Henry Joseph Gardner, 1818-1892
No. 11221 Henry Joseph Gardner. Portrait by Jean Paul Selinger, 1890
From Dictionary of American Biography
Henry Joseph Gardner, June 14, 1818-July 21, 1892
Governor of Massachusetts, was born in Dorchester, Mass., the son of Dr. Henry and Clarissa (Holbrook) Gardner. He was a descendant of Richard Gardner, a resident of Woburn, Mass., in 1642, and a grandson of Henry Gardner (1730-1782), the first treasurer and receiver general of Massachusetts and a member of the Provincial Congress. Graduating at the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1831, Gardner entered Bowdoin College, but did not remain to secure a degree, preferring to go into business. Starting in the dry-goods firm of Denney, Rice & Gardner, in Boston, he ultimately became the controlling force in the corporation, the name of which was changed to Henry J. Gardner & Company. He retired from this occupation in 1876 and during the remainder of his life was resident agent of the Massachusetts Life Insurance Company.
In 1850 he entered municipal politics as a member of the Boston Common council, of which he was president in 1852 and 1853. He was a representative in the General Court, 1851-1852, and a delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention of 1853. With the sudden rise of the American, or Know-Nothing, party in Massachusetts, Gardner, who had hitherto been a Whig and an anti-slavery man, rapidly became prominent in its councils. Although it held no public meetings and kept out of the newspapers, this party, based on a fear of Roman Catholic domination and of foreign influence in the United States, attracted large numbers of citizens into its ranks. Gardner, who was an astute politician and a shrewd judge of men and motives, organized “with great skill and success the knave-power and the donkey-power of the Commonwealth” (G.F. Hoar, Autobiography of Seventy Years, 1903, I, 189-91). In the autumn of 1854, he was the Know-Nothing candidate for governor, receiving 81,000 votes to 26,000 for the Whigs and 13,000 for the Democrats. In the same campaign, his party elected all but two members of the legislature and every member of congress from Massachusetts—the most amazing political landslide in the history of the state. In 1855, running against Julius Rockwell, the Republican nominee, Gardner was again successful; and in 1856, when his candidacy was endorsed by the republicans, he won a third victory. He was finally defeated in 1857 by Nathaniel P. Banks, a Republican, the Know-Nothing movement having run its course.
Contrary to the expectations of is enemies, Gardner was a rather conservative governor. During his three terms in office, he did little that was sensational, although he fulfilled pledges by having a “reading and writing clause” inserted in the Naturalization Act, by reforming the election laws, and by supporting alien pauper and homestead acts. He disapproved of the Personal Liberty Bill in 1855, but it was passed by the legislature over his veto (J.F. Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1852,vol. II, 1900, p. 77). After his defeat, he was never again a factor in Massachusetts affairs, and at the time of his death he had been forgotten by all except a few historians. Gardner was married, on Nov. 21, 1843, to Helen Elizabeth Cobb, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Wood) Cobb, of Portland, Me, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. He died of cancer at his home in Milton, Mass.
[Obit. Record Grads. Bowdoin College … for the Decade ending 1 June 1899 (1899); F.A. Gardner, Thos Gardner, Planter … and Some of his Descendants (1907) p. 3; G.F. Tuttle, The Descendants of Wm. And Elizabeth Tuttle (1883), p. 310; G.H. Haynes, “A Know-Nothing Legislature,” Ann. Report, Am. Hist. Asso. … 1896 (1897), I, 177-87; E.L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Chas. Sumner, vol. III (1893), passim; H.G. Pearson, The Life of John A. Andrew (2 vols., 1904); Dorchester Births, Marriages, and Deaths to the End of 1825 (1890); Boston Daily Advertiser, Nov. 22, 1843; obituary in Boston Transcript, July 22, 1892.] C.M.F.
