LYNDON, Josiah, governor of Rhode Island, born in Newport, Rhode Island, 10 March, 1704; died in Warren, Rhode Island, 30 March, 1778. He received a good education, and in 1730 became clerk of the lower house of the legislature and of the superior court of Newport county, which offices he held for many years. In 1768-'9 he was governor of the colony, declining to serve longer than one term. He then returned to his clerkship, which he held until his death. His administration was marked by signs of growing hostility to the British government, and especially by a correspondence between the governor and the Earl of Hillsborough, in which the former protested against the arbitrary acts of the home government. This, with a similar letter to the king, expressing the sentiments of the general assembly and signed by Governor Lyndon, is in John R. Bartlett's " Records of the Colony of Rhode Island" (10 vols., Providence, 1856-'65).