Lyndon was the son of Samuel and Priscilla (Tompkins) Lyndon of Newport, the grandson of Josias Lyndon of Newport, and the great grandson of Augustin Lyndon, a
shipwright in
Boston in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. Lyndon married in 1727 Mary Carr, the daughter of Edward and Hannah (Stanton) Carr, and granddaughter of Governor
Caleb Carr. The couple had no children. In 1728 Lyndon was made a freeman of Newport, and having been educated in the Newport Grammar School, he became a
scrivener (scribe) and went to work the same year as the Clerk of the Assembly, which he continued uninterrupted for nearly four decades until 1767. After serving a term as governor, he resumed this position again from 1770 until 1777, just before his death. As the recorder of colonial affairs, he became familiar with virtually every piece of legislation and every official manuscript written over a period of nearly half a century. Most of Lyndon's year as governor was spent in correspondence with a representative of the King of England, expressing concerns of the colony over the unjust taxation brought about by the
Stamp Act. Fifteen letters from the Colonial Secretary, Hillsborough, in London, and as many replies by Lyndon concerning the constitutional rights of the colony were the main business of this administration. The only act of importance during Lyndon's term was the valuation of the Rhode Island colony, an amount that came to a little more than two million pounds. He was also a Secretary of the
Free African Union Society, the first
Black benevolent society in the
United States. With money he managed to earn on the side, he bought good clothes and belt buckles, and managed to fund weekend getaways for himself. In the summer 1766, Caesar and several friends went on a "pleasant outing" to
Portsmouth. He provided a large feast for his guests of pig roast, corn, bread, wine, rum, coffee and butter. Two months later, Caesar married his picnic companion, Sarah Searing. ==See also==