John Anthony Gardner was born in 1870 in Texas. His father was Wiley Gardner, a County Commissioner in the late 1880s. His mother was Quantillia Pullen Gardner, who was Choctaw. John A. Gardner married Mae Burleson and they had 4 children. John A. Gardner was arrested by Sheriff Cabell in December of 1892 for the murder of John P. Patton in Dallas, Texas. John A. Gardner pleaded not guilty and said he had some wild ways and had been drinking and rambling around Dallas. Gardner was a strong man, and he beat Patton with a cudgel, and then cut his throat and stole $3 or $4 after they had left an Elmwood Street saloon after buying a quart of whiskey. John A. Gardner died in 1943 in Texas and is buried at the Elmwood Cemetery next to his wife.