John Sylvester John Gardiner (1765–1830), aka John S. J. Gardiner, was an American Episcopal priest. He was Rector of Trinity Church,

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, president of Boston's Anthology Club, and active in the

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Early life

Gardiner was born in

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, to Dr. John Sylvester Gardiner (1731–1793) and Margaret Harries (1740–1786). His father served as

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for the British government in the

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, where he spent much of his youth. He was the grandson of Silvester Gardiner. He was in educated in Boston and England, where he was a pupil of the famous Dr. Samuel Parr. Following the outbreak of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, he went back to England, only to permanently return to the United States in 1783.

Career

Gardiner was for 37 years the "best-known and most influential Episcopal" clergyman of Boston. Trained for the law, he turned to divinity and for 25 years was rector of Trinity Church, Boston. Despite this conservative bent, he was on very amiable sociable terms with his Unitarian brethren.

George Ticknor George Ticknor (August 1, 1791 – January 26, 1871) was an American academician and Hispanist, specializing in the subject areas of languages and literature. He is known for his scholarly work on the history and criticism of Spanish literatur ...

studied Latin and Greek under Gardiner's tutelage. He served as president of Boston's Anthology Club and was active in the

Personal life

Gardiner was married to Mary Howard (1774–1848), who was born in

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, and was the daughter of Col. William Howard and Martha Howard. Together, they were the parents of three children: * William Howard Gardiner (1797–1880), who was an 1817 graduate of

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and who married Caroline Perkins (1800–1867), the daughter of prominent merchant Thomas Handasyd Perkins, in 1823. * Elizabeth Gardiner (b. 1798), who died young. * Mary Louisa Gardiner (1799–1862), married John Perkins Cushing (1787–1862), a wealthy China opium smuggler, in 1830. The town of

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a western suburb of Boston and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, its population was 27,295, an increase of 10.4% from 2010. H ...

, is named after their estate. Gardiner died in 1830 in Harrowgate,

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Descendants

He was the grandfather, through his son William, of Edward Gardiner (1825–1859), a prominent architect.

Works by Gardiner

* "Epistle to Zenas." ''Exchange Advertiser'', June 22, 1786. * ''Remarks on the Jacobiniad'' (1795)
''A sermon delivered before the Humane Society, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.'' (1803)
* ''A sermon preached at Trinity Church, December 9, 1804, on the death of the Right Reverend Samuel Parker, D.D. Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the state of Massachusetts.'' (1804) * ''A sermon preached at Trinity Church in Boston on fast day, April 7, 1808.'' (1808; Reprinted i
The Port Folio
1808) * ''A sermon, preached before the African Society, on the 14th of July 1810: the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.'' (1810) * ''A sermon, delivered at Trinity Church, Christmas Day, December 25, 1810, on the divinity of Jesus Christ.'' (1810) * ''A discourse, delivered at Trinity Church, Boston, July 23, 1812 on the day of publick fast in Massachusetts, upon the declaration of war against Great-Britain.'' (1812) * ''Life a journey, and man a traveller: A New-Year's sermon, preached at Trinity-Church, on January 4th, 1824, and, by particular desire, delivered again on January 2, 1825.'' (1825)

Image gallery

Image:1795 Remarks on the Jacobiniad byJSJGardiner.png, Illustration from J.S.J. Gardiner's ''Remarks on the Jacobiniad'', 1795 Image:1795 Remarks on the Jacobiniad byJSJGardiner 2.png, Illustration from J.S.J. Gardiner's ''Remarks on the Jacobiniad'', 1795 Image:1805 MonthlyAnthology BostonReview.png, '' Monthly Anthology'' 1805 Image:1834 TrinityChurch Boston AmericanMagazine v1.png, Trinity Church, Summer St. (1829 building). Illustration from '' American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge''

References

;Notes ;Sources * Lewis P. Simpson. A Literary Adventure of the Early Republic: The Anthology Society and the Monthly Anthology. ''New England Quarterly'', Vol. 27, No. 2 (Jun., 1954), pp. 168–190. * Quincy III, Josiah, ''The history of the Boston Athenaeum, with biographical notices of its deceased founders.'' Cambridge, Metcalf and Company, 1851.

External links

WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, John S.J. 1765 births 1830 deaths People from Haverfordwest 19th-century American Episcopal priests Clergy from Boston 18th-century American Episcopal priests Welsh emigrants to the United States