From Child Laborer to Manager
Gardiner entered the cotton industry in 1814, when, at age 6, he took a position as a back boy at a mill in the Eagleville section of Mansfield. As a back boy, he fed cotton roving (long, narrow bundles of processed cotton fiber) into a mule spinner – an automated machine that spun cotton fibers into yarn, winding it onto long wooden spindles. Here, he toiled 14 hours a day, earning 50 cents per week, all of which was given to his parents. His interest grew in the field of textile manufacturing as he learned to operate new machines and interact with others in the industry.
Gardiner then took the position of spinner at the Windham Manufacturing Company in Willimantic, Connecticut. He was so proficient, and devoted to his work, that he earned $12 per week, while others in the same department earned $5 or $6. Before age 21, he had saved enough to have a two-story brick house built for his parents on the corner of Main and High Streets in Willimantic. On November 29th, 1832, he married Zerviah Emmeline Essex of Colchester, Connecticut. He remained at the Windham Manufacturing Company until 1836, at which time he moved to Newport, Rhode Island, to work at the Perry Cotton Mill.