| Amasa Lyman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Quorum of the Twelve Apostles | |
| October 6, 1845 (1845-10-06) – October 6, 1867 (1867-10-06) | |
| End reason | Stripped of Apostleship and position in Quorum for repeatedly teaching false doctrine |
| Counselor in theFirst Presidency | |
| February 4, 1843 (1843-02-04) – June 27, 1844 (1844-06-27) | |
| End reason | Dissolution of First Presidency upon the death of Joseph Smith |
| Quorum of the Twelve Apostles | |
| August 20, 1842 (1842-08-20) – January 20, 1843 (1843-01-20) | |
| End reason | Dropped from Quorum due to an excess of apostles occasioned by the readmission ofOrson Pratt to the Quorum |
| Latter Day SaintApostle | |
| August 20, 1842 (1842-08-20) – October 6, 1867 (1867-10-06) | |
| Reason | Excommunication ofOrson Pratt[1] |
| End reason | Stripped of Apostleship for repeatedly teaching false doctrine |
| Reorganization at end of term | No apostles ordained[2] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Amasa Mason Lyman (1813-03-30)March 30, 1813 Lyman,New Hampshire, United States |
| Died | February 4, 1877(1877-02-04) (aged 63) Fillmore,Utah Territory, United States |
| Resting place | Fillmore Cemetery 38°57′16″N112°18′41″W / 38.9544°N 112.3114°W /38.9544; -112.3114 (Fillmore Cemetery) |
| Spouse(s) | 8 |
| Children | 38 |
| Parents | Roswell Lyman Martha Mason |
| Signature | |
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Amasa Mason Lyman (March 30, 1813 – February 4, 1877) was an early leader in theLatter Day Saint movement and was anapostle. He was also a counselor in theFirst Presidency toJoseph Smith.
Lyman was born inLyman, New Hampshire,[3] the third son of Roswell Lyman and Martha Mason. In the spring of 1832, Lyman met two traveling Latter Day Saintmissionaries,Orson Pratt andLyman E. Johnson. Lyman was baptized a member of theChurch of Christ on April 27, 1832, by Johnson. On April 28, Lyman wasconfirmed by Pratt.
After becoming a Latter Day Saint, Lyman traveled 370 miles toPalmyra, New York, where he hoped to meetJoseph Smith andMartin Harris. (Smith and Harris had lived in the Palmyra area when they published theBook of Mormon and organized the church in 1830). When Lyman arrived in Palmyra, he discovered that Smith and Harris had moved toOhio the previous year, and that Smith was currently visitingMissouri.
Determined to join the Latter Day Saints in Ohio, Lyman found temporary employment on the farm of Thomas Lackey, who had bought Harris's farm. (Harris had sold it to raise money for the publication of the Book of Mormon). After working for two weeks, Lyman earned enough money to take a ship fromBuffalo, New York, toCleveland, Ohio. From Cleveland, Lyman walked the 45 miles toHiram, where he was told Smith and his family were living. When Lyman metJohn Johnson, the owner of the house where Smith was living, he discovered that Johnson was the father of the missionary who had baptized him just weeks before. Johnson invited Lyman to live at his house and work on his farm. Lyman did so from June 5 until August 1832. Lyman met Smith on July 1 when Smith returned to Hiram from Missouri.
In August 1832, Smith told Lyman that "the Lord requires your labors in the vineyard".[4] Lyman agreed to serve a mission for the church. On August 23, Lyman was ordained anelder by Smith andFrederick G. Williams. The following day, he departed withZerubbabel Snow as a missionary. Lyman served with Snow and William F. Cahoon in the eastern United States, preaching as far east asCabell County, Virginia, in present-dayWest Virginia. On December 11, 1833, Lyman was ordained ahigh priest byLyman E. Johnson andOrson Pratt, the same elders who had taught and baptized him in 1832.
Lyman returned to church headquarters inKirtland, Ohio, in May 1835. At a conference of the church in June, Lyman was called by Smith to be a member of the newly organizedFirst Quorum of the Seventy. In 1836, Lyman received the "Kirtland endowment" in theKirtland Temple.
In 1835, Lyman married Louisa Maria Tanner in Kirtland. They had eight children.[5]
In April 1844, Smith taught Lyman the principle ofplural marriage. "As he warmly grasped my hand for the last time," Lyman later recalled, "[Smith said] brother Amasa, go and practice on the principles I have taught you, and God bless you."[6] Soon Lyman married his first and second plural wives, Diontha Walker and Caroline Partridge.
In 1846, Lyman married four additional wives:Eliza Maria Partridge (one of numerous widows of Smith and the 25-year-old sister of Lyman's wife Caroline), Paulina Eliza Phelps, Priscilla Turley, and Cornelia Leavitt. In 1851, Lyman married his eighth and final wife, Lydia Partridge, a sister of his wives Caroline and Eliza.
Lyman served several missions for the church, preaching inVermont, New Hampshire, New York,Wisconsin,Illinois, andTennessee. In 1838, Lyman followed Smith toFar West, Missouri, where Smith relocated the headquarters of the church. Lyman participated in theBattle of Crooked River, a skirmish between Latter Day Saints and a Missouri militia unit fromRay County, which occurred on October 25, 1838.
