David Gardiner

David Gardiner (1784 – February 28, 1844) was the father of Julia Gardiner Tyler, wife of U.S. President John Tyler.

Life

Gardiner was a descendant of Lion Gardiner and lived on Gardiners Island in East Hampton, New York. He was educated at Yale University and was a member of the New York State Senate from the 1st District from 1824 to 1827.^[1]

USS Princeton explosion

Main article: USS Princeton Disaster of 1844

He and his daughter were invited by President Tyler for a trip on the Potomac River aboard the USS Princeton on February 28, 1844. As the ship neared Mount Vernon, it fired a cannon called the Peacemaker. It malfunctioned and exploded, killing Gardiner and others, including Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur; Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer; Captain Beverly Kennon, Chief of the Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repairs; Virgil Maxcy of Maryland, Chargé d'Affaires to Belgium, 1837–42; and President Tyler's valet who had been aboard the Amistad; and injured 20 others.

Funeral services for the white victims were held in the East Room of the White House.^[2] Gardiner was initially interred at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He was later moved to the Gardiner family plot at the South End Cemetery in East Hampton.

Tyler, whose first wife Letitia Christian Tyler had died in September, 1842, consoled Julia, and they married four months later. The couple named their first child David Gardiner Tyler in honor of his maternal grandfather.

References

1. ^ Politicalgraveyard.com biography
2. ^ The Manor of Gardiners Island - The Magazine of American History with Notes and Queries By John Austin Stevens - January 1885

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Name	Gardiner, David
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Date of birth	1784
Place of birth
Date of death	February 28, 1844
Place of death