Robert Gardner and Margaret Calinder: Scots in the West

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With the annual Payson Scottish Festival this weekend, I only thought it appropriate to highlight the story of some of my Scottish ancestors. It is also the Haun's side turn for a story but..I have a ton of Scottish blood through my maternal family, but not a whole lot on my Haun side. So my choices were limited. But I did find Robert and Margaret, and I liked their story quite a bit. They are my 5th great-grandparents on my paternal grandfathers side. Here is their story:

Robert was born on March 12th, 1781 in Houston, Renfrew, Scotland. Margaret was born sometime in January of 1777 in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland. Both pretty small towns at the time.

As far as childhoods go I can't really provide you with much information. I know they both came from pretty poor families. At some point Robert was apprenticed out to learn carpentry. Robert was especially tall for the area apparently, standing at 6'2". Margaret apparently liked tall boys because the two were wed on the 25th of May, 1800 in Lanark, Scotland. From there they moved to a small town called Kilsyth, on the outskirts of Glasgow.

Sterling Castle

In Kilsyth, Robert didn't stay with his apprenticeship. He owned a small farm, and rented a mill. He also worked running a tavern (The Black Bull Inn) and a grocery store. They lived a bit more prosperous than the majority of the people in the area for a time, but unfortunately for him, his tavern became a popular spot for Scottish agitators, people unsatisfied with the government. People who were often rounded up, beheaded, hanged, or shipped off to Botany Bay. While there is no proof that Robert himself was a Scottish rebel, he was accused, and was detained in Stirling Castle for 9 weeks before a judge came. 9 weeks of what we can assume was less than nice treatment with little food, overcrowding, and pee everywhere. The judge sentenced a lot of the men in Stirling Castle to banishment in Australia. However, lucky for us descendants, the man who accused Robert didn't show up to testify against him so Robert was released on lack of evidence.

The Gardner home in Kilsyth

The whole imprisonment thing really irked Robert, and he got fed up with the government. So he made the decision to come to America. In 1822 Robert, his eldest son, and his eldest daughter set sail for...Canada. A whole bunch of Scots were heading there so he must have figured he would too. He meant to save up money and send for Margaret and the rest of his kiddos as soon as he could, but he forgot his wife was a hardcore Scottish woman who didn't need no man to send her money. In 1823 she sold everything: The tavern, the store, the farm, the house, and every possession they could not carry in a few wooden chests. She and the remaining four children crossed the puddle aboard the Buckinghorn.

She did all this, by the way, without writing Robert. But Robert had heard a rumor that a whole bunch of ladies from Kilsyth were on this boat so he WALKED SEVENTY, yes 70, miles to the shore and lo and behold, met his wife.

Now, he told his wife the story of how the previous year he was offered land close to the shore but it was horribly rocky and useless, so he and the two eldest went off into the woods near Dalhousie and built a cabin. They had seeds for potatoes and stuff, but Robert remarked that in the winter "The Scotch whiskey was frozen solid. Either the weather was very cold or the whiskey was very weak."

Robert, Margaret, and their children worked very VERY hard for years. Clearing land by hand, with no oxen or mules. Neighbors had to be relied upon every time help was needed to raise a barn, house, or even a shed. Apparently it still sucked, because in 1835 they moved to Warwick, Ontario. A short jog away from the US border.

Twas here that Margaret heard the teachings of some LDS missionaries. She was determined to be baptized. However, it was the middle of winter and she was quite ill. But she, being the hardcore Scots woman she was, decided to do it anyway. She and her family went down to the lake and cut a hole in the ice. Margaret was baptized in front of a crowd of people. "The people had come to witness her death.  One man declared that if she did not die that night that he would become a Mormon."

Well she didn't die, and she even went on a stroll the next day to find the man and tell him he had to get baptized next. He didn't. What a weenie. I believe all, if not most of their children were baptized. Robert wasn't at that time. But, wanting to please his wife, took their entire family to Nauvoo in 1846, and on to Winter Quarters after that.

"24 Gardners left Canada.  They were assigned to the Edward Hunter company of 100 wagons.  During the journey to the west 3 of the family died, one baby was born.  On October 1, 1847, twenty two members of the Gardner family arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley."

Most of their children fanned out and lived around the Salt Lake Valley. Robert and Margaret settled next to their sons, Archibald and Robert Jr. in an area that is now Gardner Village, a little...park/shop area thing in Mill Creek. Archibald and Robert Jr. had a mill and got quite wealthy. Here Robert grew a garden he was insanely proud of, even cussing out a prominent church official when he came too close to his turnips.

"Robert had been a strong believer ever since he had first heard the Gospel preached in Canada, and he had paid his tithes and offerings for many years but had never joined the church. In 1851 he became very ill,· and thinking he was about to die, he had his folks place him on a stretcher and carry him to the stream.  There, John Borrowman, the man who had taken the Gospel message to them years before, baptized him. He recovered from his illness, was later ordained a High Priest, and received  his temple endowments. Robert was known as a scholarly man. He kept the business accounts for his son, Robert, Jr. until his death. On November 21, 1855 Robert Gardner died at Mill Creek at the age of 74."

Margaret died on April 28th, 1862. She and Robert are buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetary. Their grave is maintained by the Sons and Daughters of Utah Pioneers.