Leo Lesquereux. 279
LEO LESQUEREUX.
BY EDWARD ORTON.*
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes inflicted an irrepar-
able injury upon the French nation in depleting it of its middle
class, from which its industrial energy, its science, literature and
art were mainly drawn; but the Protestant neighbors of France
gained correspondingly thereby. England, Holland, Switzer-
land and the English colonies in North America were greatly en-
riched by this enforced emigration. These Huguenot exiles
brought unique and invaluable contributions to the countries in
which they found refuge,--intelligence, strong convictions and
the courage to maintain them, skill and taste in handicraft, and
gracious manners the charm of which was everywhere recog-
nized. They at once became loyal subjects of the governments
that sheltered them and their contributions to the public service
soon became out of all proportion to their numbers. For ex-
ample, of the seven presidents of the congress that sat in Phila-
delphia during the revolution, three were of Huguenot parentage.
It was from this stock that Leo Lesquereux sprung, and by
its training and traditions his early life was shaped. His ances-
tors, when driven from France by the revocation, established
themselves in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel and here, in the
village of Fleurier, on November 18, 1806, Leo Lesquereux was
born. His father was a manufacturer of watch springs, owning
a small factory and employing four or five workmen therein.
His mother was well educated and had a great love of knowledge
and great respect for superior attainments among those whom
she met. She insisted that her son should have the best educa-
tion available, hoping to see him enter the ministry of the
Lutheran church.
From his early childhood he had an enthusiastic love of na-
ture and especially of the sublime scenery that surrounded his
home. To scale the most difficult summits and to gather the
rare flowers that grew there, were among his early ambitions and
pleasures. He must have been a daring climber. On one of
* Ohio State Geologist and Professor of Geology, Ohio State University.
280 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications. [VOL.
4
his excursions, when about ten years of
age, he met with an ac-
cident of so dangerous a character that
his escape from death
seems almost incredible. He had climbed
the mountain that
towers above Fleurier, but by a misstep
he fell over the edge of
a cliff, down the steep mountain side.
He struck first upon a
projecting ledge and was rendered
insensible by the fall; from
this point he rolled limp and
unresisting, his descent being occa-
sionally checked by branches of trees or
shrubs, to the borders
of the meadowland far below. When picked
up there, he was
found fearfully bruised and lacerated,
but no bones were broken.
For two weeks he lay unconscious, but at
the end of six weeks
he was on his feet again, the only
permanent injury being a par-
tial loss of hearing in one ear. The
total deafness that overtook
him in early manhood was no doubt
connected in origin with
this fearful fall. The council of the
village had the wonderful
story entered on its records and the
cliff from which he fell was
marked by a flag for a long time
thereafter.
At the age of thirteen he was sent to
Neuchatel to begin his
academic course. It was due altogether
to his mother that he
took this course, the lad himself
preferring to remain at home
and learn his father's trade. On
entering school, child though
he was, he was obliged to learn from the
first the art of self-
help. He earned enough to buy the books
which he used by
teaching pupils younger or less advanced
than himself.
Among his fellow students were two
others to whom he was
especially drawn, Arnold Guyot and
August Agassiz, both of
them of the same French Puritan stock to
which he himself be-
longed. Louis Agassiz, an older brother
of August, was now
carrying forward his studies in the
German universities, but was
soon to return to Neuchatel as a
professor. With Guyot in par-
ticular, young Lesquereux established
the closest relations of
friendship and sympathy, which were
terminated only by the
death of the former at an honored old
age. While students,
they were inseparable in term time and
vacation alike. The
academic curriculum at Neuchatel was of
the old type, as a mat-
ter of course. There was but one type
known at this time it
was mainly made up of the classical
languages and literatures, of
mathematics and philosophy. The course
was severe and the
Leo Lesquereux. 281
training rigid and thorough. Young
Lesquereux became a good
classical scholar, even according to the
high standard that then
prevailed. He read Latin and Greek at
sight and wrote Latin
with facility to the day of his death.
To accomplish these things
cost strenuous labor,-there is but one
road that leads to such
results. His day's work as a student
often covered fourteen, or
even sixteen hours. Throughout his
course he was obliged to
eke out a scant allowance by giving
private tuition to his juniors
in the college, but this work paid him
not alone in the money he
earned, but in a firmer hold on the
subjects which he taught.
