Thomas Cadwalader

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Infobox person Thomas Cadwalader (Template:Circa – November 14, 1779) was an American physician in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<ref name=AMB>Template:Cite AMB1920</ref><ref name="Penn Biogs">Dr. Thomas Cadwalader (1707-1779) Template:Webarchive, Penn Biographies (University of Pennsylvania).</ref>

Early life

Cadwalader was born in Philadelphia in Template:Circa. He was the only son of four children born of Martha (Template:Nee Jones) Cadwalader (1679–1747) and John Cadwalader (1677–1734), who was born in Bala, Wales before coming to the Province of Pennsylvania in British America in 1697, seeking a place to practice his Quaker faith.<ref name="HSoP"/>

He was educated at the Friends Public Schools (today known as the William Penn Charter School) in Philadelphia.<ref name="HSoP">Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

After studying medicine with his uncle Dr. Evan Jones, he traveled to London, where he was an understudy of English surgeon William Cheselden. In France, he likely attended lectures at Rheims University.<ref name="Packard">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1739, he moved to Trenton, New Jersey, where he served as commissioner of the pleas and peace from 1739 to 1744 and as chief burgess of Trenton from 1746 to 1750. In 1745, his medical essay on "dry-gripes," a condition similar to colic, was published. Before he moved back to Philadelphia, he donated five hundred pounds to Trenton to erect a public library.

After returning to Philadelphia in 1750, he was elected in 1751 to the city's Common Council. He served on Pennsylvania's Provincial Council from 1755 until the Revolution. He was a founder in 1751, and one of the first doctors, at the Pennsylvania Hospital, where he worked until his death.<ref name="Penn Biogs"/>

Dr. Cadwalader was one of the first to inoculate patients against smallpox.<ref name="Packard" /> He was a founder and director of the Library Company of Philadelphia, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, where he served as vice president from 1769 to 1770.<ref name="Penn Biogs" />

Personal life

File:Coat of Arms of Thomas Cadwalader.svg

Coat of Arms of Thomas Cadwalader

In June 1738, Thomas married Hannah Lambert (1712-1786), a daughter of Thomas Lambert Jr. and Anne (Template:Nee Wood) Lambert.<ref name="HSoP"/> Together they had eight children, six daughters and two sons who were both active in the American Revolutionary War:

• Anne Cadwalader, who died in infancy.
• Martha Cadwalader (1739–1791), who married Gen. John Dagworthy in 1774.<ref name="1917PennMag">Template:Cite book</ref>
• John Cadwalader (1742–1786), who married Elizabeth Lloyd, the daughter of Edward Lloyd and sister of Edward Lloyd IV, in 1768.<ref>Weeks, p. 68</ref> After her death, he married Williamina Bond, a daughter of Dr. Phineas Bond, and niece of Thomas Bond, in 1779.<ref name="Jordan">Jordan, John W. (1914). Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 111: 720-723. John Cadwalader family history Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="Browning1891">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Lambert Cadwalader (1742–1823), who married Mary McCall, the daughter of Archibald and Judith (née Kemble) McCall.<ref name="Stern2015">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Mary Cadwalader (1744–1791), who married her cousin Sen. Philemon Dickinson, a younger brother of Founding Father John Dickinson.<ref name="Carpenter1912">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Rebecca Cadwalader (1746–1821), who married Sen. Philemon Dickinson, after the death of her sister Mary.<ref name="Keith1997">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Margaret Cadwalader (1748–1820), who married Gen. Samuel Meredith in 1772; he later became the 2nd Treasurer of the United States.<ref name="Browning1891"/>
• Elizabeth Cadwalader (1754–1799), who died unmarried.

Cadwalader died on November 14, 1779, at age 72, in Trenton.<ref name="HSoP"/>

Descendants

Through his daughter Martha, he was a grandfather of Rachael Dagworthy, who married U.S. Senator William H. Wells.<ref name="1917PennMag"/>

Through his son Lambert, he was posthumously a grandfather of Thomas McCall Cadwalader, who married Maria Charlotte Gouverneur (the sister of Assemblyman Samuel L. Gouverneur and the niece of Elizabeth Kortright and U.S. President James Monroe).<ref name="Lewis1914">Template:Cite book</ref>

Legacy

Cadwalader Park, in Trenton, New Jersey, was named in his family's honor. The park has an area of nearly Template:Convert, and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and built starting in 1887.

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• The Cadwalader Family Papers, documenting the Cadwalader family through four generations in America, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.