Thomas Gardner (planter)

Thomas Gardner[a] (c. 1592 – 1674) was an Overseer of the "old planters" party of the Dorchester Company who landed in 1624 at Cape Ann to form a colony at what is now known as Gloucester.

Roger Conant, a Plymouth colonist, was instrumental in working out a compromise between the parties, part of which was moving the Dorchester group away.

[4] The colony that had been planned for Cape Ann was doing well, having brought over adequate provisions and having had the proper skills, yet it was commercially unsuccessful because of the rocky, infertile soil and poor fishing in the area.

In 1626, the Dorchester Company granted permission for Conant, who had arrived in 1625 from Plymouth via Nantasket, to assess the situation, to become the new Overseer, and to move the colony.

[5] When Higginson arrived in Salem, he wrote that "we found a faire house newly built for the Governor", which was remarkable for being two stories high.

His mother may have been the sister of Minister John White, who help found and fund the Dorchester Company that became the colony of Massachusetts Bay.

[11][12] According to Goff, Gardner may have been chosen through family ties to head the 1623 Cape Ann Colony, which was a "fishing station and saltworks" whose goal was to ship seafood to England.

He had six sons with Margaret; Thomas, George, John, Samuel, Joseph, and Richard, and three daughters; Sarah, Seeth, and Miriam.