Gardener Family History & Genealogy Online
Welcome to our online genealogy. This area is currently undergoing a major overhaul, meantime enjoy what we do have available until the new genealogy area comes online.
Please be aware that the reason this has all taken so long is that I have been dealing with recurring brain tumours since 2006. So don't leave things too late, I don't know how much longer I can spend on this project. If you have info to share or want some answers, do it while you can.
NEWS: Some time ago I was contacted by a relative, Vicki from W.A. Vicki, please contact me asap, there is news!!!
Please note that we are happy to share most of our resources and information so if you have any queries or need some assistance, please contact me by clicking on the underlined link. Be sure not to change the subject line that is automatically generated.
Our policy on sharing information is simple. Some information is supplied to us on the condition that we use it for our own research only and for one reason or another, the person giving us that information, does not want us to distribute it - We Won't! As for the remaining 98%, we figure what goes around, comes around & we'll entertain any reasonable requests. We do like to be noted as the source of the information because this is the fundamentally correct way to record all sources & if we're lucky, it might result in someone contacting us & sharing information.
Much of our information is available online so take your time to check out this site and visit our other records at Tribal Pages, a link for which is at the top right of your screen.
About Us & My Research
My name is Ian James GARDENER & my wife's name is Donna Joanne OCKWELL (now Gardener). My main areas of interest at the moment are:
A: My paternal grandfather George Frederick GARDENER (abt 1890-1970). We know very little about him prior to when he married Nellie Marion McDOUGALL at Sth. Melbourne (Vic) in 1910. On the wedding record his birth place is listed as Yarraville, but we can find no birth record for him. His age at the time is given as 20 yrs but this doesn't fit with what he is said to have told his family1. His father is listed as William GARDENER/GARDINER2 - labourer & his mother as Elizabeth Annie COX - Home duties. Nellie's age is given as 18 when she married and her birth place as Melbourne (Vic). Her parents are listed as John D McDOUGALL - publican3 & Ellen McDOUGALL4 - no profession given. Also according to my father, George's only known brother was named Victor, but this is a vague memory. We are partiicularly keen to find out anything about George, his siblings & his parents.
1 He reportedly told his sons that he lost his virginity when he was 14 and it was on New Years Eve of 1899/1900, which would put his birth date at around 1886. 2 The writing on the marriage record is unclear and it could be GARDENER or GARDINER but George's name is clearly spelt with an "e". 3 Nellie's father is said to have been publican of the Wayside Inn (still exists), cnr of City Rd & Ferrars St, Sth.Melbourne (Vic) and that is the address shown as Nellie's usual residence on her marriage record, However her father's name does not appear on any lists of publicans that we have found so far. He & his wife are also said to have been publicans of the Palace Hotel Camberwell (Vic) (still exists) & the Bull & Mouth Hotel in Melbourne. 4 Ellen's maiden name is believed to have been SHANAHAN.
B: My paternal great grandparents, John D McDOUGALL & Ellen SHANAHAN both of whom we know next to nothing about except for their reputations as publicans, that Ellen was probably Irish, they were quite well off & held a number of properties around the Emerald Hill (later Sth.Melb) area. Plus the family legend: The story goes that they had a son Ernest McDOUGALL who trained as a dentist. He is said to have been heavily involved in some way, with the Melbourne Dental Hospital before leaving Australia to live in (return to?) England. He is then said to have been dentist to the Queen Mother for a time and later to become Lord Ernest McDougall.
I have found no Ernest McDOUGALL connected to the dental hospital nor any record of "our" Lord Ernest but admittedly, I have only done cursory checks at this stage.
C: Sarah Ann MULLER/MOLLER, my maternal great grandmother. Our family has the spelling as Muller, another researcher has the name as Moller. In all likelyhood it is the german name MÜller with the umlaut above the u but I haven't verified this yet. She came from the Stawell (Vic) area originally. She married William Henry TRAYNOR at Hamilton (Vic) around 1903, she died in Melbourne (Vic) during 1971. Wiilaim Henry was born in Hamilton (Vic) in 1878 & died Melbourne (Vic), 1954. Both are buried in Fawkner (Vic). I have detailed information on the Traynor side but none on Sarah's side yet.
