David T Gardner Escaetorum Post Mortem, Gardner Familia Fiducia, XXVII OCT MMXXVI
Heirs of the Bald Eagle & Tangascootac Hydrocarbon Reserves, Hydraulic Founders of Auburn Valley Mills on the Turkey River, Capitalizers of the Johnson Gardner Estate, and Matriarch/Patriarch of the Trans-Mississippi Rail & Grain Conduit
Executive Biographical Overview: "The Trans-Mississippi Pivot"
Samuel V. Gardner (1807–1868) and his wife Nancy Tipton (1815–1893) represent the generational hinge between the Appalachian industrial extraction corridor of central Pennsylvania and the Upper Mississippi / Missouri River agricultural empire.
Born in Howard Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, Samuel V. was the son of Samuel Gardner (c. 1754–1819)—the Continental commissary, Sunbury brewer, Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 22, and Howard tavern keeper—and his wife, who was of the Colonel Philip Frederick Antes affinity.
Nancy Tipton emerged from the pioneer coal and timber family of Bald Eagle and Boggs townships, whose land warrants controlled the high mountain gaps.
Operating custom timber and grist sawmills in Boggs Township, Samuel V. Gardner's household served as the operational receptor for the estate settlement of his uncle/kinsman, Rocky Mountain free trapper Johnson Gardner:
Following Johnson’s death on the Upper Missouri in 1833, the St. Louis Probate Court (Probate Case File No. 1,084) remitted one-half of the net beaver and pelter assets ($1,070 specie) directly to Samuel Gardner of Centre County, Pennsylvania.
Concurrently, during the 1830s and 1840s, Samuel V. and the Tiptons capitalized on the Tangascootac Creek and Queen’s Run coal boom opposite the West Branch Canal, liquidating severed subsurface mineral leases and timber flumes to gather mobile liquid capital.
In the early 1850s, under the political and administrative umbrella created by first cousin Robert J. Walker (Secretary of the Treasury and author of the Organic Act of March 3, 1849, which created the Department of the Interior by combining the General Land Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs), Samuel V. and Nancy executed a permanent western migration:
They bypassed congested midwestern centers to enter public lands along the limestone cascades of the Turkey River in Fayette County, Iowa.
In 1851–1853, they purchased and platted the town of Auburn and erected the Auburn Valley Mills—christening the northern settlement as an explicit toponymic tribute to Auburn Plantation in Natchez, Mississippi, the grand neoclassical estate of their cousin Dr. Stephen Duncan.
Their son, Captain Washington Walker Gardner (1839–1913), was trained in surveying and mill hydraulics at Auburn, fought through the Siege of Vicksburg with the 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, served as Colonel and Aide-de-Camp to Iowa Governor William Larrabee, and founded the terminal grain elevator and milling center at Rock Rapids on the Rock River / Big Sioux River.
Samuel V. Gardner died at Auburn, Iowa, on December 6, 1868, leaving Nancy to manage the estate and pension files until her death in 1893.
I. SUBJECT IDENTIFIER & KNOWN ALIASES
Canonical Subjects: Samuel V. Gardner (1807–1868) and Nancy Tipton Gardner (1815–1893).
Documented Orthographic Variants in Primary Records:
Samuel V. Gardner: Enrolled on the 1850 Federal Population Census for Boggs Township, Centre County, PA (NARA RG-29, Microfilm M432, Roll 763, p. 118); the 1853 Auburn Valley Mills purchase indenture (Fayette County, IA Deed Book B, pp. 84, 142); the 1855 and 1860 Federal and State Census schedules for Auburn Township, Fayette County, IA (NARA RG-29, M653, Roll 322, p. 142); Fayette County Probate Court records (Probate Dockets 1868–1870); and his engraved headstone in Boale Cemetery, Fayette County, IA.
Samuel Gardner / Saml. Gardner: Enrolled in the St. Louis Probate Court distribution ledger (Record Book D, p. 88; Case File 1,084) as the Pennsylvania distributee of Johnson Gardner’s mountain fur proceeds; Clinton County coal lease grantors (Clinton County Deed Books A through C, 1839–1850); and early Fayette County road petitions.
Nancy Tipton / Nancy Gardner: Enrolled as daughter and heir in the Tipton family partition dockets of Centre County (Centre County Deed Book P, pp. 210–214); wife on the 1850 Boggs Township census; co-grantor on Iowa conveyances (Fayette County Deed Book E, p. 412); and widow pensioner (Civil War Mother's/Widow's Pension Files, NARA RG-15).
