GARDNER, Joseph, member of the Continental congress, born in Honeybrook township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1752; died in Elkton, Maryland, in 1794. He studied medicine, and was one of the first to attend the lectures given at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, after which he settled in the practice of his profession in his native place. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war he raised a company of volunteers, and afterward was given command of the 4th battalion of Chester County militia. He also served on the general committee of safety from July, 1776, till December, 1777, and was appointed in July, 1776, one of the board of commissioners of Chester County by the Pennsylvania constitutional convention, also becoming in November, 1777, one of the commissioners to collect clothing for the army. Dr. Gardner was a member of the Pennsylvania assembly in 1776-'8, and in 1779 was chosen a member of the supreme executive council. In 1784 he was elected to the Continental congress, and served for one year. Subsequently, until 1792, he resided in Philadelphia, and there followed his profession. He then removed to Elkton, Maryland, where he spent the remainder of his life.