BIOS: William Harrison GARDNER, M.D., native of Milford Township, Somerset County, PA File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sharon Trosan Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/ ________________________________________________ BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Vol. XXXII, Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania. Boston, Biographical Review Publishing Company: 1899, pp 264 and 267-268. William Harrison Gardner, M.D., a popular and successful physician of Rockwood, was born in Milford township, Somerset County, Pa., September 11, 1849, son of Jacob and Molly (Lenhart) Gardner. George Gardner, father of Jacob, was a native resident of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. By occupation he was a tiller of the soil. He lived to be over eighty years of age. He married a Miss Young, and they had seven children- John, Isaac, Ludwick, Sarah, Lydia, Jacob, and George. All have passed away except Lydia, wife of John D. Miller, who resides in Jefferson township. Jacob Gardner, who was born in Jefferson, Pa., in 1814, was killed in 1858 by falling from a building. He was a farmer. His wife, whose maiden name was Molly Lenhart, was a native of Jefferson. They had eight children; namely, John L., Molly E., Allen W., Hiram, Lizzie, Esther, Susan, and William Harrison. John L. Gardner is a farmer in Jefferson. Molly E., wife of S. Hinebaugh, resides in Mount Pleasant, Ia. Allen W. and Hiram died at the ages of five and six years respectively. Lizzie, who married Mathias Scott, is now a widow and resides in Jefferson township. Esther died at eighteen and Susan at fifteen. William Harrison Gardner received his preliminary education in the public schools of Milford and Middle Creek townships and the Millersville State normal school. His professional studies were pursued in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, under Dr. M. A. R. F. Carr, of Grantsville, Md. Receiving his medical degree in 1873, he began practicing in Grantsville, where he remained a year. From there he went to New Centreville, Somerset County, Pa., and practiced from 1874 to September, 1877, at which time he came to Rockwood. He is a very successful physician, and has a large general practice. Dr. Gardner is a veteran of the Civil War, having enlisted in 1864, when but fourteen years of age, in Company K, Fifth Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, under Captain J. M. Kent and Colonel George S. Galloup. He joined the Twenty-second Army Corps under General Augur at Camp Reynolds, near Pittsburg, and went to the front at Fort Sumner, near Georgetown, D.C. He was in the battle at Salem, Va., and at Rectortown, Va., where he was disabled and his eyes were injured so he still suffers from them. During his service in the army he contracted rheumatism, from which he has been a great sufferer ever since. Upon receiving his honorable discharge in July, 1865, he returned home. Dr. Gardner was first married in 1873, to Annie E., daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Garey) Ash, of Cumberland, Md. She died in 1886, leaving two children: Maud Olivia, who was educated in the public schools and at Pittsburg Female College, and is now a teacher of instrumental music, living at home; and Harry Garfield, who is attending school. His second marriage was in 1893 to Marguerite, daughter of Peter Pyle. There are no children by this union. In political affiliation, Dr. Gardner is a Republican. He is president of the Somerset County Medical Association and a member of the State Medical Association. He was a School Director and secretary of the School Board at New Centreville two years, and president sixteen years, and has recently been elected president of the School Board of Rockwood, Pa. From 1890 to 1893 he was a member of the Pension Examining Board of Somerset County. Fraternally, he belongs to Mountain Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M., at Fosburgh Md., and to the R. P. Cummings Post No. 325, G. A. R. at Somerset, Pa.