It fell out in his after life that he
made comparatively little
direct use of what he learned at such an
outlay of time and
force in his college days; but he never
regretted the severe disci-
pline to which he had been subjected. He
ascribed to it, in fact,
a large measure of the success that he
afterwards attained in
widely different fields.
At the end of a seven year residence at
Neuchatel, he had
completed his academic course, and aside
from a genuine and
even enthusiastic love of nature, he had
not come in sight of
natural science. We hear nothing more of
the study of theology
and it is probable that he gradually
drifted away from the end to
which his earlier studies were directed.
The love of learning
had been awakened in the youth and he
could not rest content
at the point where he was left by his
collegiate course. He re-
solved to continue his studies in a
German university, but in
compassing this result he must depend
upon his own resources.
The easiest way for the youth just out
of college to earn
money was by teaching others what he had
himself learned, and
the easiest thing for him to teach was
his native tongue and for
this, happily, there was a good market
at that time. French
was the language of diplomacy and
culture throughout Europe
and a knowledge of it was indispensible
to all who would ad-
vance in politics or shine in social
life.
Young Lesquereux found it easy to secure
an engagement
in Germany as instructor in French. He
became private tutor
in a noble family in the city of
Eisenach, Saxe Weimar. The
duties of instruction that he assumed
required but a part of his
time and he was at liberty to use the
balance in private tuition.
282 Olio Arch. and His. Society Publications. [VoL. 4
The best families of the city furnished
him his pupils. Among
the households into which he was thus
called was that of a dis-
tinguished soldier of noble birth,
General Von Wolffskel, an at-
tache of the court of the Duke of Saxe
Weimar. The general's
daughter, beautiful and highly educated
according to the
standard of the time, became his pupil.
She made great profi-
ciency in French, learning to speak it
with as much facility as
her native tongue; but both teacher and
pupil managed to ac-
quire another language during this
tuition, new to them, but old
as the human heart. When his year was
finished and he was
about to return to Switzerland, the
young tutor summoned cour-
age to ask the parents for the
daughter's hand. The mother was
thunderstruck by his audacity, but the
old general took a kindlier
view. Before answering the question, he
determined to become
personally acquainted with the suitor
and finding the date on
which he expected to set out for
Switzerland, he made an errand
to the southward himself, taking the
young tutor along with him
in his carriage. As they drove for several days through the
beautiful Thuringian forest, the wise
and wary general sounded
as best he could the intellectual
resources, the tastes and char-
acter of his prospective son, revealing
himself, as well, by his
questions to the latter. The test was
well met on both sides,
and when general and tutor bade each
other farewell, the founda-
tions for a genuine mutual respect that
lasted with each as long
as life, were well laid, and moreover
there was a new bond be-
tween them. Mr. Lesquereux was to return
to claim his bride
when he could show his ability to
support her. Much of the re-
mainder of the journey to Switzerland he
made on foot, but his
heart was light and his hopes were high.
After his return, he soon obtained a
position as teacher in
the High School at Lode, at a salary of
three hundred dollars
a year. Presently he made a step in
advance by gaining the
principalship of the High School of the
College of La Chaux de
Fonds which brought him three hundred
and sixty dollars a
year. The latter place he won by
sustaining a most rigorous
competitive examination, continuing
through an entire week.
There were twenty-one competitors on the
first day; there were
but two left for the last day. In
preparing for this examination
Leo Lesquereux. 283
all the time he had been able to command
during the previous
three months had been industriously
used.
Obtaining from the trustees permission
to increase his sal-
ary by giving private lessons out of
school hours, and securing
enough of such work to make his
prospective income five hun-
dred dollars per year, he felt warranted
in returning to Eisenach
for his bride.
Mr. Lesquereux touched high life at
several points through
this new connection. Goethe was for
forty years a member of
the same court to which his wife's
father belonged, and during
her childhood she enjoyed the special
notice and even the friend-
ship of the great author. The family
still prize the correspond-
ence which Goethe maintained with his
childish friend.
Prince William, afterward to become the
great German
Kaiser, came also to this court to find
his wife, viz., Augusta,
the daughter of the Grand Duke of
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
At the wedding Mrs. Lesquereux was a
bridesmaid, and when a
little later she herself wore the bridal
veil, a young lieutenant
of the army, Von Moltke by name, was the
bridegroom's "best
man"; the lieutenant became the
greatest general of modern
times.
