Thomas Gardner of Roxbury

There are always questions coming up with respect to "all things Gardner." Dr. Frank summarized what he knew about colonial Gardner families in both versions of his book. See image from the 1933 edition: Gardners and Gardners.

This post is about part of the family of Thomas of Roxbury. One of his sons-in-law is the Rev. John Wise. In this post, we will pull together a few things related to Rev. John in order to set the stage for further discussion.

But, first, let's look at his grandmother, Alice Freeman. This graphic (adaptation from Chris Chester's site on Alice Freeman) shows how she relates, as well, to some descendants of Thomas of Salem.

Alice was coined uber-mother by Gary Boyd Roberts of the NEHGS. Her daughters are the forebears of many prominent New England families. Too, Alice is from an ancient Anglo-Saxon line. So, we will be looking at that further.

One purpose for the image is to show the timeline that ends near the middle of the 20th century. Since then,we have several more generations at hand. What is coming up will be the 400th of those first entrants and their lives. You know, the 300th needs some attention, as effects from the War of 1812 were wide-spread (see Gardner-Pingree House).

Now, Rev. John, who was from Ipswich in MA, was called one of the inspirations for the Declaration of Independence (DoI), by President Calvin Coolidge. In the Stories from Ipswich blog, there was some discussion about the motivation for the comment. This image provides a snap of the post showing words from Rev. John and the DoI.

Given the times, we see a lot of interest in the subject. An example is the musical, Hamilton. Alexander is of the Philly crowd (see How powerful is the U.S. Constitution?). But, lots happened before then to set the stage.

As Dr. Frank mentioned in his series of monographs related to the Boston Massacre, many at that event had trained militarily and served under the King (see Regimental History Series).

Now, Rev. John is of interest due to his being both a Harvard graduate and a working man. That is, the Rev. put his muscles to work (those other than the brain). Of course, at the same time, there were clergy who only diddled in religous issues. Too, we had lawyers. But, somehow, the lessons from Rev. John have been lost on the populace. He was no pretend Lord of the realm.

Remarks: Modified: 07/03/2017 

07/03/2017 -- We mention Rev. John in the summer issue of Gardner's Beacon.