[FreeReign]

They must be direct descendants of Lyon/Lion Gardiner. My ancestor came to America as a soldier with him and others in 1635, built and defended the fort at Old Saybrook, CT. Lyon mentions mine and others several times in an excerpt from his journal. After that, he went to Long Island and is credited with founding it. Obviously they were socially superior to my ancestors. One of the women has Gardiner as part of her name, "wealthy Long Island family".

Julia Gardiner was part of that Gardiner family. Julia was born on Gardiner's Island, just off LI.

[Aliska]

Yes, that indicates to me she is a member of that family. Evidently others of the family made their way to Virginia. Rootsweb is down, one of my best free resources. I always feared they might make a grab for all the data contributed to them. I hope I am wrong.