Mills Gardner, 1830-1910
Mills Gardner most notable political position was as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives to the 45th Congress from March 4, 1877, to March 3, 1879. He was born in Russellville, Ohio in Brown County on January 30, 1830, and attended the local schools of Highland County and also Rankins Academy in Ripley, Ohio. He moved to Fayette County in 1854 and studied law and was admitted to the bar in the following year of 1855 commencing his law practice in Washington Court House, Ohio the same year.
During the years of 1855 - 1859 Mr. Gardner was the prosecuting attorney for Fayette County. In the years of 1862 to 1863, he was a member of the Ohio State Senate, and in 1866 was elected to the Ohio State House of Representatives for a 2-year term. In 1872, he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. In 1878, and not being a candidate for reelection to congress he resumed his law practice in Washington Court until the time of his death on February 20, 1910. Mills Gardner was interred in the Washington Cemetery; his gravesite can be found in Section 10 - Lot 6.