628 OBITUARIES, CANADIAN. 



O'BRIEN, WILLIAM SMITH. 



determination of character, as shown in his elec- 

 tions for St. Maurice, Champlain, Maskinonge, 

 and Three Rivers, will long be remembered by 

 the inhabitants of tho'se counties. His eloquence 

 was of a most forcible, logical, and convincing 

 character. He literally controlled the electors 

 by his piercing eye, his powerful and musical 

 voice. Adversaries feared his proud, defiant, 

 and severe glance. But he was kind, charita- 

 ble, and generous. Sometimes considered too 

 severe, he but too often relented, and in so do- 

 ing sacrificed his own interests. After a long 

 and successful career in Parliament, during 

 which time he joined a ministry as solicitor- 

 general, in spite of the animadversions to 

 which he was subjected even by his own elec- 

 tors, a period arrived in the affairs of the dis- 

 trict of Three Rivers which demanded prompt 

 attention at the hands of its representatives. 

 Mr. Turcotte ably seized the opportunity of 

 connecting the city of Three Rivers with the 

 Grand Trunk line of railway, which was then 

 demanding assistance from the Legislature. 

 He stipulated, in his place in the House, 1856- 

 1857, that out of the Preferential Bonds the 

 sum of 125,000 should be specially set apart 

 for the construction of the Arthabaska Branch 

 Railway. The road was commenced in 1859, 

 with an energy worthy of the man who ob- 

 tained it, and after., years of mental labor, ac- 

 tivity, and disappointment, Mr. Turcotte lived 

 to see the road opened at the sacrifice of his 

 life. Probably the excitement of its comple- 

 tion hastened the termination of his career. 

 In 1862 he was elected Speaker of the Legisla- 

 tive Assembly of Canada. He was mainly in- 

 strumental in establishing the Radnor Iron 

 Works, in the district of Three Rivers, which 

 now furnish car wheels to all the railways of 

 Canada. He had planned the construction of 

 a railway to connect the Grandes Piles on the 

 River St. Maurice with Three Rivers. 



April 29. GESNEE, ABRAHAM, M. D., a 

 chemist and geologist of Nova Scotia, born in 

 that colony in 1797, died at Halifax, Nova 

 Scotia. Dr. Gesner received his medical edu- 

 cation in London, graduating M. D. in 1827, 

 Dut soon abandoned his profession for the pros- 

 ecution of natural' science. In 1838 he was 

 appointed provincial geologist of New Bruns- 

 wick, and made extensive and thorough explo- 

 rations in that province, and subsequently in 

 Prince Edward's Island. The thorough ac- 

 quaintance which he obtained by these surveys 

 with the condition, products, and resources of 

 the Lower provinces enabled him to prepare 

 some works of great value on the colonies. Of 

 these the principal were " Remarks on the Geol- 

 ogy and Mineralogy of Nova Scotia;" "His- 

 tory of New Brunswick, with Notes for Emi- 

 grants ; " " Industrial Resources of Nova Sco- 

 tia; " " Geology of New Brunswick, Nova 

 Scotia, and Prince Edward's Island ; " " Fish- 

 eries of the Provinces." The last named was 

 completed just before his death, and is to be 

 published by the Government of Nova Scotia. 



He was the pioneer explorer of the wild re. 

 gions of the Tobique and Madawaska Rivers, 

 Being an excellent practical chemist, he early 

 turned his attention to coal oils, asphaltum, 

 naphtha, and petroleum, and discovered the 

 best methods of using them for illuminating 

 purposes. He made and burned oils refined 

 from petroleum and the asphaltum of Trinidad 

 as early as 1846. He was the discoverer and 

 patentee of kerosene oil, and was the first to 

 introduce coal oils into use in the United States. 

 He published, some years since, " A Practical 

 Treatise on Coal, Petroleum, and other distilled 

 Oils," which has had a large circulation. In 

 1852 he removed to New York City, where he 

 resided for some time as a professional chemist, 

 but finally returned to his native colony. 



O'BRIEN, WILLIAM SMITH, an Irish agitator, 

 born in the County of Clare, October 17th, 

 1803, died in Bangor, North Wales, June 17th, 

 1864. He was of one of the most ancient 

 families of Ireland, tracing his descent through, 

 the Marquises of Thomond and Barons Inchi- 

 quin to Brian Boroihme. He was educated at 

 Harrow school and at the University of Cam- 

 bridge, and in 1827 entered Parliament for the 

 borough of Ennis, County Clare. Subsequent 

 to 1832 he represented Limerick. He first 

 brought himself into notice during the " repeal " 

 agitation of 1842-'3, and vehemently opposed 

 the passage of the Irish arms act in the latter 

 year. . Associating himself thenceforth more 

 closely with the repealers he became an adher- 

 ent of O'Connell, an active member of tho 

 Repeal Association, and a violent debater on 

 Irish topics. Upon refusing in 1846 to serve on 

 committees of the House of Commons he was 

 placed for several days in the custody of the 

 sergeant-at-arms ; and in the same year, in com- 

 pany with the "Young Ireland " party, he left 

 the Repeal Association in disgust because John 

 O'Connell, son of the Agitator, wished to intro- 

 duce peace resolutions into that body. The 

 revolutionary outbreaks in Continental Europe 

 in 1848 excited him to an immoderate degree, 

 and, after threatening from his seat in parlia- 

 ment to establish an independent republic in 

 Ireland, he accompanied a delegation sent to 

 Paris in April to request aid from the pro visional 

 government just established there in behalf of 

 "the oppressed nationality of Ireland." The 

 visit resulted in abundant expressions of sym- 

 pathy, but in nothing of a more practical char- 

 acter, and in the succeeding May O'Brien and 

 others were indicted for sedition, in trying to 

 organize a national convention of the Irish 

 people. They were acquitted, and emboldened 

 by the apparent impunity with which they had 

 hitherto escaped punishment, ventured to take 

 up arms against the Government. In July 

 O'Brien headed a band of repealers at Ballin- 

 garry, in the South of Ireland, and attempted to 

 raise the standard of revolt ; but the movement 

 was almost immediately suppressed, the insur- 

 gents scattered, and O'Brien himself arrested 

 and brought to trial in Clonmel, on a charge of 



