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Continental Congresses

Joseph Gardner (1752–1794)

A delegate from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress (1784-85), Joseph Gardner was also a physician in his native Pennsylvania. He served as a member of his state’s Assembly, and served during the American Revolution in the Pennsylvania militia.

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Gardner was born in 1752 in Honeybrook Township, in Chester County, Pennsylvania. In a land warrant sworn out in June 1763 in Cumberland, Pennsylvania, it is noted that “Joseph G. Gardner” was born in 1752 in Chester County, the son of Wallace Gardner and Francis Gardner. [1] An additional land warrant, dated 1 July 1784, when Gardner would have been 42 years old, lists his place of residence as “Wyoming, Cumberland.” [2] Gardner’s early education is unknown, except that he studied medicine. He opened a medical practice in Chester County. The land warrant from 1763 states that “Joseph G. Gardner” married one Isabella Cochran. [3]

From 1763 until the start of the war against England, there is no official record of Gardner excepting for a document labeled “Tax and Exoneration,” dated 1768, in which Gardner was listed as a resident of West Fallowfield, in Chester County, paying taxes to the colonial government. [4] When the war began, as stated in his official congressional biography, Gardner “raised a company of Volunteers in 1776 and commanded the Fourth Battalion of militia from Chester County.” [5] This is confirmed by the state of Pennsylvania, which lists his service in the official records of “Revolutionary War Battalions & Militia Index” that only lists him as being a member of the militia but gives no further information as to the totality of his service. [6] Gardner is also mentioned as having served as a member of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety in 1776 and 1777, as well as overlapping service in the Pennsylvania state Assembly from 1776 to 1778. In 1779, he was elected as a member of the state’s Supreme Executive Council, which assisted the governor in formulating and carrying out policy.

Gardner was apparently a slaveowner: proof of this comes in several advertisements, signed by him, calling for the sales of black people. In one, from August 1784, his ad states, “To be SOLD, for the term of 22 years, a black girl, 8 years old—also, a mulatto girl, for the term of 24 years. Unalienated depreciation certificates and final settlement certificates, of Pennsylvania, will be taken in payment. Apply to Dr. Joseph Gardner, at the south east corner of Market and Fourth Streets, Philadelphia. August 13, 1784.” [7]

On 16 November 1784, Gardner was elected to a seat in the Continental Congress, “for the ensuing year.” He ultimately served from 29 November to 24 December 1784, 17 January to about 6 May 1785, 7 June to about 3 August 1785, and about 8 September to 4 November 1785. [8] As The Freeman’s Journal: Or, The North-American Intelligencer reported, “[y]esterday came on in the General Assembly, the election of Delegates for this state in Congress, when the following gentlemen were chosen, viz. the hon. Joseph Reed, Cadwallader Morris, William Montgomery, Joseph Gardner, and William Henry (of Lancaster), esquires.” [9] A study of newspaper coverage of the doings of the Continental Congress during the time of Gardner’s tenure show that nearly all of the reports focused merely on his attendance as a delegate from Pennsylvania, and did not discuss any speeches he made or legislation he may have introduced. [10]

Incredibly, there are extant several pieces of correspondence from Gardner during the period of his congressional service; it appears that one of the issues he spent time on was the boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut over the Wyoming Valley. In a letter to John Dickinson, the President of Pennsylvania, Gardner wrote on 19 January 1785:

Herewith I have the Honor to enclose to your Excellency a copy of three papers presented by the Delegates of Connecticut in Congres [sic] tending to revive the old dispute between the two states. I did not arrive here till yesterday afternoon, consequently had it not in my power to transmit copies earlier, it will be impossible for Council to forward such papers and information upon that subject before the day it is ordered for consideration in a committee of the whole which you will observe by the indorsement, but suppose it will not be attended with difficulty to get it postponed until the papers can be received. I hope your Excellency and the Council will see the necessity of forwarding all the information in your power upon this subject since the decree of Trenton as soon as possible. [11]

