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THE GILDERSLEEVES OF KINGSTON -- THEIR ACTIVITIES -- 1816 - 1930 -- On Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence River and Bay of Quinte POSSIBLY IN NO SPHERE of endeavor have more revolutionary changes taken place, during the past century, than those in connection with transportation. Modes of service considered essential, and depended upon, hare given way to the introduction and gradual perfecting of the steam railway and automotive methods; together with the merging of industries, bringing about a change in the centres of distribution and marketing. Bo field of operation was more effected than movement by water, both freight and passenger, and services which played an important part in the development of the country for over a hundred years are now only memories of the past - lost to a great extent in oblivion. Outstanding among those who achieved distinction in this regard, during the nineteenth century, were members of the Gildersleeve family--Henry Gildersleeve, his sons and grandson --who, together with their activities, are now remembered only by the older generation of present Kingstonians. Their names are associated with the inauguration and development of steam navigation on Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River and Bay of Quinte, particularly the latter, extending over a period of some ninety-five years. In fact, Henry Gildersleeve, the elder, was generally referred to as "the father of steam navigation," as regards the waters of this section of the Province of Ontario. He came to Kingston, Upper Canada, in June, 1816, from his home at Gildersleeve, Connecticut, a small place on the Connecticut River, where the family operated a shipyard. On reaching here, Henry Gildersleeve was attracted to Bath, where the SS. FRONTENAC was in course of construction, the first steamboat to be launched on any of the Great Lakes (September 7th, 1816), where he assisted in the vessel's building and its further completion at the Dock Yard, Kingston, after launching. But, first, some information relative the antecedents of Henry Gildersleeve, as recorded by Willard Harvey Gildersleeve, in his genealogical study entitled "Gildersleeves of Gildersleeve, Conn., and the Descendants of Philip Gildersleeve," (1914) Press of The Journal Publishing Co., Meridan, Conn. The Gildersleeve Name. The Gildersleeves are an old yeoman family in County Norfolk and County Suffolk, England. There are many similar names such as Gilder, Gildea, Gildersome, Gyldenloeve -3-