This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Gardner Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/wg.2ADE/1397 Message Board Post: Gardner, James M. – Grundy County has attracted men from all over the country, as well as from foreign lands. The soil here is so fertile that those whose work is the cultivation of the land, know that they can make good profits and realize heavily upon an investment in farms. One of the men who has developed into a prosperous agriculturists within the confines of the county, is James M. Gardner of Nettle Creek Township. He was born in Marshall County, W. Va., March 10, 1849, a son of Lemuel L. and Emily (Woods) Gardner, natives of Trenton, N. J., and Marshall County, W. Va., respectively. After attaining his majority, the father went to West Virginia, and later moved to Grundy County, Ill. Although a carpenter, he bought a farm in Saratoga Township and worked it until 1896, when he retired, moving then to Morris, where he died in 1898, his widow surviving him until June 29, 1912, when she too passed away. Both are buried in Evergreen cemetery at Morris. James M. Gardner was brought up in West Virginia and there educated in the common schools. He remained with his parents until his marriage, when he rented land first in Saratoga Township, and later in Nettle Creek Township for two years, then bought eighty acres in that same township. A year later he sold this land and then rented for one year more when he purchased his present farm of eighty acres, still continuing in Nettle Creek Township. His property is a valuable one and he conducts it according to modern methods. On January 8, 1872, Mr. Gardner was married to Mary Jane Riggs, born in Marshall County, W. Va., daughter of Simeon and Hannah (Bowen) Riggs, both of Marshall County, and two children were born of this marriage: Elmer N., who lives in Wisconsin, and William L. Mrs. Gardner died July 18, 1879. On January 2, 1881, Mr. Gardner was married (second) to Lucy R. Penfield, born in Oneida County, N. Y., daughter of Charles and Rowena M. (Brown) Penfield of New York State. Mr. Gardner is a Democrat, and has served as school director and road commissioner, being a faithful and conscientious official. He is a good farmer, fine business man and excellent citizen, and commands the confidence and respect of all who know him. Source: History of Grundy County, Illinois, 1914, page 814