History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

220 HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
WiBcliester, one of the twenty-five barons that stood surety for
the observance of the Magna Charta by King John at Runnymede,
A. 1). 1215. The American progentor was Richard Lyman, who
was born at High Ongar, England, in 1580 and who emigrated to
America in August, 1631. He landed at Boston, November 11th
and became a settler in Charlestown. On October 15, 1635, he
went with a party of about one hundred persons and became one
of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut, and one of the origi-
nal proprietors of the town. He died in August, 1641, and his
name is inscribed on a stone colunm now standing in the rear
of the Center church of Hartford, erected in memory of the first
settlers of the city. His son, Richard Lyman II, was born in Eng-
land in 1617 and came to America with his father. He moved to
Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1655 and died there in 1662. His
grandson, Joshua Lyman, served upwards of fourteen years in the
Colonial wars, holding the commission of lieutenant in the British
army. He married Miss Sarah Narmon, and their son. Captain
Seth Lyman, served six years in the Revolutionary war. Cap-
tain Seth Lyman's son, Tertius Lyman, was also a member of the
Continental army during the last two years of the war. He had
one son, Tertius Alexander Lyman, father of the subject of this
review and the founder of the family in Illinois.
George A. L}Tnan acquired his primary education in the pub-
lic schools of Winchester and completed his studies in Northfield.
Institute at Northfield, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated
in the fall of 1855. He accompanied his parents to Lee
county, Illinois, in the following year and afterward assisted with
the work of the farm upon which his father settled after his ar-
rival. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age
and then purchased land from his father, continuing active in
agricultui'al pursuits imtil 1889, when he moved to Amboy, becoming
proprietor and editor of the Journal. Since that time
he has made this one of the leading newspapers in the state, ad-
vocating in its columns many measures of advancement and reform
and making its influence a vital factor in community gro-^iih.
In Bradford, Lee county, February 13, 1865. Mr. Lyman was
united in marriage to Miss Mary Eliza Jones, a daughter of
James and Margaret Jones, pioneer farmers of this locality. Both
have passed away and are buried in the Woodside cemetery, Lee
Center. Mr. and Mrs. Ij^mian have two children. James Alexander
is professor of chemistry in Pomona College. Claremont,
California. He holds the degi-ees of A. B., M. A. and Ph. D., con-