Elisha T. Gardner

Elisha Temple Gardner (April 23, 1811 – February 3, 1879) was an American lawyer, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a member of the last session of the Legislative Assembly of the Wisconsin Territory and the 1st and 2nd sessions of the Wisconsin State Senate. He also served several local and county offices in Green County, Wisconsin. In historical documents, he is often referred to as E. T. Gardner.

Early life Gardner was born in Kittery, Maine, son of Silas E. Gardner and Huidah Temple Gardner. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and in 1816, he attempted to journey west to the new U.S. territories. They spent the winter of 1816–1817 in the Holland Purchase in western New York. The following Spring, they went to Olean Port on the Allegheny River, where they built a flatboat and set off with the entire family and all their worldly possessions. was admitted to the bar in 1843, and practiced law in Green County for the rest of his life. a title which he resumed in 1862, and again in 1869. In 1861, at the 11th annual Wisconsin State Fair, he served as a judge for "Machinery for the manufacture of sorghum syrup and sugar"; and repeated the duty in 1864.

Public office In 1841, Gardner was elected an assessor for the county, and in 1842, was elected as "county commissioner" (equivalent to a county supervisor). He was appointed justice of the peace in 1843, by Henry Dodge, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin. In 1844, he was elected county tax collector; in 1845 and 1846, county clerk.

He served as a Democratic Representative in the last two sessions of the Fifth and last Legislative Assembly of the Wisconsin Territory, and as a member of the first two sessions of the Wisconsin State Senate, representing the 8th Senate district—at that time consisting of Green County. He refused re-nomination in 1849.

In 1850 and 1852, he was elected district attorney for the county. As chairman of the town of York, Gardner was, in 1851, ex officio a member of the Green County Board of Supervisors, and was elected its chairman. This happened again in 1856.

Gardner was strongly anti-slavery, but had always been a Democrat. That changed when the Democrats nominated James Buchanan for president in 1856. In 1876, he was selected by the members of the Wisconsin Senate to serve as Sergeant-at-Arms.

Later years and heritage By the time of the second annual meeting of the Old Settlers' Club of Green County in 1870, Gardner was by two years the earliest-arriving member of the club. Gardner died near Monroe on February 3, 1879.