David is a descendant of Lion Gardiner (1599–1663), an early English settler and soldier in the New World, founded the first English settlement in what became the state of New York on Long Island. His legacy include Gardiners Island, which is held by his descendants. It is the largest privately owned island in the United States.

He and his daughter were invited by President Tyler for a trip on the Potomac River aboard the USS Princeton on February 28, 1844. As the ship neared Mount Vernon, it fired a cannon called the Peacemaker. It malfunctioned and exploded, killing Gardiner and others including the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Navy and President Tyler’s valet who had been aboard the Amistad.

Funeral services for the white victims were held in the East Room of the White House. Gardiner was initially interred at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He was later moved to the Gardiner family plot at the South End Cemetery in East Hampton.

President John Tyler, whose first wife Letitia Christian Tyler had died in September, 1842, consoled Julia, and they married four months later. The couple named their first child after David.
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David Gardiner was a man of most elegant and dignified manners, of scrupulous neatness, and of splendid physique. At one time he served in the New York Legislature, and attracted, till his death, the most distinguished respect.5337

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President John Tyler barely escaped death in the incident.5338


Discrepancy: David was born after the death of his father?