Dr. J. S. Gardiner, Postmaster at Anaheim, was born in Maryville, Tennessee, in 1841. His ancestors were from Scotland formerly. He received his literary education at the common schools of his native county. In 1861 he entered the University of Pennsylvania, and continued there during one term. Then the war coming on in 1862, he entered the Confederate army. He enlisted April 13, 1862, in Company I, Thirty-seventh Tennessee State Volunteer Infantry, and served until September 4, 1864, when he was discharged on account of disability. He then re-entered the University and was graduated with the degree of M. D., in 1865. In the fall of this year he began the practice of medicine in Blount County, Tennessee, and continued there until September 1, 1869, when he set out for California, and soon after his arrival here he, with his brother, bought 160 acres of land near Anaheim. In 1870 he began the practice of his profession and continued at it until 1885, when he was appointed Postmaster, which position he holds at this time.
October 31, 1876, he was married to Mrs. M. J. Tarver, a native of Alabama, but principally reared in Texas. She was the widow of Charles Tarver, who, at one time was district attorney for Bastrop County, Texas. She and her husband crossed the plains in wagons in 1868. By her first husband she had one daughter, Charles Louise, now the wife of Victor Montgomery, a prominent attorney at Santa Ana. Her union with Dr. Gardiner has been blessed with two daughters, Mary and Jessie, the latter of whom died at the age of eight.
Politically Dr. Gardiner is a strong supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. Socially he is a prominent Mason, and has been the secretary of the Anaheim lodge for a period of nine consecutive years. He is also an Odd Fellow, and P. M. of the A. O. U. W. lodge, No. 85.