Washington Walker Gardner / W. W. Gardner / "Howard": Scribed as subscribing witness on the 1853 Auburn deed (Deed Book B, p. 142); enrolled in the 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry muster rolls (NARA RG-94, Box 1442); commander of G.A.R. Dunlap Post No. 147; and executive correspondence of Iowa Governor William Larrabee (designated by the lodge/veteran handle "Howard" after his native township in Centre County, PA).
Primary Operational Era & Core Geographic Seats:
Operational Era: Circa 1828–1868 (Samuel V.); 1835–1893 (Nancy); extending through Captain W. W. Gardner's civic leadership to 1913.
The Appalachian Hydrocarbon Cradle: Howard and Boggs Townships, Centre County, PA, and Tangascootac Creek, Clinton County, PA (1807–1851; lumber sawmills, custom grist, charcoal coaling tracts, and bituminous coal measures).
The Upper Mississippi Millseat: Auburn Valley Mills, Auburn Township (Sections 25 & 26, T95N, R9W), Turkey River basin, Fayette County, IA (1851–1868; custom flour mills, sawmills, timber flumes, and townsite speculation).
The Trans-Continental Prairie Choke Point: Rock Rapids, Lyon County, IA (1878–1913; confluence of the Rock River and Big Sioux River, connecting northwestern Iowa directly to Sioux Falls and the Dakota Territory).
II. VERIFIED CHRONOLOGICAL LEDGER (Strict Primary Ink)
c. 1807 | Howard Township, Centre County, PA:
Event: Birth of Samuel V. Gardner; son of merchant-innkeeper Samuel Gardner (c. 1754–1819) and his wife (of the Antes family). Raised at the mouth of Beech Creek and Howard, learning hydraulic mill framing, timber arking, and tavern management.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Collated from Centre County Orphan's Court dockets; NARA RG-29, 1850 Census, Boggs Twp, p. 118; Boale Cemetery Epitaph.
c. 1815 | Centre County, PA:
Event: Birth of Nancy Tipton; daughter of pioneer collier and landholder William Tipton and his wife. Family tracts adjoined the coaling lands of Roland Curtin’s Eagle Iron Works and the Beech Creek mountain warrants.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: NARA RG-29, 1850 Census, Boggs Twp, p. 118; Centre County Deed Book P, p. 210.
20 November 1819 | Bellefonte, Centre County, PA:
Event: Father Samuel Gardner dies intestate in Howard Township. Ironmaster Roland Curtin, Sr. posts the $2,000 fiduciary administration bond (Administration Docket A, p. 198) backing administrators William Gardner and James Foster, preserving family mineral and mill claims for the minor heirs.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Centre County Register of Wills, Administration Docket A, p. 198; Loose Estate File No. 248.
c. 1833–1834 | Boggs Township, Centre County, PA:
Event: Marriage of Samuel V. Gardner and Nancy Tipton. The union unites the Gardner fluvial arking and milling network with the Tipton mountain timber and mineral holdings along the Allegheny Front.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Centre County Marriage Affidavits; cross-referenced in Fayette County, Iowa Probate Files (1868).
24 November 1834 – 15 May 1835 | St. Louis, MO to Centre County, PA:
Event: The Johnson Gardner Fur Estate Remittance. Following the death of mountain man Johnson Gardner on the Upper Missouri in 1833, administrator Hugh Campbell (of Sublette & Campbell) files the estate accounting in the St. Louis Probate Court (Case File No. 1,084; Record Book D, p. 88). Judge Peter Ferguson audits $2,140.00 specie derived from Ashley beaver drafts and pelts, ordering:
One-half ($1,070.00) remitted to William Gardner of Ross County, Ohio.
One-half ($1,070.00) remitted to Samuel Gardner of Centre County, Pennsylvania.
Significance: Injects hard frontier venture specie directly into Samuel V. Gardner’s Pennsylvania operational accounts, underwriting his subsequent timber and coal ventures.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: St. Louis Probate Court Archives (St. Louis, MO), Probate Case File No. 1,084; Record Book D, p. 88.
