Susanna (Lynde) Gardner (1700 - 1748)

Born 11 Apr 1700 in Saybrook, Connecticut

Ancestors

Wife of Joseph Willard — married Aug 1718 in Saybrook, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 1748 at about age 47 in Winchester, New Hampshire

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Biography

Susanna Lynde was the daughter of Judge Nathaniel Lynde and Susanna Willoughby.

She married Joseph Willard, who graduated Yale College 1714 and Master of Arts, Harvard College in 1723.

Mr Willard settled first at Sunderland. When his relationship with the church in that town was dissolved, he removed to Rutland where he had previously sold his inherited estate. He purchased another "on the Meeting-house Hill" in January 1722, After preaching in Rutland for a considerable time, he was invited to settle there in the ministry, which he accepted. On the 23rd of August 1723, before the time appointed for his induction into office, there was a sudden and furious Indian attack upon the town and they fell upon Mr. Willard who was engaged in hunting a good distance from his house. He put up a brave resistance but was overpowered by numbers, slain and scalped. His scalp was taken to Quebec.

Joseph Willard left Susanna a widow with one son, William. A posthumous son Joseph was born three months later. The governor granted each of his sons 300 acres.

Some years later, Susanna married Rev. Andrew Gardner who preached in Rutland in 1724. He also preached in Worcester and Lunenburg. When dismissed from the latter for hunting on the Sabbath, he removed to the neighborhood of the Connecticut River and became one of the early settlers of Winchester N.H. He had a reputation as an eccentric. They had four children: Andrew Gardner, Jr., Susannah Gardner (m. Wm. Simonds), Sarah Gardner Fitch, Mary Gardner Coult.

In September 1760, Susanna's son Joseph was captured by Indians, along with his wife and children.

Sources

• Willard memoir : or, life and times of Major Simon Willard ; with notices of three generations of his family, pgs. 392/393
• Willard genealogy : sequel to Willard memoir. pgs 41-42
• Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988
• American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI)
• Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection)
• The Hosmer Heritage: Ancestors and Descendants of the Emigrant Thomas Hosmer Author: Ronald Longaker Roberts Publication: South Lake Tahoe, CA: 1984 Italicized: Y Paranthetical: Y Page: 167
• American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI)
• Connecticut Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection)
• Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. (Original Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. (By Scott Andrew Bartley, Lead Genealogist.)