D: Ronald Andrew McNAIR, my maternal grandfather. Born 1921 at Port Melbourne (Vic), died 1970 in Melbourne (Vic). He married Irene Florence TRAYNOR in about 1940 but they separated not too many years later. Ronald served as an Able Seaman in the Australian Navy during WW2. That's about all we know except for a bit of his employment history.
History of the GARDENER Name
Several related families are known to have adopted the more common GARDINER variation of the name. Other variations known to exist include GARDNER, GARDINIER & GARNER. There are two schools of thought as to where the name originated. The most popular belief is that it is an occupational name derived from old England, when people were known by their given name & trade (from the French "Gardin" or "Gardinier"), one who tends a produce garden as distinct from an ornamental garden.
Another theory believed by some, is that the name derived from the Saxon words gar, meaning "a weapon", and dyn meaning "sound or alarm", combined with the termination "er". This theory is not widely accepted. The name is found on the ancient English and early American records in the various forms of Gardyner, Gardener, Gardenar, Gardiner, and Gardner, the last two of which are those most frequently used today.
The origin of this family is not certain, although it is said that the family was of Norman blood and went into England with William the Conqueror in 1066 and there adopted the name by which it is now known. By the end of the sixteenth century families of the name were to be found in the counties of Wilts, Essex, Oxford, Devon, Somerset, Gloucester, Dorset, Lancaster and London, in England and also in Scotland and Ireland.
Of the Gloucester line, one Stephen GARDYNER was Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of Queen Mary. Sr. Christopher GARDINER, who was in New England for a short time in the early seventeenth century, is believed to have been of this family. Sir Osborn GARDINER, Knight, Lord of the Manor of Oral on Douglas River in Wigan Parish, West Derby Hundred, was one of the most prominent members of the Lancaster branch of the family. None of these people are connected to our family - that we are aware of.
Our Online Resources
These resources take you to areas that do not link back to this page. They will open in a new browser window - just close the window when you are finished to return here.
| Email me | With queries or write to Ian Gardener, c/o Dumbalk Post Office, Dumbalk, Victoria, Australia, 3956. |
| Names Register | A new window will open to search our names registry. Very fast, it includes dates & relationships. Dates for living people are supressed but often available on request. |
| Research Database | The most complete database that we offer online. |
| Picture Gallery | Our online picture gallery containing many photos & copies of documents relating to our research. Note: the gallery is shared with other website functions, such as the school reunion teams. Please keep this in mind. |
| Gedcom | Download our gedcom file containing all the basic data & sources but some notes & details are not included for privacy reasons. Contact us for that info. |
| Tribal Pages | A more visual version of our data however the information is not always as up to date as here & there are restrictions on showing living people. PASSWORD = VISITOR! |
| Ancestry.Com.Au | Another site containing our database. Some nice search and display functions. |
| Gencircles | REMOVED as we have become very suspicious about this site and recommend avoiding it. |
Genealogy Links
A list of genealogy links that we've personally found useful. All will open in a new window.
| MSN Victorian Genealogy Forums | Family Search - Possibly the biggest online source and FREE! |
| Tribal Pages genealogy database |
Note that we avoid all sites that (a) have no practical method of contacting the site administrators - such as gencircles.com and/or (b) offer a so called free trial but only after they get your credit card details.
Credits
Special thanks to Gwyn TAYLOR-WILLIAMS (Wales,UK), Clare OCKWELL/HADLEY (Vic,Aust), Carole TEDJA (Vic,Aust) & a member of the LONG family who provided me with her (unsourced) family tree many years ago (before I learnt to keep accurate records) & whose name I have unfortunately lost.
Having lived in the NT & country Vic for the last 10 years, working 6 days a week for nearly all of that time, research has not been easy & I thank these people in particular for their willingness to share. I also wish to thank the many nameless people who have from time to time, assisted me with "lookups" and queries via the internet.