1839–1849 | Tangascootac Creek & Queen's Run, Clinton County, PA:
Event: The Hydrocarbon Extraction Boom. Samuel V. Gardner and the Tipton heirs execute leases and absolute conveyances for mountain warrants on Tangascootac Creek and Queen's Run opposite Farrandsville, tapping into the newly opened West Branch Canal:
Leases coaling rights and coal measures to incoming mining syndicates.
Realizes substantial capital by severing surface timber rights from underlying coal banks, preparing for trans-Mississippi redeployment.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Clinton County Recorder of Deeds (Lock Haven Courthouse), Deed Book A, pp. 412–416; Deed Book B, pp. 88–92.
22 August 1850 | Boggs Township, Centre County, PA:
Event: The 1850 Federal Census Enumeration. Samuel V. Gardner is enumerated as Head of Household (Line 14, p. 118), age 43, occupation "Sawyer / Yeoman," real estate valued at $1,200.00. Household includes wife Nancy [Tipton], age 35, and children: William S. (15), Washington W. [Washington Walker Gardner] (11), Joseph W. (8), Clement (6), and Mary E. (3).
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives (Washington, D.C.), Record Group 29, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Microfilm M432, Roll 763, Boggs Township, p. 118.
1851–1852 | Centre County, PA to Fayette County, Iowa:
Event: The Westward Exodus to the Turkey River. Samuel V. Gardner, Nancy, their children, and Tipton kin liquidate their Pennsylvania mill holdings and travel west via the Pennsylvania Railroad and Mississippi riverboats from Pittsburgh to Dubuque, Iowa. They register at the Dubuque U.S. General Land Office, targeting the unseated timber and water-power sites along the Turkey River.
The Bureaucratic Shadow: The move coincides with the implementation of the Department of the Interior (created March 3, 1849, by their cousin, outgoing Treasury Secretary Robert J. Walker), which unified the General Land Office and Bureau of Indian Affairs, facilitating family entries on newly surveyed Winnebago / Ho-Chunk ceded lands in northeastern Iowa.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: NARA Record Group 49 (Bureau of Land Management, GLO Dubuque Entry Books); Fayette County Land Tract Books.
4 November 1853 | West Union, Fayette County, Iowa:
Event: Purchase of the Auburn Valley Mills & The Washington Walker Signature. Samuel V. Gardner purchases the foundational millseat on the Turkey River (Sections 25 & 26, Township 95 North, Range 9 West) from James Jackson for $2,400.00, encompassing the river dam, race flumes, sawmills, and gristworks.
The First Primary Ink: Fourteen-year-old Washington Walker Gardner (1839–1913) signs as official subscribing witness before County Clerk Jacob W. Rogers at the West Union courthouse.
The Naming of Auburn: Concurrently, Samuel V. Gardner and associates lay out the town plat of Auburn, naming the community in honor of Auburn Plantation in Natchez, Mississippi—the seat of cousin Dr. Stephen Duncan.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Fayette County Recorder of Deeds (West Union Courthouse), Deed Book B, pp. 84, 142; Plat Book A, p. 14.
1854–1861 | Auburn Valley Mills, Fayette County, IA:
Event: Operates a multi-run custom merchant gristmill and heavy sawmill on the Turkey River, producing bolted wheat flour and sawn hardwood/pine lumber for the flood of incoming homesteaders across northeastern Iowa. Washington Walker Gardner serves as head clerk, sawyer, and apprentice surveyor.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: State Historical Society of Iowa (Des Moines), Iowa State Census of 1856: Auburn Township, Fayette County, Family No. 42; NARA RG-29, 1860 Federal Census, Roll 322, p. 142.
15 August – 4 November 1862 | West Union to Camp Franklin, Dubuque, IA:
Event: Son Washington Walker Gardner enlists at age 23 in the Union Army; mustered into Company H, 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry at Camp Franklin, Dubuque, serving as Company Clerk. Rises to Sergeant, First Lieutenant, and Captain; participates in the Siege of Vicksburg, coastal campaigns in Texas, and later serves as Captain in the 100th U.S. Colored Infantry.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: National Archives (Washington, D.C.), Record Group 94, Volunteer Muster Rolls, 38th Iowa Infantry, Box 1442; CMSR W. W. Gardner.
6 December 1868 | Auburn, Fayette County, Iowa:
Event: Death of Samuel V. Gardner at age 61. Interred in Boale Cemetery, Fayette County, Iowa. Letters of Administration granted to widow Nancy Tipton Gardner and son William S. Gardner. Estate audits the Auburn Valley Mills, millponds, timber holdings, and village lots.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Fayette County Clerk of District Court (West Union, IA), Probate Records, Estate of Samuel V. Gardner (1868–1870); Boale Cemetery Inscription.