The following is from p. 706 of some unknown publication – probably a book with biographies of all Machusetts governors. The headline of the page is:Massachusetts / 706
Gardner, Henry Joseph
Born on June 14, 1818, in Boston, Massachusetts, son of Henry, a physician, and Clarissa (Holbrook) Gardner. Married to Helen Elizabeth Cobb of Portland, Maine, on November 21, 1843; father of four sons and three daughters. Obtained his early education in private schools, including Phillips Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. After graduation from Bowdoin College in 1838, he entered the mercantile business as partner in a dry goods firm in Boston. Eventually he acquired sole proprietorship of the business, the name of which became Henry J. Gardner & Company. In 1850 he entered local politics in Boston, serving as a member of the Boston Common Council in 1850-1853, 1853, and 1854, and as president in 1852 and 1853. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1851-1852, and as a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1853. In the general election of November 13, 1854, Gardner, with 81,503 votes, was elected Governor of Massachusetts as the American or “Know-Nothing” Party candidate. Although semi-secretive, this party attracted large numbers of supporters who feared foreign influence in the United States and Roman Catholic domination. Incumbent Emory Washburn, a Whig, received 27,279 votes in the contest, while Democrat Henry Bishop tallied 13,742, and Republican Henry Wilson polled 6,483. Gardner succeeded Washburn into office on January 3, 1855. In the general election of November 6, 1855, he received 51,497 votes, Democrat Erasmus Beach’s 34,278 votes and Republican Julius Rockwell’s 36,715 prevented him from attaining an absolute majority. The election was referred to the Senate in accordance with state law, and he was reelected to a second term. He won a third term outright in the general election of November 4, 1856, garnering 92,467 votes to Beach’s 40,077 and scattered totals for other candidates. During his administration, Gardner reformed election laws; supported alien pauper and homestead acts; and stiffened the state naturalization law. He also encouraged measures curtailing the powers of the governor and regulating educational appropriations. In the general election of November 3, 1857, Republican Nathaniel Banks defeated Gardner in his bid for a fourth term. Banks, received 60,797 votes in the contest to Gardner’s 37,596 and Erasmus Beach’s 31,760. After leaving office on January 6, 1858, Gardner returned to his dry goods business. He retired from the firm in 1876 and spent the remainder of his life as resident agent of the Massachusetts Life Insurance Company. Gardner died at his home in Milton, Massachusetts, on July 21, 1892. Bibliography: F.A. Gardner, Thomas Gardner, Planter … and Some of his Descendants (1907); G.H. Haynes, “A Know-Nothing Legislature,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association, I (1897); Dorchester Births, Marriages, and Deaths to the End of 1825 (1890) ; Boston Transcript (July 22, 1892); Albert B. Hart, ed. Commonwealth History of Massachusetts. 5 vols. (New York 1927-1930).
Gardner, Henry Joseph
From: One of a Thousand. A Series of Biographical Sketches of One Thousand Representative Men Resident in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-89. Compiled under the editorial supervision of John C. Rand. (Boston: First National Publishing Company, 1890)
[note: Gardner lived in Dorchester on the side of Jones Hill sloping toward Hancock Street in a house later owned by Dexter]
Gardner, Henry Joseph, son of Henry and Clarissa (Holbrook) Gardner, was born in Boston, June 14, 1819. His father was born in the Old Province House, Boston, and his mother was a native of Milton.
Mr. Gardner’s early education training was received in private schools, Boston, and in Phillips Academy, Exeter, N.H., he having been graduated from the latter institution in 1831. He was graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., in the class of 1838.
He began his commercial life as a dry-goods merchant in the firm of Denny, Rice & Gardner, remaining in this business for many years; afterwards changing to Read, Gardner & Co., Gardner, Dexter & Co., and Henry J. Gardner & Co. He retired from the dry-goods business in 1876, and is now actively engaged in the life-insurance business as resident agent in Boston of the Massachusetts Life Insurance Company.
He was a member of the Boston Common Council, 1850, ’51, ’52 and ’53, and in ’52 and ’53 was president of that body. He was a member of the House of Representatives, 1851 and ’52, and member of the Constitutional Convention of 1853.
He was governor of the Commonwealth in 1855, ’56 and ’57, being elected as the representative of the American Party.
In Boston, November 2, 1844, Mr. Gardner was married to Helen E., daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Wood) Cobb, of Portland, Me. Elizabeth Wood was a native of Wiscasset, Me. Of this union were seven children: Henry G., Frederic W., Herbert, Helen C., Elizabeth, Clifford and Maud Gardner.
Mr. Gardner received the degree of LL. D. from Harvard University.
During his administration as chief magistrate of the Commonwealth, much healthy and long needed legislation was accomplished, and many laws enacted which time and experience prove were founded on right and reason, and which remain on the statute-books to-day—notably the homestead act, the alien pauper act, an act to regulate the appropriation of school money, an act regulating the membership of the General Court, and acts relating to the curtailment of the powers of the governor, reform in special election laws, and the “reading and writing” clause in the naturalization laws.
Mr. Gardner was always alive to the fact that many acts are passed during hasty legislation, when great majorities are the result of some great issue, and never hesitated to use his veto power when he considered it for the best good of the Commonwealth.
The following notes were on a sheet of paper at the Dorchester Historical Society.
Henry Joseph Gardner, 1818-1892
June 14, 1818 in Dorchester
to Dr. Henry Gardner and Clarissa Holbrook Gardner
Henry Joseph Gardner married Helen E. Cobb of Portland, Maine on November 21, 1843.
They had 4 sons and 3 daughters.
He was on the Dorchester tax list in 1861 but not in 1865
He died of cancer on July 21, 1892 at home in Milton.
He was elected to
Boston Common Council 1850
Representative in General Court 1851-1852
Boston Common Council 1852-1853
Governor of Massachusetts 1854-1857