RHODES: Gardiner family thrived first in Middlesex and then in Chatham

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How would you like to own 240 acres of farmland, on the shores of the Thames River in Middlesex County, and obtain it for $1.77 per acre?

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RHODES: Gardiner family thrived first in Middlesex and then in Chatham Back to video

Singleton Gardiner did that and I will explain how later in the story.

In the Nov. 22, 2006 issue of Chatham This Week I told you about an outstanding Chatham citizen, Samuel Fleming Gardiner, and the wonderful things he did for Chatham, and in particular, his work on behalf of Public General Hospital.

In this story, and with the help of Beer’s Biographical Record (1904), I will detail the lives of his father, James Gardiner, and his grandfather, Singleton Gardiner.

Singleton, of Irish origin, 1774, settled in New York State in 1805.

He purchased a small farm of 33 acres and remained there until 1816 when he moved to Port Talbot, Ont.

I am not sure why he left New York, but given the year of his departure, it might have had to do with his views regarding the War of 1812.

On his arrival in Ontario, Singleton purchased 50 acres from Colonel Talbot, which he sold in 1825.

At this point he bought 240 acres along the Thames in Middlesex County for $425, which works out to $1.77 per acre.

At the same time, he bought 200 acres on the other side of the river. I suppose he got the additional land at a low price or perhaps did not want to deal with riparian ilk.

Singleton Gardiner died at his farm in 1834. He was 60.

His son, James Gardiner, was born in New York State on Aug. 31, 1814 and remained with his family for several years. He operated the family farm as well as a grist mill and sawmill.

In 1870, James sold his holdings and came to Chatham where the 1876 Directory lists him as living on Wellington Street West, about opposite West Street.

The 1885 Soutar Directory continues to list him at the Wellington Street location and indicates that he is a “Gentleman”, which was another way of saying he was retired.

James had been appointed to a position of Justice of the Peace in 1847 and I will assume he continued in that role after his arrival in Chatham. I will also guess that he invested his money well. In that era, he’d need only to have an annual income of about $350 to maintain sustenance. He could then live a casual life.

His substantial local undertaking, in conjunction with his son, Samuel F. Gardiner, and several other local investors, was to be the creation of the Chatham Loan and Savings Company. The company built a fine new building on the north side of King Street, about opposite the west side of the Chatham Market Square. That building still stands and its original safe is still in place at the rear of the building.

In that age, people did not trust the banks and many of them, literally, kept their money under a mattress.

The creation of the Chatham Loan and Savings would allow savers and borrowers to deal with local people they knew and trusted.

The firm was created in 1880 in anticipation of an economic boom that would occur on the building of the (north-south) Erie and Huron Railway which would give inter rail connection with the (north-south) Great Western (Via) and the Canada Southern Railway (MCR) at Fargo in Harwich Township.

The boom, as predicted, took place and Chatham Loan and Savings thrived.

They attracted money by paying interest of one to two per cent on savings and charging three to four per cent on mortgages.

The enterprise worked well and prospered until the death of Samuel F. Gardiner in 1909. After this time the firm became known as the Reliance Loan and Savings. Eventually the firm was absorbed by what is now the TD Canada Trust.

James Gardiner lived a long and productive life, passing away at Chatham on Sept. 10, 1905. He reposes in Old Ward H, Maple Leaf Cemetery.