Gardner wrote to John Bubenheim Bayard, also a member of the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania (1785-86) on the plans to construct a new national capital on the banks “of the Potowmack” River, which came about after the Continental Congress was forced several times to retreat from Philadelphia to other cities. Gardner penned:

The appointment of Commissioners to carry into effect the ordinance of Congress for the Purpose of erecting federal buildings upon the banks of the Delaware has taken near four days of this week and has this day been effected. Genl. Schuyler, Phil. Dickinson and Robt. Morris are the commissioners. Some States have not been hearty in the Measure. Maryland has been principally active in delay-from what motives we are not at liberty to do more than conjecture. Perhaps the precipitate retreat of Congress last summer from their Capital has its influence, or they rather wished the banks of the Potomack had been fixed for the permanent federal residence which would have placed the Capital of the United States nearer them, but whatever reasons operated with them it is very evident that Congress have lost that influence at home and respectability abroad which are essentially necessary to conduct with advantage the concerns of a great Nation and which can never be regained while they are once or twice a year Moving from place to place. [12]

Finally, to John Nicholson (died 1800), the Welsh-born economist who was the Comptroller of Pennsylvania (1782-94) at the time that Gardner wrote to him, “[t]hat Congress will appoint a person to settle the accts. in conjunction with you or empower the Treasury Board to nominate such a person for the like purpose.” [13]

After he left the Continental Congress, Gardner resumed the practice of medicine, although he moved to Philadelphia, perhaps having had a chance to see the city when he served in the Congress. We find Gardner listed in the Septennial Census, done in Pennsylvania in 1786, as a resident in East Caln, in Chester, Pennsylvania. [14] In 1792, Gardner moved to Elkton, Maryland, presumably to practice medicine there. He died in Elkton sometime in 1794, at about the age of 42.

[1] [1] See the warrant for “Gardner, Joseph G.,” on the warrant dated 3 June 1763, in the Pennsylvania Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952, courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

[2] [2] See the warrant for “Gardner, Joseph G.,” on the warrant dated 1 July 1784, in the Pennsylvania Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952, courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

[3] [3] Information from the land warrant, 3 June 1763, op. cit.

[4] [4] Tax form for Joseph Gardner, 1768, Tax & Exoneration Lists, 1762-1794, Series No. 4.61, Roll 322, Records of the Office of the Comptroller General, RG 4. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

[5] [5] See Gardner’s official congressional biography, online at http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000058.

[6] [6] See the listing for “Gardner, Joseph,” in the “Revolutionary War Battalions & Militia Index Cards,” I:351, courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[7] [7] “To be Sold,” The Freeman’s Journal: Or, The North-American Intelligencer [Philadelphia], 18 August 1784, 3.

[8] [8] Edmund Cody Burnett, ed., “Letters of Members of the Continental Congress” (Washington, DC: Published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington; eight volumes, 1921-36), VII:lxxiii; VIII:xciv.

[9] [9] “Philadelphia, Nov. 17,” in The Freeman’s Journal: Or, The North-American Intelligencer [Philadelphia], 17 November 1784, 3.

[10] [10] For instance, see “The following Delegates,” The Connecticut Courant and Weekly Intelligencer [Hartford] 14 December 1784, 3.

[11] [11] Gardner to John Dickinson, 19 January 1785, in Burnett, “Letters of Members,” op. cit., VIII:8.

[12] [12] Gardner to John Bubenheim Bayard, 11 February 1785, in ibid., VIII:28.

[13] [13] Gardner to John Nicholson, 10 October 1785, in ibid., VIII:232.

[14] [14] See entry for Joseph Gardner in the Pennsylvania Septennial Census, 1786, in the Pennsylvania state Septennial Census Returns, 1779-1863, Box 1026, “Chester,” RG 7, Records of the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives, Records of the General Assembly, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
"Joseph Gardner (1752–1794)." Continental Congresses, edited by Mark Grossman, Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0147.
APA 7th
Joseph Gardner (1752–1794). Continental Congresses, In M. Grossman (Ed.), Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0147.
CMOS 17th
"Joseph Gardner (1752–1794)." Continental Congresses, Edited by Mark Grossman. Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Cong_0147.