Lion Gardiner1,2,3,4

M, b. 1599, d. 1663
Courtesy of Find a Grave.com
     Lion was born in 1599 in England. Lion is found on record for the first time in Holland. It is while he was in Holland that he was approached by Lord Saye, Lord Brooke and others with a proposal to go to New England and to be under contract to build a fort and than to act as its Commander at a new settlement at the mouth of the Connecticut River. Little is known of his life before arriving in Holland or exactly when he arrived or from what part of England he came from. He was educated as an engineer, and apparently highly regarded as such. He apparently had also received military training as well as he was looked on as a leader and protector for the settlement in New England. He made his decision and accepted the contract shortly before his marriage. Lion married Mary Wilemson Deureant, daughter of Derike Willemson Deureant and Haechgen Bastiaens, before 10 July 1635 in Holland, Netherlands. On 10 July 1635, Lion & his wife, Mary, left Rotterdam for London. On the 16th of August, they left London aboard the ship, "Batcheler", bound for New England. Among those aboard was Lion Gardiner aged 36 years, his wife: Mary aged 34 years, maid servant: Eliza Coles aged 23 years & William Jobe aged 40 years. "These are to passe to New England having brought certificates of conformitie." They arrived in the Boston harbor the 28th of November. On 16 August 1635, this small vessel left London.. Because of the time of year and the frigid temperatures, when their ship arrived in Boston, Lion and the rest of the party that was destined for the new Connecticut colony, had to remain in Boston until Spring. While there, the leaders took advantage of Lion’s skills and had him help in fortifying their positions there. After completing that task, he was asked to go to Salem and recommend what needed to be done to secure that settlement’s safety. On his return, Lion reported that the people were in far greater need of provisions to prevent them from starving, then from risk of Indian attack. In the following Spring, Lion and those who were to establish the settlement left Boston on the “Batcheler” to go onto the site of the new settlement at the mouth of the Connecticut. Lion was apprehensive due to the small number of settlers as compared to the number of Indians that made the area their home. In spite of the small number of workers, he was able to complete the fort and named it after the Lords who were largely responsible for the settlement, Saye and Brooke, Saybrooke Fort. The family lived at Saybrook Fort for four years. By the time that his contract expired with the Saybrooke fort settlement, Lion had become even more respected as he had shown great skill in dealing with the natives and in fact had negotiated a deal with Waynedanch a leader of the Montock tribe who was to become their Sachem. His arrangement was to give Lion and his family and heirs the island that would be known first in English as the Isle of Wight and later as Gardiner’s Island. There are numerous reports of the trust and friendship of Waynedanch and Lion over the rest of their lives. Once his contract expired, Lion removed his family from the settlement and went to his island and raised his family there. It should be remembered that during all this time his wife and then his growing family were with him. And because of this, the children were the first English children born in Connecticut and when they moved to the island also the first child born in what was to later to become New York. Over the years, either with agreements with the Indians or by purchases from other English settlements, Lion obtained large tracts of land on the east end of Long Island, including what is now East Hampton. In 1653, Lion decided to move himself and his wife from the Island to a new home in the village of East Hampton; here they remained until their deaths. Lion made his will on 13 August 1658 at East Hampton, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.

