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Note: Born in Virginia in 1800, William migrated as a young man to Tennessee. There in Rhea County, Tennessee, William met and on November 7, 1825 married MARIA ENGLISH, born in Tennessee in 1805. In 1827 the couple had their first child, a daughter, and named her NANCY JANE HARRIET GARDNER. William was now a millwright, and doing well, but not yet ready to settle down. In 1828 news reached Tennessee that the Cherokee had lost their war with the settlers and given up their lands in Arkansas Territory. William and Maria Gardner moved with one-year-old Nancy Jane to the newly formed Washington County in the northwest tip of Arkansas. They did not make the trip alone. Maria's sister MARY ENGLISH and her husband ROBERT COOPER also relocated from Tennessee to Arkansas (with three daughters and one son.)
The 1830 US Census: Washington County, Arkansas Territory lists William Gardner living with Maria and 2 daughters, Nancy Jane and Martha Elizabeth next to Robert Cooper, with his wife Mary English, their son Matthew Montgomery, daughters, Nancy Agnes, Sarah Marie and Mary Jane.
GEORGE GORDON GARDNER was born April 2, 1831.
MARY ADAH GARDNER was born in June 1, 1833.
MATTHEW CULBERTSON GARDNER was born April 15, 1835.
MARIA EMMALINE GARDNER was born October 22, 1837.
Mary English and Robert Cooper would have six more children in Arkansas:
WILLIAM COOPER was born February 2, 1832
LUCINDA COOPER was born in 1835
ELIZA COOPER was born March 20, 1837
GEORGE COOPER was born July 1, 1839
In 1839, George's mother, Maria Gardner died in childbirth. The baby girl may have lived for a short time, as there is an infant daughter listed in the 1840 census, but the family legend has it that the baby also died in childbirth. The 1840 US Census for Ball Township, Benton, Arkansas* shows that Maria's mother, NANCY GORDON ENGLISH, moved to Beattie's Prairie to live next to William and the grandchildren. It is not known if Maria's death instigated the move or if Nancy had already relocated to Arkansas. Her husband, MATTHEW ENGLISH, is not listed and has probably died. She lives with her son, MATTHEW CULBERSON ENGLISH, and two unidentified males (brothers? Laborers? There was a James English living in Tennessee...related?)
William Gardner lives next to Nancy English with his 6 children. *NOTE: The Northwest Arkansas area where the Gardner, English, and Cooper families settled took on several different names. It was sometimes called Beattie's Prairie, sometimes Ball Township. Washington County became Benton County after Arkansas became a state. The nearest small town that formed is called Maysville. It is located on the NW border between Arkansas and Oklahoma.
According to family legend, William Gardner, millwright, went to Texas to build a mill, wrote a letter to the family in Arkansas saying the job was finished and he was on his way back with $800, but he never arrived. Family legend has it he was supposed murdered at the place of the infamous Bender family. It is possible he went to Texas and never returned, but the Bender connection is highly unlikely, since the Bender murders reportedly took place in Kansas in the 1860s, and Gardner was not among the nine bodies exhumed.
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