Mrs. Portia Follett Gardner

Portia Bartholomew married Foster Valentine Follett in Cuyahoga County in 1866. Foster V. Follett was the son of Foster Morse Follett, and the nephew of Oran Follett, publisher of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Mr. and Mrs. Foster Valentine Follett had three children, two of whom died quite young from diphtheria. Their son Foster Morse Follett became a well known cartoonist. His work appeared in the New York Herald, The World, and the Saturday Evening Post. 

After the untimely death of her first husband (at age 40), Portia married J. Henry Gardner, a musician who led bands in Michigan and Ohio. In the 1890 Sandusky City Directory, J. Henry Gardner is listed as the Manager of a Piano and Organ Warehouse, as well as a piano tuner and repairer. Mrs. P.A. Follett Gardner was listed as a Music Teacher and also a Dealer in Pianos, Organs, and Musical Merchandise. Mrs. Portia Follett Gardner died in 1906 in Flint, Michigan, and was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky. She was a strong woman, having outlived two children and her first husband, and was a full partner with her second husband in the music business.