Samuel Gardner migrated from Bedford, Massachusets, to Kewanee, Illinois, in 1859 and later moved further west. The Samuel Gardner and Lucy Hartwell Pond correspondence, 1852-1860 and undated, contains correspondence from Gardner and members of his extended family, primarily including his cousin, Lucy Hartwell Pond. Much of Gardner's and Pond's correspondence is addressed to Pond's sister, Alzina Hartwell Fletcher, as well as other members of the family.