Early Memories of Saugatuck, Michigan : 1830-1930
Author: Heath, May Francis
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids, Mich: 1930

AMOS GARDNER

At the close of the Civil War, and receiving his final discharge in June of 1865, having served his country faithfully throughout the war, Amos Gardner was called here by the activity of the saw mills and ship yards, in which he was employed for more than twenty-five years. He was married to Miss Lydia Wells in 1872 and to this marriage came one daughter Josephine, wife of Ralph Clapp, (residents of Saugatuck). The Wells family was the eighth to settle in South Haven, coming from Chicago on a sailing vessel. Mrs. Gardner was a sister of Mrs. James G. Williams.

Mr. Gardner was interested in the civic progress of Saugatuck, was the marshal and tax collector for ten years. He was first in the organization of a fire company, when in 1871 the village purchased a hook-and-ladder apparatus and the same year purchased two hundred pails and formed a bucket brigade. In 1873 he was first assistant and in 1879 the fire company numbered 32 members of which he was chief.

Mr. Gardner was born in Sussex county, New Jersey in 1842 and died in 1907.