112 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



him a staunch King's man who could be reHed on to hold the country 

 in allegiance to Great Britain, Barely ten years had passed since the 

 battles of the war of 1812 had been fought within a few miles of 

 Gesner's home; the Americans were covetous of the land and there 

 were dissatisfied Canadians ready for an American alliance. Thus 

 it happened that Gesner was appointed Crown Commissioner to 

 strengthen the loyal sentiment. Later he held the offices of Justice 

 of the Peace and King's Counsellor and for many years he was the 

 Government's chief representative in that section. 



Companionship was not far distant for at Tyrconnel Gesner met 

 and wooed Sarah Stewart, daughter of Captain John Stewart who 

 with his wife and ten children had moved to Tyrconnel from Digby, 

 Nova Scotia, in 1820. The Stewarts were a Scotch family who had 

 emigrated from County Tyrone, Ulster, in the north of Ireland, to 

 Nova Scotia. Captain Stewart had been educated for the Church 

 of England ministry but had chosen to follow the sea. His wife 

 Sarah was a member of the Culver family who had emigrated from 

 Holland. Gesner was married in 1827 and the young couple taking 

 up their abode in the forest home prepared to face the privations of 

 pioneer life. We shall never know the details of that struggle cul- 

 minating in final success, but we may infer how lonely and primitive 

 were the conditions of life from the saying of the poet's mother that, 

 when a child, she would often lie awake at night, listening to the 

 howling of the wolves near the house. 



Gesner's married life covered a period of fifty-two years. He 

 survived his wife but a few months, dying in 1879 at the age of 86, 

 and both were buried in the churchyard of Trinity church, Morpeth, 

 which Gesner in company with other gentlemen had built and main- 

 tained. Eight children were born to them, of whom the last surviving 

 died in 1915. 



David Henry Gesner was a man of commanding personality, 

 very domineering and autocratic, a lion-hearted man of iron will and 

 great strength of mind and body. Ruling as the King's Commissioner 

 and as a veritable seigneur in spirit, he was a law unto all in that 

 region and it has been said that his neighbours never ventured on 

 important undertakings without first consulting him and obtaining 

 his approval. He was an unapproachable man who consistently 

 maintained his autocratic attitude both at home and abroad, always 

 intolerant of opposition. 



Of his eight children only two married, his eldest son John and 

 his daughter Susannah Charlotte, mother of the poet, for Gesner's 



