John James GARDNER, Congress, NJ (1845-1921)

GARDNER, John James, a Representative from New Jersey; born in Atlantic County, N.J., October 17, 1845; attended the common schools and the law school of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1866 and 1867; served in the Sixth New Jersey Volunteers 1861-1865 and one year in the United States Veteran Volunteers; engaged in the real estate and insurance business; elected alderman of Atlantic City, N.J., in 1867; mayor of Atlantic City 1868-1872, 1874, and 1875; member of the common council and coroner of Atlantic County in 1876; member of the State senate 1878-1893, serving as its president in 1883; engaged in agricultural pursuits; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1884; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-third and to the nine succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1913); chairman, Committee on Labor (Fiftieth through Sixty-first Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third Congress; resumed agricultural pursuits; died in Indian Mills, Burlington County, N.J., February 7, 1921; interment in Atlantic City Cemetery, Pleasantville, N.J.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present