In the second year of Mr. Lesquereux's
married life the
trouble in his hearing, the foundation
of which was laid in the
perilous fall of his childhood, rapidly
increased. He suffered
great pain during the progress of the
disease. At times he
became totally deaf, but would then
secure partial though tem-
porary relief. Finally, after a brave
and persistent effort to carry
on his teaching, he was obliged to
resign his position. Still
hoping for restoration, he consulted an
eminent physician in
Paris, at whose hands he suffered
treatment that would now
expose anyone who should employ it to
the charge of malprac-
tice. By it Mr. Lesquereux was thrown
into brain fever and
when he recovered from this he was
obliged to recognize the
dreadful fact that he was hopelessly and
incurably deaf.
These facts required a new arrangement
of his life. Nothing
seemed open to him at first but manual
labor, and to this he
turned with a cheerful courage that was
most honorable to him.
The change meant a great deal to himself
and more to his wife,
284 Ohio Arch. and His. Society
Publications. [VOL. 4
for it involved one of the most costly
sacrifices that we can be
compelled to make, that, namely, of
social position. The brides-
maid of a queen finds herself the wife
of a mechanic. The
trade selected was that of engraving
watch cases. He bought a
turning lathe and applied himself
diligently to the work; but
with all his efforts, laboring from six
in the morning to ten at
night, he could earn but one dollar a
day. On this pittance he
was obliged to support his high-born
wife; she showed herself,
however, as brave as her husband. Just
as he was becoming a
master of this calling to such a degree
that he could earn a
better living by it, he was obliged to
abandon it on account of
its effect upon his health.
At this juncture his father came to his
relief, and offered
him a partnership in the small factory,
if the son would first
spend a year in learning the trade.
Nothing was left for the
brilliant young scholar and teacher but
an apprenticeship in
which the veriest village hinds stood on
equal footing with
himself. He passed this ordeal successfully, gained the part-
nership in due time and became
relatively independent once
more. But at this period, his life
judged by all ordinary stand-
ards would have seemed to be a
disastrous failure. His deafness
had driven him from his profession and
from society, and the
only calling that appeared to open
before him was a very humble
one; but his mind was active and he gave
himself constant
occupation in the world of literature
during all his spare hours.
By some chance he was drawn to the study
of botany and espec-
ially to the division of the mosses.
This is his first direct con-
nection with science. He had but little
time for such pursuits,-
Saturday afternoon and Sunday of
daylight for collection, but
entire nights he made use of for study.
He managed to buy a
microscope and to begin the systematic
examination of this
family of plants. His natural gifts
asserted themselves here and
it was not long before the young
mechanic was quoted as an
authority on mosses. He had found at
last his calling, though
he did not know it yet.
About this time the gradual reduction of
the forests of the
Canton led the Government to new
interest in the peat bogs,
which furnished the larger part of the
fuel of the poorer classes.
286 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications. [VOL. 4
fortune was growing kind. The Government of the Canton
forthwith employed him to write a
text-book on peat bogs for
the use of the schools, and paid him
$500 for the work. Pres-
ently a new public office was created,
that of director of peat bogs,
and Mr. Lesquereux was appointed to fill
it. He wrote also
two other treatises upon the same
general subject. As his fame
extended, new and more responsible work
was brought to his
hands. The King of Prussia commissioned
him, moved in part
thereto by the ties of friendship which
Mrs. Lesquereux could
plead with Queen Augusta, to explore and
report upon the peat
bogs of Germany, Sweden, Denmark,
Holland and France. This
errand gave him the unusual advantage of
extensive travel and
wide observation under letters
royal. To these tours also he
owed the extensive personal acquaintance
with the scientists
of Europe that served him so well
through the remainder of
his life.
The political changes that were sweeping
through Europe in
1847 and '48, affected even the
governments of the little Swiss
cantons. By these changes, Mr.
Lesquereux's scientific work
under the auspices of the State was
arrested. Professor Agassiz
had already been attracted to the United
States by the splendid
opportunities for advancing science that
were offered to him here,
and Guyot and Lesquereux followed in the
next year, viz., 1847.
To these three compatriots and lifelong
friends American science
owes a great debt. All have passed to
honored graves, but in
countless ways their works still follow
them.
Dr. Lesquereux was forty years of age
when he reached this
country. Though in the prime of life as
years are counted, he
was totally deaf. In his native tongue
he could maintain a con-
versation so well by following the
movement of the speaker's
lips, that a stranger might not at once
discover his infirmity.
