no THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Battalion, King's County Militia, and in 1828 he was Lieutenant- 

 Colonel of the 1st Battalion. In 1786 Henry Gesner married Sarah 

 Pineo, daughter of David and Rebecca West Pineo of Cornwallis. 

 He survived his wife eight years, dying in 1850 at the age of 94 years, 

 and both were buried in the churchyard of the English church at 

 Cornw^allis. Colonel Gesner and his father and grandfather, the 

 original settler in America, all spoke the language of Holland as w^ell 

 as English. He was a man of great pride and inclined to be auto- 

 cratic, very proud of his family and reserved with strangers. In 

 personal appearance he was blond with light hair and blue eyes, in 

 contrast to his twin brother who was dark. His sword which he 

 always treasured is now in the keeping of his descendants. 



His wife's family, the Pineo, or more correctly Pineau, were 

 F"rench Huguenots, descendants of Jacques Pineau, who came to 

 Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1706. After remaining some years in 

 Connecticut they went to Nova Scotia before the American revolu- 

 tion. Elizabeth Sampson, the grandmother of Henry Gesner's wife, 

 was directly descended from Myles Standish and John Alden. 



Twelve children were born to Henry Gesner and his wife Sarah 

 Pineo, all of whom were baptized in St. John's church Cornwallis. 

 This present narrative is concerned with the life and adventures of 

 two of the sons, David Henry Gesner, the grandfather of Archibald 

 Lampman, and Abraham Gesner. 



Each of these sons when twenty-seven years of age left their 

 father's home to seek their fortunes. Abraham went to London to 

 study surgery and medicine, returning again to Nova Scotia after 

 taking his degree. A man of scientific tastes he became interested 

 in the geology and mineralogy of Nova Scotia and published various 

 reports and works on the gold fields, geology and mineralogy of the 

 province. In 1838 he was appointed Provincial Geologist of New 

 Brunswick. At the expiration of his office he returned to his father's 

 estate at Cornwallis where he continued the practice of medicine. 

 His scientific experiments resulted in the construction of an electric 

 motor, probably one of the first ever made. Among other achieve- 

 ments was his discovery of a method for the extraction of illuminating 

 oil from coal and petroleum which he patented in the United States 

 under the name Keroselene, afterwards abbreviated to Kerosene. 



He was a man of genial and generous disposition, popular wath 

 his neighbours, a firm churchman and fond of music. In personal 

 appearance David Henry and Abraham closely resembled each 

 other. They are described as being of medium height, with deep 

 chest and square shoulders, dark complexioned, having black eyes 



