The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Colden, Cadwallader

COLDEN. I. Cadwallader, a physician and statesman, born in Dunse, Scotland, Feb. 17, 1688, died on Long Island, N. Y., Sept. 28, 1776. He studied at Edinburgh, and at the age of 20 emigrated to America, and practised as a physician for some years in Pennsylvania. He then visited England, but returned to Pennsylvania in 1716, and in 1718, at the solicitation of Gov. Hunter, settled in New York. The next year he was appointed the first surveyor general of the colony, became in 1720 a member of the king's council of the province, and in 1761 was appointed lieutenant governor of New York, and held the commission during the remainder of his life. He was repeatedly placed at the head of the government by vacancies in the governorship. He published works upon a variety of subjects, medicine, philosophy, and history; his "History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada, depending on New York"

(New York, 1727; 3d ed., 2 vols., London, 1755) is especially worthy of mention; but his favorite pursuit was botany, and he sent to Linnaeus several hundred American plants, of which that botanist published descriptions.