Interview With William Gardner
Paducah News-Democrat 1901

There is a gentleman, now visiting Paducah, who remembers when even the name
Paducah did not exist, and when the site of this thriving city was a howling
wilderness, unmarked by human habitation or footprints. The visitor is Mr.
William Gardner, of Hico, Calloway County, father of Mr. Napoleon Gardner, of
Paducah, and the oldest living pioneer in western Kentucky. He is the brother
of the late Jesse M. Gardner, Paducah's first mayor.

Mr. Gardner was born in North Carolina, near Saulsbury, November 28, 1804, and
consequently lacks only three years and a little over a month of the century
mark. His mind is remarkably bright and clear, and he is sufficiently strong
physically to go anywhere he chooses. He was a native of the same county in
North Carolina in which Daniel Boone lived before he explored Kentucky. Mr.
Gardner's mother was a Miss Hampton, a cousin of Gen. Wade Hampton's grandfather.
The family moved to Kentucky when Mr.Gardner, who with a twin brother, were
the oldest children of the family, was 13 years of age.
"I remember the trip distinctly", said Mr.Gardner to a News-Democrat reporter
yesterday afternoon. "We first stopped at Boonesboro, Kentucky's first
settlement on the Kentucky River. We stayed there two or three days. The old
fort was even at that time beginning to look dilapidated.. From here we
went to Clark County, where we lived several years. My brother, Jesse Gardner, who was
the youngest of the family, was born there. We next moved to Calloway County,
where I have since made my home. That was before the county was divided and
old Wadesboro was the county seat. There were then only four counties in this part
of the State. They were Hickman, McCracken, Calloway and Ballard".
"The first time I cam into the vicinity of Paducah was the year I married in
1827,", and the old man's reminiscent tone took on a tender note. "You
see", he continued smilingly, "I had to have something to keep house with, and so I 
started out to find it. I floated down the Tennessee River in a dugout with an old man, 
who was a friend of mine. Between us we had 500 pounds of bacon, which we brought down hunting
for a market for it. When we reached the mouth of the Tennessee River, we were
directed to Smithland, 12 miles up the Ohio River. With some difficulty, we
got our clumsy craft up there by means of 'poling' it along the shallowest water.
When we reached the wharf at Smithland, we disposed of our bacon at five cents
a pound, the whole amount bringing $25.00. I bought my household outfit, which
consisted of a set of knives and forks made of what was then known as pot
metal, a set of plates, and some cups and saucers. The other things were made at home."
"At that time, there was no sign of a town here. The first remembrance I have
of the name of this city was a year after my marriage, when my sister-in-law
came down in this section. She came back relating wonderful stories of a new
place called Paducah. She said that it had one store and several houses, and
that she had found it an excellent market for the farm products she had to sell."
"'Paducah!', I exclaimed, 'what a curious name!' This is the first
recollection I have of the present prosperous city."
"But", said an interested listener, "tell us more of your wedding. Where did
you get your wedding suit?"
The old man's eyes twinkled. "It was made at home, every stitch of it. My
mother wove the cloth, and the she made the clothes. They were gray jeans, and
the shoes I made myself. They were of deer skin, which I had tanned and
stripped of the hair. They were not half-bad looking shoes, either."
My wife also spun, wove and made her wedding dress. She was a Miss Frances
Miller, who came from South Carolina with her parents about the same time our
family had moved from North Carolina. A remarkable woman, she was", and the old
man's eyes showed with pride. "Besides weaving all of her wedding clothes and
household outfit in the way of quilts, sheets, towels, and the like, she had
sold enough of her work to buy a bureau. They were very rare in those days, I
tell you, and this one cost $25.00. It was very plain and made of cherry. I
never will forget how she enjoyed my surprise when she brought it out when we
started to move to our new home. My granddaughter, who lives in Calloway
County, still has the old bureau."
Our first home was a log house of one room about 16 feet square. My oldest son,
Napolean, who is now 73 years of age, was born there. When he was one year old,
we moved to another place, several miles distant and a short way from where
Hico now is. We had some difficulty in lighting our first fire in this home. It
was late in the evening hen we got there and very cold. There were no matches
in those days, and the flint, which was our only means of making a fire, had
gotten misplaced. It was all I could do to unpack the household goods before
night, so my wife left the baby with me and rode a mile on horseback to a
neighbor's house to get a chunk of fire. She brought it back with her, and it
was thus that our first fire was lit in a home in which we lived for 60 years.
My wife died there at the age of 85 years."
"Of course, in this time I came to Paducah many times and was surprised at each
visit to find it larger. My brother, Jesse Gardner, came here to live and was
this city's first mayor."
The staunch old pioneer had voted in every presidential election except the
first six. He was first a Whig and is now an enthusiastic Democrat. He voted
for John Quincy Adams in 1829 and for William Jenning Bryan in 1899.
He is a great disciple of Henry Clay, and says he was tempted to vote for him
with he ran with Adams for vice-president in 1825, but lacked a few months of
being of age.
In religion, Mr.Gardner is a Baptist. He attended the Baptist association, then
in session at Olivet Church, four miles from this city, on last Wednesday.
Mr. Gardner relates an interesting incident connected with his life in North
Carolina. He says his twin brother, Frank, who died at the age of 70, suffered
when he was a boy from phthisis. An old German woman, who was a neighbor, told
our mother that if she would cut a lock of hair and put it in a hole bored in a
hickory sapling, he would be cured. She did so and thought nothing more about
it, except that the phthisis left his brother entirely.
A few years ago some woodmen in North Carolina cut down a large hickory tree.
On the inside was a lock of hair, which had apparently come from the tow head
of a child. The quaintness of the find awakened some interest, and it got into
the newspapers and Mr.Gardner read of it. From the location of the tree,
Mr.Gardner is sure that the lock of hair was that of his brother.
He had never gone back to North Carolina. He and his brother had planned a trip
back on their 70th birthday, but just before they were ready to start, his
brother died. Mr. William Gardner has never since cared to go alone.
He will return to his home in Calloway County this week, after enjoying his
visit to Paducah.

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