But our stubborn English tongue foiled
him in this respect, and
when it was employed he was generally
obliged to use pencil and
paper in his conversation. Moreover, he
had acquired our lan-
guage without ever having heard it
spoken and though he wrote
English with force and precision, thanks
to his early linguistic
training, one needed to become accustomed
to his pronunciation
to follow him readily as he spoke it.
Leo Lesquereux. 287
His first scientific work in this
country was done for Profes-
sor Agassiz. It consisted of a
classification of the plants gathered
by the latter in his Lake Superior
expedition. While engaged
in this work, and frequently for months
at a time he was a mem-
ber of the Agassiz household. His report
was published in 1848.
At the close of the same year, he was
called to Columbus
where he made his home for the remainder
of his life. The cir-
cumstances under which he came to
Columbus deserve to be
mentioned, as they bring to light a
history that has had few
counterparts in the country hitherto. By
the publication in 1845
of the Musci Alleghenienses, Mr.
William S. Sullivant of Colum-
bus had put himself at the head of
American bryologists, and
was so recognized at home and abroad.
The scientific collections
of the Government in this department
were coming into his
hands for study and the field was in
every way widening before
him, bringing him more than he could do
unaided. He was a
gentleman of large fortune and was
therefore not obliged to ask
even a living from science. All of his
work was done at his own
charges, and most of it was published in
a like manner. It was
distributed among his fellow laborers in
science with princely
munificence. Mr. Sullivant called to his
aid Mr. Lesquereux
and for many years thereafter, even to
the date of Mr. Sullivant's
death, the foremost bryologist of
America and one of the most
accomplished bryologists of Europe
worked side by side, in the
completest accord and harmony, with
mutual respect for each
other's acquirements and results. They
effected thereby an im-
mense advance in this department of
science and made all future
students of American bryology their
debtors. Mr. Lesquereux
was employed by Mr. Sullivant for one or
two years and was
afterwards aided in various ways in
carrying forward his work by
the generosity of his friend. They
published together the two
editions of Musci Exsiccati
Americani, the first edition in 1856
and the second in 1865. Mr. Lesquereux
also had much to do
with the crowning work of Mr.
Sullivant's life, the splendid
Icones Muscorum. The Latin text is in part his work, and the
publication of the second volume was
carried forward under his
direction after Mr. Sullivant's death.
Mr. Lesquereux's career has been
followed thus far without
288 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications. [VOL. 4
a single reference to the department of
science in which by far
his most important work was to be done,
the department, namely,
of paleobotany. His interest in this
subject began before he left
Europe. While still in Switzerland, he
had acquainted himself
with the foundations of fossil botany
laid by Brongniart and
others; and as early as 1845 he began to
publish observations of
his own in this field. But his real work
in paleobotany began
about 1850. A passing reference of
Brongniart had suggested
the view that coal-seams originated
under conditions similar to
those in which peat bogs are now formed.
In the mind of one
who knew more of peat bogs than anyone
had ever known
before, the suggestion took root and
expanded into a theory which
covers the origin of by far the largest
part of our valuable accu-
mulations of coal. The theory, variously
supported and rein-
forced by American facts though not
without grave difficulties,
holds decidedly the first place to-day
among the theories of coal
formation in the geological world.
But it was not in the theoretical
subject of coal formation,
many of the problems pertaining to which
are difficult and per-
haps for the present insoluble, that Dr.
Lesquereux's great work
was to be done. It is the plants, high
and low, that have covered
the earth in the past, and especially
those assemblages of them
which we denote coal floras, that were
to be illustrated by his
patient labor and illuminated by his
wide and increasing knowl-
edge. Attached to the descriptions of a
great number of these
fossil plants, including many of the
most abundant and import-
ant of the most valued floras of all
time, the cabalistic letters
"Lsqx." will remain as long as
paleontological science is culti-
vated. Dr. Lesquereux's labors covered
the great Appalachian
coal field, as it occurs in a half dozen
States, and from the bot-
tom of the series to its summit. Equally
fruitful were his studies
of the floras of the later coals.
The most valuable single contribution
that he has made to
paleobotany is unquestionably "The
Coal Flora of Pennsyl-
vania," published by the Second
Geological Survey of that
State. There is no other American work
on the subject that is
even to be named in comparison with it.
