From Goodspeed's History of Weakley County, about 1880

Col. John A. GARDNER, attorney at law, was born in Robertson County, Tenn., in 1809, and is one of two surviving members of a family of nine children born to the marriage of John Gardner and Patience Whitehead, which occurred about 1796. Both were of English descent and natives of Virginia, and left the Old Dominion for Tennessee immediately after their marriage, being among the pioneer settlers of Middle Tennessee. The father died in 1845 and the mother in 1846.

Our subject was reared and educated in Robertson County, and resided with his parents until seventeen years of age. In 1826 he came to Weakley County, and the following year went to Paris, Henry Co., Tenn., and established a weekly paper, The West Tennessean, editing it for one year. He then sold out and returned to Dresden and entered upon the study of law, his preceptor being Hon. William Fitzgerald. In 1829 he was admitted to practice law before the courts of Tennessee, and immediately opened a law office in Dresden. He soon won the confidence and esteem of the people and after a brief period became one of the leading lawyers of the Weakley County bar, and has practiced law for fifty years.

In 1838 he edited the Jacksonian in Dresden for a few months. In 1841 he was elected to the State Senate and served six years. He delivered a speech of seven hours length before the State Senate, on the manner of electing United States senators, and was called one of the "Immortal Thirteen." In 1847 he was a candidate for Congress on the Democratic ticket, his competitor being William H. Haskell. He was defeated, however, as the Whig majority was 2,400 against him, which he reduced 1,400. In 1848 he was elector for Gen Cass, and in 1870 was a member of the Constitutional Convention. In 1878-79 he was a member of the lower house of the State Legislature.

In 1828 he married Maria Terrell, daughter of Jephtha Terrell. Mrs. Gardner was a native of North Carolina, and is the mother of four children: Algernon Colgate, Ada Byron (wife of Hon. William Pinckney Caldwell, ex-member of Congress), Laura (wife of James Gardner) and Lou M. (wife of M. Z. Hankins).

Mrs. Gardner died in November, 1848, and in 1850 Mr. Gardner married Agnes H. Cowardin, of Nashville. She was born in 1830 and is the mother of five children: Almus H., Ernest M., Percy W., Fannie G. and Josie Lee. Mr. Gardner resided on his 510-acre farm during the war, having purchased the same in 1840. He at one time owned 7,100 acres of land. Since 1865 he has resided at Gardner Station. In 1852 he organized the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad Company, and served as its president four years. The road passed through his farm and Gardner Station was named in his honor. Col. Gardner is one of the old settlers that yet remain. He has spent an active and useful life and has been a leader among men. He is a shrewd business man of superior social qualities, and very conscientious in the discharge of his duties. He is a Mason, and his wife is a member of the Episcopal Church.