Richard Gardner 1621-1689 Chier Magistrate of Nantucket 1673-1675 Ref: History of Nantucket by Starbuck p. 37 Source: Thomas Gardner Planter and Some of His Descendants, compiled and arranged by Frank A Gardner, MD, 1731, Essex Institute, Salem, Mass The following quotation from W. C. Folger's article in the Nantucket Inquirer, in the issue of June 4, 1862, is so good a summary of the man's life, that I reproduce it entire: "Richard was a man of very good abilities, he was called long-headed by his brother John, from his sense of the profoundness of his Judgment. He held a prominent place among the people of the island, was at one time Chief Magistrate. His residence was about half way between the house of our present worthy Sheriff, (1862) and the Eliphalet Paddack house. It has been taken down many years, and the locality is very much altered in its appearance. "The Gardners owned formerly much of the land adjacent to and surrounding the Lily pond, extending beyond Gardner's Burial Ground, and around the swamp on the North Shore Hill, also extending through Egypt (so called) to the present Town Hall, embracing some of the best meadows and grass lots on the island. A part of this territory was called Crooked Records, from the lines of the survey not coming together.....Richard Gardner Sen'r, and his brother Capt. John, exercised much influence in the community here while they lived, and they died respected." Richard Gardner married Sarah Shattuck, daughter of widow Damaris Shattuck who married Thomas Gardner Sen'r as his second wife. Richard and Sarah are supposed to have been married about 1652, at Salem. Like nearly all of her Shattuck relation, she was attached to Society of Friends and suffered much in consequence. In the County Court Records at Salem, Case 57, Term 5th mo., 1658, we find the following: "The wife of Richard Gardner was convicted of her frequent being absent from the publik ordinances on the Lord's Day, fees of court 30 sh." W.C. Folger thought that Richard might have had a wife before Sarah, as the following quotation from his notes will show: "If the date of the marriage of Richard Gardner and Sarah Shattuck in 1652 as given by the late Lemuel Shattuck, Esq., be correct; then I am of the opinion that Richard must have had a former wife, as Richard Jr., was born oct. 23d, 1653, and if Joseph was born at a later period he would have been too young to have been married early in 1670. indeed the late B. Franklin Folger and other hight authorities have stated Joseph Gardner to have been the oldest son of Richard Gardner Sen'r." (W.C. Folger, in the Nantucket Inquirer, June 18, 1862) Richard Gardner died 1st mo., 23d, 1688. the following reference is made in the records concerning the settlement of his estate: "Letters of administration on the estate of Mr. Richard Gardner Senior deceased are granted unto Sarah Gardner, Relict of Sd. Gardner, who bineath herself to perform the trust of an administratrix, and to barre the court harmless according to law." (Died March 18, 1688-9).