It was written when
the venerable author had long passed his
three score years and
Leo Lesquereux. 289
ten, and while embodying all his
knowledge and experience, it
shows no signs of flagging strength or
failing powers. A list of
his most important contributions to
science will be given at the
close of this paper. It stands for a
prodigious amount of labor
of the highest grade, accomplished under
the fearful disadvan-
tage of total deafness.
For the last forty years, the name of
Leo Lesquereux has
been known and honored throughout the
scientific world. He
was made a member of a score of the
leading scientific societies
of Europe, and was the first elected
member of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United
States. In 1875, he received
the degree of Doctor of Laws from
Marietta College. He main-
tained intimate relations by a constant
and most kindly corre-
spondence with all the leading
paleontologists of Europe. Oswald
Heer, in particular, was one of his most
valued friends, and when
his death occurred a few years since,
Dr. Lesquereux felt as if a
brother had been stricken down.
Professor Guyot's departure
impressed him in the same way. The death
of his beloved wife
occurred not far from these dates, and
the world began to look
empty to him. The sentiment jampridem
inutilis annos demoror,
began to find frequent expression in his
conversation. "I belong
to a past generation," he would
say, "my friends and contem-
poraries are all gone; for what do I
remain?" But, although
almost impatient for the summons to
cross the bar, he never for
a moment lost his serenity and never,
until the busy brain at last
gave way, abandoned his tasks. He died
in his modest home in
Columbus, October 25, 1889, aged nearly
83 years.
He was modest in his estimate of his own
work. All the
knowledge that has been attained in the
departments of which
he knew most seemed, in his later years,
very small to him. "I
know a little," he sometimes said, "other students of science
know each a little, but the whole of
what is known is but frag-
mentary and insignificant-merely a few
pebbles picked up
along the ocean shore."
Dr. Lesquereux was a devout Christian
believer; he lived
and died in the communion of the
Lutheran Church. He ex-
tended his creed to take in all
scientific discoveries, but he did
not count any of its essentials
disturbed thereby. He seems
Vol. IV-19
290 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications. [VOL. 4
never to have been reached by the
currents of modern thought
which have overflowed the old
foundations for so many.
It is a pleasure to add that his noble
library, largely com-
posed of presentation copies of the most
valuable paleontological
works of the last half century, will be
maintained intact. It
has been purchased with this intent
through the enlightened
public spirit of P. W. Huntington, Esq.,
of Columbus, and will
be placed where it can be fully
available for the purposes of
science.
Dr. Lesquereux was personally known to
but few residents
of the city in which the last forty
years of his life were spent,
but he was respected and honored by a
much wider number, and
there were many that felt, when he was
borne out of his humble
cottage to his last resting place, that
an illustrious citizen had
passed from among us.
The facts for this sketch have been
derived from conversa-
tions with Dr. Lesquereux, from his son,
Leo Lesquereux, Jr.,
from an excellent sketch in the Mute's
Chronicle, January, 15,
1887, and from a valuable article
prepared by Miss Lida R.
McCabe for the Popular Science
Monthly, April, 1887.
LIST OF SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS* OF DR.
LEO LESQUEREUX.
Catalogue of Mosses of Switzerland.
Natural History Society, Neu-
chatel, 1840.
Explorations of Peat Bogs, Prize Essay,
Neuchatel.
Directions for Explorations of Peat
Bogs, 1844.
Botany of the Lake Superior Expedition,
1848.
New Species of Fossil plants, Journ.
Nat. Hist., Boston, 1854.
Paleontological Report, 1st Penna.
Survey, 1857.
Paleontological Report, Kentucky Geol.
Rep't, Vol. III, 1857.
Paleontological Report, Kentucky Geol.
Rep't, Vol. IV, 1861.
Catalogue of Fossil Plants of Coal
Measures of Penna., 1858.
Paleontological and Botanical Report,
Arkansas Geol. Report, 1860.
Paleontological and Geological Report of
Indiana, 1862.
Paleontological Report of Illinois,
Geol. of Illinois, Vol. II, 1866.
Paleontological Report of Illinois,
Geol. of Illinois, Vol. IV, 1870.
Catalogue of California Mosses, American
Philos. Soc., Vol. XIII, 1864.
Tertiary Fossil Plants of Mississippi,
Am. Philos. Soc. Vol. XIII, 1864.
* Titles not all given in full, and not
verified in all cases, but will serve
as a clue.
