Pop and the Gardners 

Pop and the Gardners of Clarendon County is the story of the Gardner family and particularly about  Greer, nicknamed "Pop," by the author.  He  was a unique man—a blacksmith by trade who loved the Lord, his family and his friends.

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Born in Clarendon County, South Carolina in 1909, his family moved northward.   He was living in Spartanburg County when he ran away from home after a receiving a beating by his father and joined the army at the age of sixteen.  While stationed in Hawaii, he was drinking and had an accident on a motorcycle with a sidecar. Four people died in the accident and Greer nearly lost his life. He was given a dishonorable discharge and a ticket home.

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After being gone eight years and nearly marrying a girl in Hawaii, Pop returned to his family who were then living in the New Prospect Community.  It was there he found Gertrude, the love of his life, to whom he was married for fifty-three years.  Their son, Norman, was born in 1935.

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Pop was a blacksmith who lived in Spartanburg County for most of his life.  His family moved from New Prospect to Boiling Springs where he worked with his father building truck bodies in the 40’s.   Later, while working for the railroad, he was transferred  to Columbia where Norman, met his wife.

   
This is the story of Pop's family, his father, Marvin, and his six siblings.  It also traces his father's family who was  one of ten children, and his siblings in Clarendon County, South Carolina.

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The Gardners in Clarendon County are traced back to Nathan and Amelia Vickers Gardner in Jacks Creek in 1764.  Their son, William Nathan married  Elizabeth Richbourg, a descendant of Phillippe Claude Richbourg, the Huguenot minister who migrated from France to escape religious persecution.