Information obtained from histories on familysearch.org:
Fredrick's parents, James Gardner and Hannah Gubbins, were born and raised in England, married and started their family there. They were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1846 and wanted to go to Utah but were too poor to do so until 1856 when, by the help of the Perpetual Emigration Fund, they sailed on the ship "Thornton" to America. By this time they had four children, Mary Ann, 7, Agnes Eleanor, 4, Fredrick James, 3, and John William, 9 months. The family traveled by train to Iowa City where they joined the Willie Handcart Company.
They started west with the handcarts in July which was too late in the season. They had difficulties along the way, including a buffalo stampede where they lost most of the oxen and cattle. Then cholera his the company. James was asked to help bury the dead and then he got cholera. He and another man were not able to keep up with the company, so they trailed behind often getting into camp late at night. Hannah had to pull the handcart with the help of Mary Ann. The two little boys rode on the handcart and Agnes walked. One day Fredrick found the food ration for the family and ate it all causing the other family members to have no food that day. Then just as the food ran out for the company, the winter storms hit. Rescuers from Salt Lake finally met them but they still had to make it up Rocky Ridge. The family, all of them, arrived in Salt Lake City on November 9, 1856. James was so thin his brothers did not recognize him.
The family stayed in Salt Lake until about 1860 when they moved to Mendon in Cache Valley. Seven more children were born in Utah: Henry Stephen, Elizabeth Jane, Hannah Melissa, Albert Alfred, Brigham Edward, Emma Zenetta, and a another baby girl who died as an infant.
Fredrick grew up in Mendon. He married Eliza Sedilla Bird on October 15, 1884 in Logan, Utah. They became parents to nine children: Laura Eliza, Fredrick J. Elmer, Vera, Eras, Vernon, Evan, Orval, and Silvia Hannah. Fred and Liza's first child was born in Mendon, Utah. The other eight children were born in Teton, Idaho.
When Fred was 31 years old, he and nine other men decided to go to Idaho to settle some new land. They arrived at Teton on April 25, 1883. They had come through Blackfoot, Idaho in a blinding snowstorm and camped at an old barn to wait out the storm. They continued on to what is now Rexburg and camped just east of town for three days. They crossed the Teton River and camped on what would become the James Frances Graham homestead. They surveyed a canal site and then laid out the town. Seven days later they selected the homestead sites they wanted for themselves.
Fred plowed the ground on the homestead with an old hand plow. The grain was broadcast by hand. Then they got an old shoe drill that they walked behind. Fred went to Market Lake to take grain and hogs to sell. There were no bridges. They had to ford the river or cross on the ice in the winter time.
Fred would go prospecting quite often upon Calamity Creek. It wasn't too profitable and one time he was mauled by a bear. He was easy going and Liza disciplined the children. His favorite place to lie down was behind the stove in the kitchen.
Fred was sick for about 15 years. He had a lump on his back. Some thought it may have been cancer. He would go out in the fields to work and would often have to be packed back in. He wasn't very tall and weighed about 135 pounds.