Leo Lesquereux. 291
On Fucoids in Coal. Am. Philos. Soc.
Vol. XIII, 1864.
Pacific Coast Mosses in California,
Acad. of Science, 1868.
Musci Exsiccati, 1st Edition (with W. S.
Sullivant), 1856.
Musci Exsiccati, 2d Edition (with W. S.
Sullivant), 1865.
U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Survey of Terr.
Rep'ts of Hayden, 4370-1-3.
Cretaceous Flora of Dakota Group. (same
as above), 1874.
Review of Fossil Flora of North America,
Penn. Monthly, 1875.
Coal and Coal Flora. Encyclopedia of
North America.
Latin Text of Supplement to Sullivant's
Icones Muscorum, 1874.
New species of Teritary Fossil Plants,
U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey,
Hayden's Bulletin 52, 1875.
New Species of Cretaceous Fossil Plants,
U. S. Geol. and Geog. Sur.,
Hayden's Bulletin 52, 1875.
Cretaceous and Tertiary Floras of
Western Territories, Hayden, 1874.
Fossil Marine Plants found in
Carboniferous Measures. Geol. Sur.
of Indiana, 7th Ann. Rep't, 1876.
Plants of the Silurian. Philos. Soc. of
Phila., 1877.
Contributions to Fossil Flora of Western
Territories. U. S. Geol.
and Geog. Survey. Tertiary Flora, 1877.
Pliocene Flora of Auriferous Gravels,
Mus. Comp. Zool., Cam-
bridge, 1878.
Catalogue of Fossil Plants of Tertiary
and Cretaceous, Hayden, 1878.
On Cordaites. Amer. Philos. Soc., 1878.
On a Branch of Cordaites Bearing fruit,
Amer. Phil. Soc., 1879.
Coal Flora, Atlas and Text. 3 Vol. 2d
Penna. Survey, 1879-1884.
Manual of American Mosses (with Thomas P.
James), 1884.
Cretaceous and Tertiary Flora of the
United States, Geol. and Geog.
Survey of Territ. Vol. VIII, 1883.
Principles of Paleozoic Botany, Geol.
Report Indiana, 1884.
Vegetable Origin of Coal, 2d Geol. Sur.
of Penna., 1885.
Papers in American Journal of Science:
Divers Questions Concerning Coal, 1860.
Fossil Fruits of Branden Lignites, 1861.
Some Fossil Plants of Recent Formations,
1859.
Some Fossil Plants of John Evans, 1859.
Origin and Formation of Prairies, 1865.
Formation of Lignite Beds, 1874.
Land Plants in the Lower Silurian, 1874.
[NoTE: Several of Dr. Lesquereux's works
await publication. ED.]
Leo Lesquereux. 279
LEO LESQUEREUX.
BY EDWARD ORTON.*
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes inflicted an irrepar-
able injury upon the French nation in depleting it of its middle
class, from which its industrial energy, its science, literature and
art were mainly drawn; but the Protestant neighbors of France
gained correspondingly thereby. England, Holland, Switzer-
land and the English colonies in North America were greatly en-
riched by this enforced emigration. These Huguenot exiles
brought unique and invaluable contributions to the countries in
which they found refuge,--intelligence, strong convictions and
the courage to maintain them, skill and taste in handicraft, and
gracious manners the charm of which was everywhere recog-
nized. They at once became loyal subjects of the governments
that sheltered them and their contributions to the public service
soon became out of all proportion to their numbers. For ex-
ample, of the seven presidents of the congress that sat in Phila-
delphia during the revolution, three were of Huguenot parentage.
It was from this stock that Leo Lesquereux sprung, and by
its training and traditions his early life was shaped. His ances-
tors, when driven from France by the revocation, established
themselves in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel and here, in the
village of Fleurier, on November 18, 1806, Leo Lesquereux was
born. His father was a manufacturer of watch springs, owning
a small factory and employing four or five workmen therein.
His mother was well educated and had a great love of knowledge
and great respect for superior attainments among those whom
she met. She insisted that her son should have the best educa-
tion available, hoping to see him enter the ministry of the
Lutheran church.
From his early childhood he had an enthusiastic love of na-
ture and especially of the sublime scenery that surrounded his
home. To scale the most difficult summits and to gather the
rare flowers that grew there, were among his early ambitions and
pleasures. He must have been a daring climber. On one of
* Ohio State Geologist and Professor of Geology, Ohio State University.