Bee it known to all men that I, Lion Gardiner of East Hampton, doe by these make my last will and testament. Ffirst then I bequeath my soule to God yt gave it; my body to the earth from whence it came. My estate as followth: ffirst, then I leave my wife Mry whole and sole Executor and Administrator of all that is or may bee called mine; only whereas my daughter Elisabeth hath had ten head of cattle, soe I will that my sonne David and my daughter Mary shall each of them have the like. As for my whole estate both ye Island and all that I have at East Hampton I give it to my wife that shee may dispose of it before her death as God shall put it into her mind, only this I put into her mind of, that whereas my son David after hee was at liberty to provide for himself, by his owne engagement hath forced me to part with a great part of estate to save his credit, soe that at present I cannot give to my daughter and grandchild that which is fitting for them to have. But I leave it to my wife with the overseers of my will to give to each of them as God shall put into her mind what shee will and to dispose of all as she will. And the cause yt moves me at present to make this will is not only the premises but othercauses known to me andmy wife of whome and for whome I stand and am bound to provide and take care for soe long as I live soe yet when I am dead, by willful neglect shee bee not brought to poverty which might bee a cause to her of great grief and sorrow. The executor of this my will I desire to bee Mr Thomas James, ye Rev. minister of the word of God at East Hampton, with John Mulford and Robert Bond whome I will that they shall have for everyday spent about this my will I say they shall have five shillings for every day each of them and their charges born. But in case yt three of the overseerts of my will should not bee then here then two or one with my wife may choose other. Witness my owne hand and seale this 13th of August 1658.
Lion Gardiner
East Hampton
Witness Thomas James.5


Lion departed this life in the latter part of 1663. at age 64 years in East Hampton, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He was buried there in the Old Burying Ground. “On a sunny knoll in the old burial ground of Easthampton, (L.I.) amid the blue-eyed and cinquefoil, rises the granite tomb of the first English planter within the limits of trhe present state of New York. On the slab beneath the roof whose pediments bear the escutcheon of his family, lies in helmet, cuirass, and greaves, the effigy of Lion Gariner. On the plinth is inscribed, on the four sides, a brief summary of his life:
“In service of a Company of Lords and Gentlemen He build'd and command'd Say Brook Forte
After completed his terme of service he moved in 1639 to his island of which he was sole owner. Born 1599, he died in this towne in 1663.”.6,7

Additional Notes: During the time he spent living on Gardiner's Island, there were many stories, some that were to become legend, regarding his association with the pirates of the day. There is at least some truth to the stories, as in the quote below it is clear that Lion did have an association with Captian Kidd, and that at the very least, the two men had a mutual respect for each other:
" About twenty days ago, Mr. [James] Emott [lawyer] of New York, came to his [Gardiner's] house and desired a boat to go to New York; furnished him one; that evening he [Gardiner] saw a sloop [San Antonio] with six guns riding off Gardiner's Island; two days afterward in the evening Gardiner went on board the sloop to inquire what she was: when he came on board Captain Kidd, till then unknown to him, asked him how himself and family did; said he was going to Lord Bellomont at Boston, and desired him to carry two negro boys and one negro girl ashore and keep them till he returned or his order called for them; about ten hours after he had taken the negroes, Kidd sent his boat ashore with two bales of goods and a negro boy; next morning Kidd desired Gardiner to come on board immediately and bring six sheep with him for his voyage to Boston, which he did; then Kidd desired him to spare a barrel of cider, which he consented to do; Gardiner sent two of his men for it, and while they were gone, Kidd offered Gardiner several pieces of damaged muslin and bengal as a present to his wife, which Kidd put in a bag and handed to him; about a quarter of an hour after, Kidd gave Gardiner two or three pieces of damaged muslin for his own use; when Gardiner's men came on board with the cider, Kidd gave them four pieces of gold for their trouble and for bringing him wood; then Kidd, ready to sail, told Gardiner that he would pay him for the cider; and Gardiner answered that he was already paid by the present to his wife; some of Kidd's men gave some of Gardiner's men some muslin for neck cloths; then Gardiner took leave of Kidd; at parting Kidd fired four guns and stood for Block Island; about three days after Kidd sent the master of his sloop and one Clarke in his boat for Gardiner, who went on board with them; then Kidd desired Gardiner to take and keep for him, or order, a chest and a box of gold and a bundle of quilts and four bales of goods, which box of gold Kidd told Gardiner was intended for Lord Bellomont; Gardiner complied. He [Gardiner] says two of his [Kidd's] men, called Cook and Parrot, delivered to him two boxes of silver which they said weighed thirty pounds, for which he gave a receipt. Another of Kidd's men delivered Gardiner gold and gold dust of about one pound to keep for him, and did present to Gardiner a sash and a pair of worsted stockings; just before Kidd sailed he presented Gardiner with a bag of sugar, and then steered for Boston. The narrator, Gardiner, said he knew nothing of Kidd's being a pirate, and if he had he durst not have acted otherwise than he had done, having no force to oppose him; and that he hath formerly been threatened to be killed by pirates if he should carry unkindly to them."

