STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 29 



March, 1864, aged 82 j-ears. A memorial stone in Christ Church, 

 Gardiner, says, in the expressive language of the late Bishop Bur- 

 gess, that from youth to old age he was the "leader, benefactor, and 

 godh' example" of the people of that parish. 



Robert Hallowell Gardiner, third child and eldest son of the above, 

 the subject of our present sketch, was born in Pittston, Nov. 9, 1809, 

 the family moving the next year to Oaklands. In an autobiograph- 

 ical sketch of Mr, Gardiner, prepared for use in his college class biog- 

 raphies, with extracts from which ^our committee have been favored, 

 he said of himself that "there are probably very few persons in at- 

 taining old age who can, like him, look back to their boyhood and youth 

 without a single memory to mar the delights of those days," and that 

 cheerful, innocent spirit, as innocent and fresh as a happj- child's, 

 remained with him through life, and enabled him to bear many trials 

 and adversities without despondency. Mr, Gardiner was educated 

 first by a private tutor at home, then at Partridge's Militar}' Academy 

 at Norwich, Connecticut, then at the Gardiner Lyceum — the first 

 school established in this country forgiving a scientific and industrial 

 education, in the founding of which his father had done great ser- 

 vice — after which he went to the famous Round Hill School, North- 

 ampton, Massachusetts, and then entered the class of 1830 at Har- 

 vard University, in the Sophomore class. 



After graduating Mr. Gardiner engaged in business in this State, 

 but was unsuccessful. He then accepted an invitation of Col, Long 

 of the U, S, Ordnance Corps to go to Georgia and assist in making 

 survey's for a State road from what is now Atlanta to the Tennessee 

 River. There he spent three years, during which time he became 

 attached to the lady who afterwards became his wife. Miss Sarah 

 Fenwick Jones, daughter of Noble W3'mberly Jones of Savannah. 

 They were married June 28, 1842. A few years after their marriage 

 it became necessary, for the management of Mr. Gardiner's large 

 property, for them to remove to Augusta, Ga., where the attempt 

 was being made to establish manufactures and develop the resources 

 of the South. Into these business projects Mr. Gardiner entered 

 heartily and did all in his power to promote their success. A friend 

 who knew him at that period writes of him : "His life during this 

 time was that of a private citizen, respected and beloved by the 

 community at large, esteemed for his kind and charitable heart, and 

 honored for the zeal he displayed in promoting the material interests 

 of the South." He was the first President of the Augusta Manufac- 



