George Gardiner

Who is George Gardiner?

George Gardiner, sometimes spelled Gardner, was an early inhabitant of Newport in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and one of the original settlers of Aquidneck Island. He held some minor offices within the colony in the early 1640s, shortly after which he began a common-law marriage with Herodias Hicks, who came to live with Gardiner after separating from her first husband. This relationship lasted for nearly 20 years, after which Herodias petitioned the court to have Gardiner leave her alone, and she left Newport to go west of the Narragansett Bay and live with John Porter, a land-rich settler who was one of the original purchasers of the Pettaquamscutt lands.

Gardiner had seven children by Herodias, and after her departure remarried and had five more children, and leaves a large number of descendants. A grandson, John Gardner was a Deputy Governor of the Rhode Island colony.