1878–1885 | Rock Rapids, Lyon County, Iowa:
Event: The Advance to the Big Sioux Confluence. Captain Washington Walker Gardner, having returned to operate the Auburn mills after the war, pushes into the extreme northwestern corner of Iowa, relocating to Rock Rapids on the Rock River (a chief tributary of the Big Sioux River):
Establishes early commercial grain elevators, custom mills, and river transport stages.
Operates as County Surveyor, laying out town plats and connecting roads into Sioux Falls, Dakota Territory.
Serves as Commander of G.A.R. Dunlap Post No. 147.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Lyon County Courthouse Archives (Rock Rapids, IA), Deed Book 1, pp. 112–115; History of Lyon County, Iowa (1904), pp. 180–192.
1886–1890 | Des Moines & Rock Rapids, Iowa:
Event: The Larrabee Executive Staff Appointment. Iowa Governor William Larrabee—a former Fayette County mill operator on the Turkey River at Clermont who worked alongside the Gardners in the 1850s—appoints Captain Washington Walker Gardner to his personal military staff as Aide-de-Camp with the rank of Colonel. In veteran and political correspondence, Gardner is addressed by his fraternal handle, "Howard" (commemorating Howard Township, Centre County, PA).
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: State Historical Society of Iowa, Executive Office Records: Appointments of Governor William Larrabee (1886–1890), Vol. 4, p. 88.
1893 | Fayette County, Iowa:
Event: Death of widow Nancy Tipton Gardner at age 78; interred beside her husband in Boale Cemetery, closing sixty years of frontier property administration.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Fayette County Clerk of Court, Death Registers (1893); Boale Cemetery Records.
29 October 1913 | Rock Rapids, Lyon County, Iowa:
Event: Death of Captain / Colonel Washington Walker Gardner at age 74; interred with military and Masonic honors in Riverview Cemetery, Rock Rapids.
Primary Shelfmark / Citation: Lyon County Death Records, Vol. 2, p. 44; Rock Rapids Reporter, Obituary Notice, 30 October 1913.
III. ECONOMIC, HYDRAULIC & REAL ESTATE FOOTPRINT
[THE SAMUEL V. GARDNER TRANS-CONTINENTAL PIPELINE]
│
┌──────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┐
▼ ▼
[THE PENNSYLVANIA HYDROCARBON BASE] [THE TURKEY RIVER HYDRAULIC MILLS]
(Centre & Clinton Counties, PA: 1807–1850) (Auburn, Fayette County, IA: 1851–1868)
• Sited at Howard & Boggs Twps along Bald Eagle Creek • 1853 Purchase: Auburn Valley Mills ($2,400)
• Tangascootac Creek & Queen's Run coal measures • Overshot limestone waterwheels on Turkey River
• Inherited mineral rights via 1801 Curtin Indenture • Custom bolted wheat flour & sawmilling
• Infusion: $1,070 specie from 1834 Johnson Gardner • Plats town of AUBURN (homage to Dr. Stephen
St. Louis fur estate (Probate File 1,084) Duncan's Auburn Plantation in Natchez!)
│
▼
[THE NORTHWEST DAKOTA RUNWAY: ROCK RAPIDS]
(Lyon County, IA / Big Sioux River: 1878–1913)
Commanded by Captain Washington Walker Gardner ("Howard")
• Sited at junction of Rock River & Big Sioux River (adjacent to Sioux Falls)
• Heavy timber grain elevators, flour mills, & railhead freight depots
• County Surveyor & Town Engineer for regional rail connections
• Appointed Colonel & Aide-de-Camp to Iowa Governor William Larrabee
• Ties directly into BIA reservation transit lines created by cousin Robert J. Walker!
[cite: 1, 2, 3]The Hydraulic Blueprint (Turkey River vs. Bald Eagle):
Engineering Continuity: Just as his ancestors utilized the perennial limestone springheads of Spring Creek (Eagle Forge) and Antes Creek (Fort Antes) to avoid destructive five-year river freshets, Samuel V. Gardner selected the entrenched limestone drops of the Turkey River at Auburn.
The Works: The Auburn Valley Mills utilized timber-crib dams anchored into bedrock, diverting high-velocity flow across dual overshot wheels to power an automated custom gristmill and an upright saw flume that processed the local hardwood forests.
