(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

John Lowell Gardner, Sr.

Boston, 1804 - 1884

BiographyJohn Lowell Gardner (1804-1884), was born in Boston, the eldest son of Samuel Pickering and Rebecca Russell Gardner. He graduated from Harvard in 1821, and in 1824 began his successful career as a merchant in Boston. In 1825 he was a partner in the firm of Gardner & Lowell at 23 Long Wharf with Francis G. Lowell. In 1836, John L. Gardner and his brother George formed a partnership under the name John L. Gardner & Company, with offices at 47 India Street. In 1850 he moved to State Street and in 1853 took his son George A. Gardner into the business. Largely interested in commerce in the East Indies and Russia, he traded also with Sumatra, primarily importing pepper. During his later years, he took a less active role in his merchant business and turned his attention to real estate matters in Boston and Brookline. He held properties in Salem, Boston, Brookline, and Maine.

He married Catherine Endicott Peabody (1808-1883) in 1826. They had five children survive into adulthood: Joseph Peabody (1828-1875, m. Harriet Sears Amory), George Augustus (1829- 1916, m. Eliza Endicott Peabody), John Lowell (1837-1898, m. Isabella Stewart), Julia (1841-1921, m. Joseph Randolph Coolidge), and Eliza Blanchard (1846-1898, m. Francis Skinner).
http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0201 I.S. 12/14/2017

Person TypeIndividual

Last Updated8/7/24

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