John Lowell Gardner (1804-1884)

Born in Boston, he graduated from Harvard and became a merchant in the firm of Gardner & Lowell. His business mainly concerned shipping and commerce in the East Indies and Russia, and to a lesser extent Sumatra from where he imported pepper. In later life, he became a shrewd property magnate in Boston and Brookline. He had houses in Salem, Boston, Brookline, and Maine. His principal residence in Boston was on Beacon Street next to the old Somerset Club on the corner Somerset and Beacon Streets (see images). He was known as the last of the East India merchants and even by 1851 was reputed to be worth $1.25-million which grew to a fortune of $5 million by the time of his death. In 1826, he married Catherine Peabody and they had five children. Among others, he was the father-in-law of the arts patron Isabella Stewart Gardner.