at the Tyler estate, Sherwood Forest Plantation, near Charles City, Virginia.
...
(1848–1883), an engineer who was appointed U.S. surveyor of the Interior Department in 1879,
and Dr.
Lyon Gardiner Tyler
Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr. (August 24, 1853 – February 12, 1935) was an American educator, genealogist, and historian. He was a son of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States. Tyler was the 17th president of the College of William ...
(1853–1935), an author and legislator.
References
;Sources
;Other sources
*Gardiner, Curtiss C. ''Lion Gardiner, and his descendants with Illustrations 1599-1890''. St. Louis, Missouri : A.Whipple, Publisher
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, David
1784 births
1844 deaths
Accidental deaths in Virginia
Burials at the Congressional Cemetery
Deaths by explosive device
New York (state) state senators
People from East Hampton (town), New York
Yale University alumni
Gardiner family
19th-century American politicians