Finding aid for the Darius Lyman Family Papers

Biography of the Darius Lyman Family

Darius Lyman (1789-1867) was born to Colonel Moses Lyman and Mary Judd Lyman in Goshen, Litchfield County, Connecticut. Graduating from Williams College in 1810, he entered Litchfield Law School as an understudy of Judge Gould. A short while later, he spent a few months in Pittsburgh studying with the Honorable Henry Baldwin who later became a United States Supreme Court Justice. In 1814 he moved to the Western Reserve and established himself in Ravenna, Ohio. Soon after, he was admitted to the bar. Two years later, he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives for one term. He became a State Senator in 1818 and again in 1828 and 1830. At this time, Ravenna became the center of the Anti-Masonic movement in Ohio. Mr. Lyman played an active part, and aided in the publication of the Ohio Star, a newspaper sympathetic to the movement. In 1833 he was the Anti-Masonic candidate for Ohio governor, but was narrowly defeated by Robert Lucas. He was elected State Senator on the Free Soil Party ticket in 1850. Four years later, he became judge for Portage County, and held this office for nine years.

Mr. Lyman greatly influenced the formation of the legislature of the new state of Ohio. Through his efforts, the Ohio Canal became a reality, and the disputed Ohio-Michigan boundary was settled. For a number of years he was a member of the Board of Trustees of Western Reserve College. He was a religious man, and advocate of the temperance cause, and a "firm opponent of slavery and oppression in every shape," and a strong believer in the right of freedom of speech.

Darius Lyman, Jr., (1826-1892) son of Darius Lyman, held an important position as Chief of the Navigation Division of the Treasury Department in Washington, D. C. for twenty years. Darius Lyman's grandson, Henry Lyman (born 1852) was Second Assistant Postmaster General in Washington, D. C.

John P. Converse (1792-1865) was related to Darius Lyman through the marriage of his daughter Betsy to Darius Lyman, Jr. Mr. Converse was born in Randolph, Orange County, Vermont, and was the ninth child of Colonel Israel Converse and Hannah Parkman Converse. His early occupations included helping to manage a store in Montreal and teaching for two years in Utica, New York. In 1816 he married Betsy Collins who died a year later leaving him with an infant son. The following year he married Hannah B. Parkman and settled permanently in Parkman, Ohio. There he opened a hotel and a store, and became the partner of Robert B. Parkman in the construction and operation of several mills.

He contracted with the post office to carry mail from Fairport to Poland using a "conveyance suitable for the accommodation of public travel." His contracts were renewed, and the routes extended to reach Sandusky, Ohio, Monroe, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois from 1824-1836.

Representing Geauga County in the Ohio State Legislature, Converse served one term from 1842-1843. In 1846 he was appointed associate judge of Geauga County, a position in which he served for six years. During the 1850s, he became involved in the building of the Clinton Line Railroad, and enterprise which failed due to lack of sufficient financial support.

Converse's political beliefs can be summarized in the following paragraph taken from the Pioneer and General History of Geauga County: "He gave an ardent adherence to the government in the War of the Rebellion, and rejoiced with all good patriots in the overthrow of slavery. In politics, he was a Whig of the Giddings and Wade school. He was a delegate to the Buffalo Convention of 1848, at the time of the organization of the Free-soil movement, which culminated in the Republican party, to the principles of which he gave his unwavering support."

Robert B. Parkman (1771-1832) was the brother-in-law of John P. Converse, and in this way was related through marriage to Darius Lyman. Mr. Parkman was born in Leicester, Massachusetts to Alexander Parkman and Keziah Parkman. The family moved to New York State where Robert attended law school and supported himself by teaching and dealing in real estate. Because of the pressure of law school and his other activities, he was forced to return home. In 1801 he came to the Western Reserve as an agent for his uncle, Samuel Parkman, to help survey and divide the land into townships. After marrying Lucy Phelps in 1803, he settled in an area that now bears his name: Parkman, Ohio. From 1805-1829, Converse served as postmaster for the town. Because of his legal experience, he was appointed prosecuting attorney for Geauga County, a position he held from 1806-1817. In 1819 he was appointed probate judge.

In association with John P. Converse, he built and helped operate a number of mills in the area. Their enterprises included a distillery, a linseed oil mill, a lumber mill, and a grist mill. He also was a partner with Charles C. Paine in a store in Parkman, Ohio.

Scope and Content

The Darius Lyman Family Papers, 1805-1890, l905, l922 and undated, consist of correspondence, letter copies, legal documents, estate documents, indentures, land surveys, accounts, receipts, promissory notes, literary works, and personal journals of Robert B. Parkman, John P. Converse, Darius Lyman, Darius Lyman Jr., and Henry Lyman.

Within the collection is material relating to Robert B. Parkman's position as postmaster of Parkman, Ohio, his judicial involvement as attorney and later judge for Geauga County, and his business enterprises in connection with John P. Converse which deal with building and operation of the lumber, linseed oil, and flour mills in Parkman, Ohio.

The papers include material relating to John P. Converse's position as a mail carrier for a route from Poland, Ohio, to Fairport, Ohio, which eventually expanded into a stage coach route from Sandusky, Ohio, to Detroit, Michigan. Also represented in the material are his activities in the Whig Party, and his election to a seat in the Ohio State House of Representatives. Another aspect of his life which is represented in this collection is his involvement in the development of the Clinton Line Railroad.

Material relating to the Lyman family includes papers concerning Darius Lyman's activities in the Whig Party and the Ohio State Legislature, his position on the Board of Trustees of Western Reserve College, and his support of the temperance movement. There is correspondence pertaining to Darius Lyman, Jr.'s teaching positions at East Tennessee University and at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Also there is considerable information concerning his post as Chief of the Navigation Division of the Treasury Department in Washington, D. C Henry Lyman was the Second Assistant Postmaster General in Washington, D. C., and some of the material pertains to his duties there.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

None.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3364 Darius Lyman Family Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Processing Information

Processed by Miriam Lockard in 1971.

Other Finding Aid

A diagram which shows the relationships between the people represented in this collection; a complete list of the correspondents represented in this collection; a list of the estates which Darius Lyman administered; and a list of the literary works of the Lyman Family are available at the Reference Desk of the WRHS Research Library.

Detailed Description of The Collection