Gardiner, Lion definition of Gardiner, Lion in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Gardiner, Lion, 1599–1663, English colonist in America. Under contract with patentees of Connecticut, Gardiner designed and erected (1635–36) the blockhouse at Saybrook, which he defended in the Pequot War (1636–37). He purchased (1639) Gardiner's Island Gardiner's Island, c.3,000 acres (1,210 hectares), in Gardiners Bay between the two flukelike peninsulas of E Long Island, SE N.Y. It was settled by colonist Lion Gardiner in 1639 as the first permanent English settlement in New York state and has been owned since by
..... Click the link for more information. from Native Americans and founded there the first English colony in present-day New York.

Gardiner, Lion (1599–1663) military engineer, colonist; born in England. He emigrated to Connecticut in 1636. He ably defended the Saybrook settlement during the Pequot War (1637) and purchased the Isle of Wight (now called Gardiner's Island) in Long Island Bay from the Indians. He received a grant for this land from the Earl of Stirling and in 1686 the island became a manor with full manorial rights. The property has remained in the hands of the Gardiner family.