Hi David Wilson,
Thank you for your kind words and much effort.
You wrote, "Willson, Richard Eugene, comp...1979 ...This edition incorporates two volumes which are available from Hathi Trust online."
I am not familiar with Willson's 1979 or earlier volumes. Via Hathi Trust, I did search a one volume work by this author (dated 1959) for the surnames Gardiner (no returns) and Gardner (six returns that did not seem relevant). See "The Willson family, 1672-1959." Hope to learn from you what I missed, etc.
As to the PGM Rhode Island immigant ...
As I understand, Miller and Stanton's work (1937) combines source information about what may be three different men* of the same name--all George Gardiner. These "three" George Gardiners are Rev. Michael Gardiner's son, Sarah Slaughter's husband, and our Rhode Island immigrant.
Moriarty could find no historical basis/justification to assume the various records were about only one man.
From your helpful list, it doesn't appear that Richard Eugene Willson cited Moriarty's 1944 article. It is still possible that Willson developed and incorporated additional historical discovery as regards our PGM, George Gardiner and/or Sarah Slaughter's husband. If that is the case, hopefully someone is able to identify those historical items so that we can begin to explain which part of the puzzle was thought to have been addressed. That is the best approach I know of to reconcile conflicting conclusions (in this case, back to Moriarty).
Does that make sense? --GeneJ
*In the event that George, the father of Rebecca buried at Clerknewell, was not the same man who was the spouse of Sarah Slaughter. there would then be four.