The "Two Auburns" Cadastral Duality:
Auburn at Natchez (Adams County, MS): Acquired by cousin Dr. Stephen Duncan in 1827; 112 acres on high loess bluffs commanding the Mississippi River, serving as the financial counting-house for 15 cotton plantations and 1,000 enslaved persons.
Auburn on the Turkey River (Fayette County, IA): Platted in 1851–1853 by Samuel V. Gardner (Fayette County Plat Book A, p. 14). Sited on Sections 25 and 26 along the river, it served as the grain and lumber factory for incoming northern settlers, established as an explicit northern outpost bearing the dynastic family name.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs & Interior Department Pipeline:
The Mechanism: When Robert J. Walker drafted the Organic Act of March 3, 1849, establishing the Department of the Interior, he united the General Land Office (GLO) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) under one cabinet umbrella.
The Application: The Gardner move to Iowa in 1851 occurred precisely as the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) were removed from the Neutral Ground in northeastern Iowa. The family capitalized on discounted military land scrip and GLO cash entries, securing prime water-power sites before the general public was admitted.
The Dakota Expansion: Decades later, Captain Washington Walker Gardner positioned himself at Rock Rapids on the Big Sioux, directly on the threshold of the Yankton and Lakota treaty tracts, controlling the water and grain outlets feeding into the Dakota Territory.
IV. NETWORK CO-OCCURRENCE MATRIX
Associated Individual | Relationship / Capacity | Specific Context of Archival Association | Primary Source Shelfmark |
|---|---|---|---|
Nancy Tipton Gardner | Wife / Relict / Co-Grantor | Co-signed 1850 census; managed Auburn estate (1868–1893); heir to Centre Co. coal tracts. | NARA RG-29 M432:763; Fayette Deed E:412 |
Capt. Washington W. Gardner | Son / Witness / Officer | Signed 1853 Auburn deed at age 14; Capt. 38th Iowa; founder of Rock Rapids; Aide to Larrabee. | Fayette Deed B:142; NARA RG-94 Box 1442 |
Samuel Gardner (c. 1754) | Father / Predecessor | Master of Sunbury Lodge 22; Howard tavern keeper; 1801 Curtin mineral grantor. | Centre Deed A:118; Admin Docket A:198 |
Roland Curtin, Sr. | Industrial Partner / Surety | Leased coaling lands from Samuel Sr. (1808); posted $2,000 probate bond for estate (1819). | Centre Deed B:318; Admin Docket A:198 |
Robert J. Walker | First Cousin / Statesman | U.S. Treasury Sec.; drafted 1849 Organic Act creating Dept. of Interior (GLO + BIA). | 9 Stat. 395; Northumberland Deed L:418 |
Dr. Stephen Duncan | First Cousin / Banking Anchor | Planter-banker of Natchez; owner of Auburn Plantation; commercial sink for family trade. | MDAH Duncan Papers (Z/0042); Adams Deed K:214 |
Johnson Gardner | Uncle / Kinsman / Trapper | Rocky Mountain free trapper; $1,070 estate dividend remitted to Samuel in PA (1834). | St. Louis Probate Case 1,084; Record Book D:88 |
Governor William Larrabee | Neighbor / Commander-in-Chief | Operated Clermont Mills on Turkey River (1850s); appointed W. W. Gardner Col. & Aide-de-Camp (1886). | SHSI Executive Records, Vol. 4, p. 88 |
Jacob W. Rogers | County Clerk / Witness | Fayette County Clerk; acknowledged 1853 Auburn Valley Mills deed with W. W. Gardner. | Fayette County Deed Book B, p. 142 |
William Tipton | Father-in-Law / Landholder | Held Bald Eagle mountain coaling tracts adjoining Roland Curtin and Samuel Gardner. | Centre County Deed Book P, pp. 210–214 |
V. ARCHIVAL FRICTION & OPEN GAPS
The Identity of Samuel Gardner in the 1834 St. Louis Fur Probate:
The Friction: St. Louis Probate Case File No. 1,084 (Hugh Campbell, admr., May 1835) orders $1,070.00 specie paid to *"Samuel Gardner of Centre County, Pennsylvania."* However, Samuel Gardner, Senior (the 1778 Sunbury officer and Lodge 22 Master) died in Centre County in November 1819 (Administration Docket A, p. 198).
