Eunice Gardner

Family: - Parents:

 Denison Root (1785-1865)

 Phebe Elizabeth Hale Root (1798-1836)

- Spouse:

 James Van Antwerp (1812-1883)

- Children:

 Stephen H Van Antwerp (1844-1845)

 Walter Van Antwerp (1846-1912)

 Linford Elberto Van Antwerp (1861-1940)

- Siblings:

 Hannah Root Van Antwerp (1820-1892)

 Stephen Herrick Root (1824-1834)

 Isaac H. Root (1827-__)

 Zilpha Root Richmond (1828-1909)

 Eunice Root Gardner (1831-1905)

 Alva Dennison Root (1833-1893)

 Loraine A Root Van Antwerp (1836-1911)

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Northeastern Pennsylvania: Including the Counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and Many of the Early Settled Families, by Beers, 1900, Pg. 515

BENJAMIN TASKER GARDNER, supervisor of Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, is one of the most highly-respected residents of Brandt, and notwithstanding his seventy years he takes an active interest in all the progressive movements of his locality, his advice being often sought by his fellow townsmen.

Mr. Gardner was born April 18, 1829, at Windsor, Broome Co., NY, and comes of excellent ancestry. William Gardner, his father, was born in 1797, in Lenox Township, Susquehanna County, but settled in early manhood in Broome County, NY, where he was killed in 1837. He was an excellent citizen, and an active worker in the Methodist Church, serving several years as elder and class-leader. He married Margaret Andrews, a native of Broome County, born in 1799, who survived him, and they reared a large family to lives of usefulness. Of their children:

(1) Sarah married George Cresson, and settled on a farm in Windsor, NY, where she died, leaving a family of eight children.

(2) Jane became a teacher in the district schools of Broome County. She married Rev. Benjamin Ferris, of Otsego County, NY, who died four years after marriage at Beach Pond, Wayne Co., PA, and she later married William Frith, of England, who now resides in Michigan; they have two children, now residents of Kalamazoo, Mich.

(3) Robert died when a young man of nineteen years.

(4) Harriet married Stephen Bonker, of Windsor, NY, and died leaving six children, who are residents of New York.

(5) George M. died in childhood.

(6) Benjamin T., our subject, is next in the order of birth.

(7) William settled at Oakland, Susquehanna County, where he died in 1888. He married (first) Miss Louisa Woodward, who died soon afterward, leaving no children. His second wife, Catherine (Hoagland), survives him with one daughter, Margaret, now the wife of George Lown, of Oakland.

(8) Elizabeth died when three years old. (9) Margaret married George Roberts, of Susquehanna, where she died leaving one daughter, Margaret, now the wife of A. M. Bronson, of Susquehanna.

Our subject’s boyhood was spent in Windsor, NY, where he secured a district-school education. As a young man he engaged in lumbering and farming, and in 1853 he married Miss Eunice Root, of Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, and settled in the town of Susquehanna. Later he purchased a farm at Windsor, NY, where he resided four years, and on selling out he removed to Riverside, in the same county. After four years there he returned to Susquehanna county, buying a farm in Harmony township, where he remained until 1893, and he has since resided at Brandt, entertaining a number of boarders in his pleasant home. Politically he is a strong Republican, taking an active interest in party work, and during his residence in Harmony Township he has served several terms as supervisor. For many years he has been a member of the Methodist Church, in which he was reared, but his wife and daughters are members of the Presbyterian Church.

Mrs. Gardner, whose industry has been of signal value to her husband, is a descendant of a prominent pioneer family of Harmony Township. Her father, Denison Root, married Elizabeth Hale, daughter of Capt. Isaac Hale, and sister of the wife of Joseph Smith, the Mormon "prophet.” Four children have brightened our subject’s home, and his daughters are much esteemed in social life:

(1) Miss Ella was educated in the schools of Lanesboro, and for some time engaged in dressmaking, but gave up the business on account of ill health, and now resides at home.

(2) Elsworth B., who was born in Broome county, NY, received a district-school education, and was for some time a train dispatcher, but he is now an engineer, at Carbondale. He married Miss Kate Blank, who was born on the Hudson River, and whose father, Andrew Blank, a native of Germany, is one of the leading citizens of Brandt. Two children have been born of this union—Robert and Hazel, both pupils of the Carbondale high school.

(3) Erminie, born and reared in Lanesboro, married Herbert L. Wolf, a native of Germany, and now a resident of Brandt, where he is engaged in the business of wood carving.

(4) Agnes V., born at Brandt, is at home.

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