BULLETIN 



OF THE 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 



OF 



NEW BRUNSWICK. 



ARTICLE I. 



DR. ABRAHAM GESNER — A BIOGRAPHICAL 

 SKETCH. 



BY G. W. GESNER. 



Read April 7th, 



Abraham Gesner was born in Corn wal lis, J^ova Scotia, 

 May 2nd, 1797. His ancestors originally came from 

 Germany, where Conrad Gesner three hundred years ago 

 was so distinguished for his scientific attainments as to 

 be called the Plin}' of Germany, and was ennobled by the 

 Emperor. A branch of the family afterwards settled in 

 Zurich, Switzerland, where Solomon Gesner became dis- 

 tinguished as a poet, and where his fellow citizens after- 

 wards erected a monument to his memory. 



Another branch of the family settled in Holland, from 

 which country Dr. Gesner's grandfather, Nicholas Gesner, 

 emigrated to ISTew York, and settled on the banks of the 

 Hudson River at Tappantown, in Rockland Co., about 

 twenty miles from the city of New York. 



Henry Gesner, the father of the subject of the present 

 sketch, one of the sons of Nicholas Gesner and his twin 



