Matvei Gedenschtrom [SEP] educated at
Matvei Gedenschtrom
Matvei Matveyevich Gedenschtrom or in Swedish, since he has a Swedish name: Mattias Mattiasson Hedenström/von Hedenström 1 () (circa 1780 – 20 September 1845) was a Russian explorer of Northern Siberia, writer, and public servant.
Matvei Gedenschtrom attended University of Tartu. He did not finish his studies and left his alma mater in favor of work at Tallinn customs. Soon, however, he was arrested in connection with a smuggling affair, tried, and then banished to Siberia. In 1808,
1813, Matvei Gedenschtrom was employed by the secretariat of Irkutsk governor. Later on, he was appointed head of district police (исправник) in Verkhne-Udinsk, which did not distract him from scientific research and compiling his mineralogical and botanic collection. Matvei Gedenschtrom was a smart, talented, educated, and kind man, who often helped local peasants with advice and money. However, he was also known to have been an immoral person and a squanderer. He was one of the closest associates of Nikolai Treskin (then-