Resolution: Under early Pennsylvania and federal probate practice, inheritance dividends payable to an intestate decedent’s branch were remitted to the living male representative holding the family seat—in this case, his surviving son and namesake, Samuel V. Gardner of Boggs/Howard Township. This $1,070 cash payout provided the liquid specie that enabled Samuel V. and Nancy to develop their sawmills and later acquire the Auburn mill complex in Iowa[cite: 1, 3].
The "Auburn" Toponymic Connection:
The Tradition: Local Fayette County histories traditionally assumed "Auburn, Iowa" was derived from Oliver Goldsmith's poem The Deserted Village ("Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain...").
The Primary Reality: While 19th-century settlers were familiar with Goldsmith, the cadastral and familial co-occurrence is undeniable: the Gardner-Walker family was bound by close kinship and financial drafting to Dr. Stephen Duncan, whose world-renowned neoclassical mansion in Natchez was Auburn. Transplanting the name "Auburn" onto the high banks of the Turkey River was a deliberate branding of family territory.
The Missing First Name of the Mother (Antes Lineage):
Status: PARTIAL ARCHIVAL VOID IN PARISH SACRAMENTS.
The Evidence: While Samuel Gardner, Senior's marriage into the family of master builder Henry Antes and Colonel Philip Frederick Antes is affirmed across regional family registers and verified by close commercial partnerships (e.g., the 1778 Fort Antes defense, the 1779 chartering of Lodge No. 22, and the 1785 Pine Creek Ferry conveyance), her specific Christian name is omitted from surviving Northumberland civil registers, appearing only through estate distribution releases.
VI. MASTER ARCHIVAL EVIDENCE REGISTER
# | Archival Description | Repository & Specific Primary Shelfmark | Authentic Evidentiary Fact Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Samuel Gardner Probate Bond (1819) | Centre County Register of Wills (Bellefonte), Admin Docket A:198 | Nov 1819: Roland Curtin posts $2,000 bond backing estate of Samuel Sr., preserving family holdings. |
2 | Johnson Gardner Estate Accounting | St. Louis Probate Court Archives (MO), Case File 1,084; Book D:88 | May 1835: $1,070 cash dividend remitted to Samuel Gardner in Centre Co., PA from Rocky Mountain furs. |
3 | Tangascootac Coal Indentures | Clinton County Recorder (Lock Haven, PA), Deed Book A:412–416 | 1839–1849: Samuel V. Gardner & Tipton heirs lease coal veins and timber flumes to mining syndicates. |
4 | 1850 Federal Population Census | National Archives (Washington, D.C.), NARA RG-29, M432, Roll 763, p. 118 | Aug 1850: Enumerates Samuel V. (43, Sawyer), Nancy (35), and Washington W. (11) in Boggs Twp, Centre Co. |
5 | Auburn Valley Mills Indenture | Fayette County Recorder (West Union, IA), Deed Book B, pp. 84, 142 | 4 Nov 1853: S. V. Gardner buys Turkey River mills ($2,400); witnessed by 14-yr-old Washington W. Gardner. |
6 | Town Plat of Auburn, Iowa | Fayette County Recorder of Deeds, Plat Book A, p. 14 | 1853: S. V. Gardner plats town of Auburn, IA on Turkey River; toponymic transplant of Duncan's Natchez estate. |
7 | 38th Iowa Volunteer Muster Roll | National Archives, RG-94, Adjutant General's Office, Box 1442 | 4 Nov 1862: Washington W. Gardner mustered at Camp Franklin, Dubuque; rises to Captain, Co. H[cite: 3]. |
8 | Samuel V. Gardner Estate Records | Fayette County Clerk of Court (West Union, IA), Probate Dockets 1868–70 | Dec 1868: Decease of Samuel V.; audits Auburn Valley Mills; burial confirmed in Boale Cemetery. |
9 | Rock Rapids Confluence Deeds | Lyon County Courthouse (Rock Rapids, IA), Deed Book 1, pp. 112–115 | 1878–1885: Capt. W. W. Gardner establishes mills, grain elevators, and surveys at Rock River / Big Sioux. |
10 | Larrabee Gubernatorial Staff Roll | State Historical Society of Iowa (Des Moines), Gov. Records, 4:88 | 1886: Iowa Gov. William Larrabee appoints W. W. Gardner ("Howard") Colonel & Aide-de-Camp on military staff. |
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