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A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books |
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Amasa Lyman (1813-1877)
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Amasa Lyman was Joseph Smith's special counselor, titular president of the Church of Zion, and a spiritualist. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives. |
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Family Background 1813. March 30: Born Amasa ("Amacy") Mason Lyman in Lyman, New Hampshire. He married Louisa Maria Tanner in 1835, Caroline Ely Partridge (1844), Eliza Maria Partridge Smith (1844), Cornelia Eliza Lott (1844), Dionita Walker (1845), Paulina Eliza Phelps (1846), and Lydia Partridge (1853). The three Partridge wives were sisters—daughters of Bishop Edward Partridge. Lyman was the father of thirty-seven children, including Apostle Francis M. Lyman, father of Apostle Richard R. Lyman.
1832. Converted by Lyman Johnson and Orson Pratt, Amasa went to meet Joseph Smith in Kirtland. "Although there was nothing strange or different from other men in his personal appearance," Amasa later said, "yet when he grasped my hand in that cordial way (known to those who have met him in the honest simplicity of truth), I felt as one of the old in the presence of the Lord; my strength seemed to be gone, so that it required an effort on my part to stand on my feet; but in all this there was no fear, but the serenity and peace of heaven pervaded my soul, and the still small voice of the Spirit whispered in its living testimony in the depths of my soul, where it has ever remained, that he was the man of God." Soon Amasa Lyman and Zerubbabel Snow were sent on a mission to Ohio and Virginia. Lyman later served missions to New York (1836 and 1839), northern Illinois and Wisconsin (1841), Tennessee and southern Illinois (1842), and Mississippi (1847). In 1860 he was named president of the European Mission.
1835. Having served in Zion's Camp, Lyman was called to the First Quorum of Seventy. 1838. Lyman, Joseph Smith, and other leaders were arrested in Far West, Missouri, and charged with "high treason against the state, murder, burglary, arson, robbery, and larceny." Lyman was released six days later. 1842. Called to the Quorum of the Twelve by Brigham Young after the excommunication of Orson Pratt. When Pratt returned to the Quorum in 1843, Lyman was called to be a counselor in the First Presidency, but he was not sustained in a general conference, either as apostle or counselor, during the Prophet's lifetime.
1847. A member of the Council of Fifty since 1844, Lyman was selected to travel in the Brigham Young pioneer company. 1850. After three years in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young called Lyman and Charles C. Rich to colonize California. They purchased a large ranch and founded San Bernardino, which within four years had a population of 1,400. San Bernardino became a gathering place for California Mormons, a resting and supply station for missionaries, and the disembarking point for immigrants from the Pacific missions. The colony was disbanded in 1857 when the Saints were called to Utah to defend the territory against the federal Expeditionary Force. 1862. Called to colonize Fillmore, Utah: "President Young said he wished me to sell my real estate and settle in Fillmore and gather my family to that place, to make them a home and to educate my children, which I could not do for them in their present scattered condition. … I have commenced building a home, having been thirty years without one."
From 1855 to 1859 Lyman denied Christ's special divinity and vicarious blood atonement in several conference sermons. A renowned orator, he told the Saints that Christ "was, simply, a holy man. … There was nothing about Jesus but the Priesthood that he held and the Gospel that he proclaimed that was so very singular." To counter objections, Lyman argued, "'Well,' says one, 'you do not think much of Jesus.' Yes I do. 'How much?' I think he was a good man." Lyman acknowledged that Jesus "died for the world," but added, "and what man that ever died for the truth that he died for, did not die for the world? … Have we found redemption through them? … We may talk of men being redeemed by the efficacy of [Christ's] blood; but the truth is that that blood had no efficacy to wash away our sins. That must depend upon our own action." 1862. Finally charged with teaching false doctrine while in Scotland, Lyman apologized to the First Presidency, and signed a letter asking the Saints for forgiveness. 1867. Accused again of teaching the same doctrine, Lyman was dropped from the Quorum of the Twelve, disfellowshipped, and advised by President Young to find activities employing his head and hands so "health of mind and body will attend you." 1869. Lyman joined the "New Movement," organized to oppose the political and economic control of Brigham Young in Utah. New Movement leaders, attracted to spiritualism, named Lyman president of their Church of Zion. 1870. Excommunicated. Caroline Lyman left Amasa despite his pleading with her to stay. She was sealed to Joseph Smith. Her youngest daughter recorded that Caroline "felt she must have the protection and the security of the Priesthood in her and her children's lives. … Evidently in her dire circumstances she felt that the Prophet was the only secure anchor to be sealed to."
In the 1850s Lyman had secretly participated in seances and automatic writing with like-minded Mormons in San Bernardino. He openly embraced spiritualism during the last years of his life. His daughter Hilda often served as a [p.166] medium during his seances. "Such deceased relatives as his father, father-in-law, children and aunt delivered comforting messages from beyond the veil. Likewise former Mormon leaders Heber C. Kimball, Hyrum Smith, Jedediah Grant, Newell K. Whitney, and Joseph Smith himself paid occasional visits."
1877. February 4: Died of pneumonia in Fillmore at the age of sixty-four. Buried in Fillmore Cemetery, wearing a black suit and black boots.
1898. Martha Lyman Roper, eldest daughter of Amasa and Caroline Lyman, had a "manifestation or dream wherein her father was calling for help. When she heard and saw him she had the impulse to run and embrace him but he warned her to beware and pointed out a great yawning chasm between them, over which she couldn't go to him nor he to her. He requested Martha to appeal to his son, Marion, to help him for he was the only one in a position to do so. He also told her that he was very weary and tired of his black clothes and that he did so want to be with his family, his wives and his children whom he loved and longed for." 1908. May 7: At Caroline's funeral, Francis M. Lyman told "President [Joseph F.] Smith of my desire to do something for father. Told him of my dreams and my Sister Martha's, how father had appeared to us and pied his cause. How President Snow told me that there was no doubt but that he could come out all right in the end." A short time later Francis M. told his son Richard, "This is one of the most important and happiest days of my life. In the temple today, President Joseph F. Smith placed his hands on my head, and by proxy restored my father to all his former blessings, authority and power."
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