Family

Mary Wilemson Deureant b. c 1601, d. b 6 Jun 1665
Children

Citations

  1. [S1049] Gardiner Family: Lyon Gardiner wrote in his Bible:
    "In the year 1635, July 10, came I, Lion Gardiner, and my wife, Mary, from Worden, a town in Holland, where my wife was born, being the daughter of one, Derike Willemson, Deurant, her mothers name was Hackin, and her aunt, sister of her mother, was the wife of Wouter Leonardson, old burgomaster. We came from Worden, to London, and from there to New England, and dwelt at Saybrooke Fort, 4 years, it is at the mouth of the Connecticut river, of which I was Commander; and there was born to me a son named David, 1636, the 29th of April, the first born in that place, and in 1638, a daughter was born to me, called Mary, the 30th, of August; and then I went to an Island of mine own, which I bought of the Indians, called by them Mannehonake, by us, the Isle of Wight, and there was born another daughter, named Elisabeth, the 14th of September, 1641, she being the first child of English parents, that was born there."
    In 1653, he removed to East Hampton, he died there in 1663, wife died 1665. - http://longislandgenealogy.com/liggardiner.html
  2. [S184] Judy Jacobson, Southold Connections, Historical and Biographical Sketches of Northeastern Long Island, Chapter 6, page 27.
  3. [S318] Curtiss C. Gardiner, Lion Gardiner and His Descendants 1599-1890, page 89 - This writing witnesseth an agreement between Mr. John Gardiner, David Gardiner and Lion Gardimer, concerning the division of what estate was left by their father Mr. David Gardiner, deceased. They doe hereby mutually agree together and with each other that Lion Gardiner shall have one-half of all and singular ye goods and chattels both without doers and within, according as it is valued by inventory, he ye said Lion Gardiner to bear one-halfe of the debts contracted and made by their father, deceased; and David Gariner is to have one-fourth part of all and singular the goods and chattels of the estate aforesaid he bearing one-fourth part of all just debts by their deceased father; and John Gardiner to have the other one-fourth part of the estate he also bearing his equal portion in the loss and paying of just debts together with ninety pounds which all and every one of them doe hereby agree and have given their obligation to Mr James Parshall to pay according to their proportion of agreement viz.: Lion to pay one-halfe and John and David the other half equally according to their proportions and to pay their equal proportion of what necessary charge for frneral charges and inventorys and the like to which agreement they the said John Gardiner, David and Lion Gardiner, doe hereby bind themselves jointly and severally to each other in the penal sum of five hundred pounds currant money to be recovered of eyther of them that shall refuse to stand by said agreement and to take all and every one of their proportions according to ye division shall be now made between themselves and the assistance of John Tuthill and Jasper Griffin and Stephen Bailey – to which sum aforesaid.
  4. [S318] Curtiss C. Gardiner, Lion Gardiner and His Descendants 1599-1890, pages 44-71 - Biography of Lion Gardiner.
  5. [S318] Curtiss C. Gardiner, Lion Gardiner and His Descendants 1599-1890, page 65 - From the second book of printed Records of the Town of Southampton, Long Island, N. Y., at pages 42 to 48.
  6. [S318] Curtiss C. Gardiner, Lion Gardiner and His Descendants 1599-1890, page 63 - he lived on the east side of the main street toward the main extermity of the town opposite to the old burying ground in which he and his wife and many of their descendants are buried.
  7. [S1457] James Clark Parshall, The history of the Parshall family : from the conquest of England by William of Normandy, A.D. 1066, to the close of the 19th century, page 12.