Bio: Gardiner, John (Spencer First Families)

Contact: Tanya Paschke.

----Surnames: Gardiner, Swan, Stoltenow

----Source: The Spencer Centennial Book (Spencer, Marathon County, Wis.) 1874 – 1974, page 6

John Gardiner, who was born in Canada in 1837, spent his early years on a farm near Beloit, Wis. When only 14 years old, he worked on the river in Stevens Point. He left for Colorado but soon returned to Stevens Point to work in the woods and later became the freight agent for the Wisconsin Central and was also City Marshall. He married Jennie Swan at Portage, Wisconsin in 1869. They came to Spencer in 1874 and went into store business, his first one being where the Stoltenow saloon was later located. Mr. Gardiner built a store later on the east side of the tracks on Clark and Front Street (now Pacific Street).