Origins and Early History The Gardinier family—sometimes spelled Gardenier, Gardinier, or Gardinierse in early records—is of Dutch colonial origin, established in New Netherland by the mid-seventeenth century. The progenitor was likely Albert Andriessen Bradt van Gardinier (c.1607–1686), a Norwegian-born settler who came to New Amsterdam in 1637 aboard the Rensselaerswyck with his family. His descendants adopted the surname Gardinier, derived from his byname “van Gardinier,” possibly indicating origin from the Dutch town of Garderen in Gelderland, or meaning “the gardener.” The family spread through the Hudson Valley, especially Albany, Kinderhook, and Catskill, and intermarried with the early Dutch families of Van Alen, Van Schaick, and Ten Broeck.

Establishment in the Hudson Valley By the eighteenth century, the Gardinier name was well established in Kinderhook and Claverack, Columbia County, and later in Kingston, Ulster County. The family prospered as farmers, merchants, and landowners. Many were members of the Dutch Reformed Church, and baptismal records of Albany and Kinderhook contain numerous Gardinier entries from 1680 onward.

Among the earliest recorded members were Dirck Gardinier (1720– ), who owned land in Kinderhook, and his probable son Derick (Dirck) Gardinier (1750– ), who married Elizabeth Van Alen (1758–1854). Their son Barent Gardinier (1776–1822) became the best-known figure of the family’s early American period.

Character and Legacy The Gardinier family exemplifies the evolution of a Dutch colonial lineage into the civic and political life of the new American republic. Its members combined mercantile pragmatism with a tendency toward eloquence and public service. Though few achieved lasting fame, the family’s connection with the Lawrences, Van Alens, and other early Dutch-American houses places them firmly within the historical fabric of colonial and early national New York.