In 1839, Lyman traveled with the Latter Day Saints to their new headquarters inNauvoo, Illinois. In 1841, Lyman was appointed regent of the newly organizedUniversity of Nauvoo. On August 20, 1842, Smith called Lyman to serve as anapostle of the church. Lyman filled a vacancy in theQuorum of the Twelve created by theexcommunication ofOrson Pratt. Five months later, on January 20, 1843, Pratt was rebaptized and restored to his former position in the Quorum of the Twelve. As the most junior and "thirteenth" apostle, Lyman was excluded from the Quorum.
On February 4, 1843, Smith called Lyman to serve as an additional counselor in theFirst Presidency. Due to the turbulence of the years 1843 and 1844 for the Latter Day Saints, especially after Smith's death, Lyman was neversustained at aconference of the church to this position.
In July 1844 while traveling, Lyman learned that Smith and his brotherHyrum had beenkilled by a mob atCarthage, Illinois. He returned to Nauvoo. When apostlesBrigham Young,Heber C. Kimball,Wilford Woodruff, Pratt, andLyman Wight arrived in Nauvoo on August 6, Lymansided with the group of Latter Day Saints who supported the leadership of Young and theQuorum of the Twelve Apostles, as opposed to that ofSidney Rigdon, Smith's First Counselor in theFirst Presidency.
Young restored Lyman as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on August 12, 1844. In 1847, Lyman and his seven wives and children traveled with theMormon pioneers who followed Young to theSalt Lake Valley in present-dayUtah.
Young chose Lyman andCharles C. Rich to lead an expedition to establish a Mormon foothold in theSan Bernardino Valley in southern California, a long-held ambition for Young.[7] In March 1851, 437 Latter-day Saints under the leadership of Lyman and Rich left Great Salt Lake City.[7] After traversing theCajon Pass, the group purchasedRancho San Bernardino from the Lugo family, and built Fort San Bernardino.[7] The fort quickly grew into a burgeoning settlement, reaching a population of 3,000 in 1856 and spurring the creation of anew county (split off fromLos Angeles County in 1853) and the incorporation of a new municipality (in 1854).[7] Lyman served as the firstmayor of San Bernardino.[7]
In 1860, Young appointed three of the twelve apostles—Lyman,Charles C. Rich, andGeorge Q. Cannon—to the presidency of the church's EuropeanMission. On March 16, 1862, Lyman preached a sermon inDundee, Scotland, which all but denied the reality of and the necessity for theatonement ofJesus Christ, which is a central tenet of the LDS Church. His speech appeared to have been overlooked for years, but on January 21, 1867, Lyman was brought before his fellow quorum members to answer for his heretical words. Lyman confessed his error and apologized to the quorum. He wrote a letter of apology to the general membership of the church, which was published in theDeseret News.
However, months later, Lyman began publicly preaching the substance of his 1862 Dundee speech. As a result of his failure to live up to his confession and apology, the church stripped Lyman of the apostleship on May 6, 1867.
Following his removal, Lyman obeyed the counsel of the quorum members, even though he felt the advice was unappealing, and nineteen months later he was regularly attending Church services.[8]: 98 However, in 1869, while not admitting any conversations to theChurch of Zion, known as the Godbeites, Lyman began a relationship withWilliam S. Godbe, and began traveling to Salt Lake City to meet with Godbe and his associates.[8]: 99–100 Lyman associated constantly, preached, and even openly participated with the Godbeites.[8]: 100 Lyman's renewed activism spread through Salt Lake City, and rumors began to be circulated that Lyman would even becomepresident of the Church of Zion.[8]: 100
On May 10, 1870, three representatives from theSalt Lake Stakehigh council, where Lyman was residing, came to investigate his activism and the rumors.[8]: 100–101 Following the meeting the three took their findings to the high council, and the councilexcommunicated Lyman on May 12, 1870.[8]: 101
Lyman died atFillmore,Utah Territory on February 4, 1877.[3] He and seven of his eight wives were the parents of 38 children. On January 12, 1909, by direction ofchurch presidentJoseph F. Smith, Lyman was posthumously reinstated as a church member and an apostle, persuaded by assertions of mental illness.[9]
| # | Year of Marriage | Wife's Name | Her Age | His Age | # of Children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1835 | Louisa Maria Tanner | 17 | 22 | 8 |
| 2 | 1843 | Diontha Walker | 27 | 30 | 0 |
| 3 | 1844 | Caroline Partridge | 17 | 31 | 6 |
| 4 | 1846 | Eliza Maria Partridge | 23 | 33 | 5 |
| 5 | 1846 | Paulina Eliza Phelps | 19 | 33 | 7 |
| 6 | 1846 | Priscilla Turley | 17 | 33 | 6 |
| 7 | 1846 | Cornelia Leavitt | 21 | 33 | 2 |
| 8 | 1853 | Lydia Partridge | 23 | 40 | 4 |
| Total of children he fathered: | 38 | ||||
Media related toAmasa M. Lyman at Wikimedia Commons
Works related toAmasa Mason Lyman at Wikisource| The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles August 12, 1844 – October 6, 1867 | Succeeded by |
| Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints titles | ||
| Preceded by | Quorum of the Twelve August 20, 1842 – January 20, 1843 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Counselor in theFirst Presidency February 4, 1843 (1843-02-04)–June 27, 1844 (1844-06-27) With:John Smith | Vacant First Presidency reorganized Title next held by Joseph F. Smith |
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| National | |
| Other | |
