Lot 250: C.S. REINHART (1844-1896)

Lieut. Gardiner Attacked by Pequot Indians
Mat inscribed Lieut. Lion Gardiner Attacked by "Pequot" Indians at Saybrook Fort 22 Feb 1637
watercolor on paper
8 1/2 x 11 in. sight

The Staff of Newsday, Long Island: Our Story, Newsday, Inc.,1998, p. 62.

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF ROBERT D. L. GARDINER
LOTS 250- 275

The Gardiner family name is synonymous with the history of Long Island and Colonial New York. Remarkably, for 365 years, generations of Gardiners have held claim to the 3,350 acres of land known as Gardiner's Island, located at the eastern end of Long Island, New York. The story begins with Lion Gardiner (1599-1663), who purchased the island in 1639 from the Algonquian Indians for a gun, gunpowder, cloth and "a large black dog." Ownership of the island and its establishment as a Lordship and manor was confirmed by a patent in 1686 from New York's Governor Dongan, acting on behalf of Charles I. Although Gardiner's Island became part of the State of New York following the American Revolution, the title "Lord of the Manor", continued to be used in the community of East Hampton. Regardless of their regal title, the Gardiner family were an important, supportive and integral component of the East Hampton community.

Lion Gardiner was born in England near Maidstone and possibly on the Isle of Wight. Serving in the English army, he gained recognition during his time in the Netherlands as an engineer and fort builder. In 1635 he accepted employment by English Lord's Say and Brook, to help start a small colony in Connecticut. Fort Saybrook became the focal point of this small community as well as the tinderbox that set off a brutal war between English settlers and the Pequot Indians. In the aftermath, with the English colonists victorious, Gardiner sought a quiet retreat across Long Island Sound to a beautiful island that reminded him of the Isle of Wight, and which he originally gave the same name. Eventually, however, it became known as Gardiner's Island. Gardiner took initial ownership of the Island, in 1639, from the local Montaukett Indians and he established a close friendship with the Sachem, or chief of the tribe, Wiandance. Through his alliance with this Long Island tribe, he eventually took ownership of nearly 100,000 acres of land in central eastern Long Island. The Gardiner family clearly became one of the most prominent, wealthy and influential families on Long Island during the pre- and post- Revolutionary periods. Later generations would also occupy the local and national stage with positions in local, state and national offices. From the seventeenth century on, the family would marry into some of the most influential families in Long Island, Connecticut and beyond. Julia Gardiner, a direct descendant of Lion Gardiner, married President of the United States John Tyler.

The property included in this sale comes from the estate of Robert David Lion Gardiner (1911-2004). He liked to refer to himself as the "16th Lord of the Manor", and devoted much of his life to preserving and promoting the indisputably important Gardiner family heritage. Additionally, he was a staunch supporter of Long Island's history, and shortly before his death, he arranged a sale of an important family home, Sagtikos Manor, and the donation of its contents, to Suffolk County, New York. In his estate, he has set up a foundation to fund research and scholarships in Long Island history at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

The surviving account books kept by David Gardiner (1738-1774), and his son, John Lyon Gardiner (1770-1816), provide extensive information about these two influential members ofthe family, particularly about their taste in furnishings and their patronage of craftsmen. The accounts and the extant Gardiner family furniture and silver document the variety of regional sources available to the Gardiners and the eclectic mixing of objects which resulted. In preparation for furnishing his new house, which he built in 1774, David Gardiner purchased a number of pieces of furniture, many of them from East Hampton craftsmen, during the early 1770s. He may also have purchased several pieces of furniture in Connecticut, where he owned land and maintained business connections. (Exerpted from Dean F. Failey, Long Island Is My Nation (SPLIA, Long Island, 1976), p. 156.)