Thursday, October 22, 2020

UPDATE:~Local Youth Killed by Lightning


Arnold Gardner, the 17-year old son of Mr. John Gardner who lives 2 miles from Chesterfield was instantly killed by lightning yesterday morning about 9 o'clock while hauling a load of oats. One mule was killed, the other badly shocked, and a negro who was on the wagon stunned. The bolt struck the boy on the head, and the crown of his hat was knocked off. The body will be buried at Morven today.

Arnold Calbert Gardner was born on 2 December 1897, a son of John Henry Gardner and his wife Lela Emma Lowry Gardner. No tombstone has been found for Arnold but his many siblings and parents are buried in the Morven Cemetery, Morven, Anson County, North Carolina. He was the fifth born of at least 11 children; ten of which are listed on the parent's FindAGrave memorial.

Arnold was killed by lightning on 6 June 1916 near Chesterfield, South Carolina, and buried in Morven, Anson Co., North Carolina.


UPDATE:

After completing my Blog Post about Arnold Calbert Gardner I received the following note from a dear friend and fellow researcher Julious Burr.   

I saw your post today about Arnold Gardner. I was going to add him to Find A Grave but found a problem. Arnold Calbert Gardner son of John Henry Gardner and Lela Emma Gardner is buried in Fairview Memorial Park in Albemarle with his wife Minnie Streater Gardner. They applied for a license for marriage in Chesterfield on December 9, 1922. There is a Social Security death index for him which lists birth as December 2, 1897 and death as October 11, 1990. Also WWI draft registration at age 20 and father as John Henry Gardner of Chesterfield, S.C. I know his birth index is February 2, 1897. I did find two more children Era May Gardner married a Honeycutt which I requested a link to on Find A Grave and Edna Josephine Gardner never married that I linked to parents. She is in Morven Cemetery. Let me know what you make of Arnold Gardner.

After reviewing this information and some serious research I am convinced that Arnold Calbert Gardner survived the lightning strike, married Minnie Streater in 1922 and raised at least two children; a son, Willis Knox and a daughter, Myra Faith. 

Arnold Calbert Gardner’s Tombstone in Fairview Memorial Park, Albemarle, Stanly County, North Carolina contains the following dates.   



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[1] The Library of Congress, "Local News," The Pageland Journal (Pageland, S.C.), 7 June 1916, Image 3, Page 3, col. 2; Digital On-Line Archives, Chronicling America ( https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : viewed 3 June 2019), Historic American Newspapers; Chronicling America.

2 comments:

  1. As it turns out, it was never Arnold Gardner that was struck by lightning, it was John's other son, Clanton:
    https://www.newspapers.com/image/73798611/
    Clanton can also be found in the Morven cemetery listed to have died June 6, 1916:
    https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65699937/clanton-l.-gardner
    I guess the informant for that newspaper gave the name of the wrong son. Rest peacefully, Clanton.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the correction. Very much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete