Francis M. Lyman

Family Background:

1840. January 12: Born Francis Marion Lyman in Goodhope, Illinois, to future Apostle Amasa Lyman and Louisa Maria Tanner.

At seventeen, he married Rhoda Taylor ("My modesty made me a long time in solving the problem"). He married Clara Caroline Callister in 1869 and her sister Susan in 1884. Father of seventeen children, including Apostle Richard R. Lyman.

Teen-age Freighter

1855. As a fifteen-year-old freighter, Marion "took to drinking, and found that I really liked it … though it was miserable stuff, and I wonder we were not poisoned by it. … Freighters generally do their praying, if any, before they leave home or after they return, so nothing of that kind takes their attention while on the road."

"I had the pernicious habit of smoking cigarettes fairly well fastened upon me. It gave my father and mother very much concern lest one bad habit should be followed by another. The Mexicans of that [Mojave Desert] region were expert smokers, and would pass volumes of smoke out by the nose which, to such boys as me, appeared to be a very great accomplishment, and I strove to do likewise, or like-foolish, and succeeded. … I attempted to break my habit of smoking, and father, to stimulate my undertaking, offered me a number-one horse and saddle and outfit if I would persevere to succeed, but I failed."

Missionary

1856. Ordained an elder. "I was sixteen years old, six feet one and a half inches high, and weighed 184 pounds. I was notorious for my strength among the boys and small men. I was boisterous but not wicked."

Lyman was called on a mission to Europe with his apostle father, but the approach of the Utah Expeditionary Force cancelled all missions. The following year, he married Rhoda Taylor.

1859. As a nineteen-year-old husband and father, Lyman decided, "I could no longer be a Latter Day Saint in a manner satisfactory to myself without attending to my family and secret prayers." He learned to pray before his mission, and gave up tobacco at age twenty-five and alcohol at twenty-six.

1860. As Amasa Lyman was preparing to leave for another mission, Brigham Young learned that Marion was planning to manage the family farm in his father's absence. President Young declared he "would not leave him home for the price of a farm." As a newly-ordained seventy, Marion Lyman left for Europe with his cousin and close friend, Joseph F. Smith.

Colonizer

1863. Brigham Young called Marion to assist his father, Amasa, in colonizing Fillmore, Utah, where they jointly built the O.K. Flour Mill.

During his fourteen years in Fillmore, Lyman served as county recorder, superintendent of schools, prosecuting county attorney, officer in the Nauvoo Legion, and member of the Utah legislature.

1874. Joseph F. Smith and Marion Lyman served another mission to Europe. When he returned to Utah, Lyman brought three hundred immigrants with him.

1877. Supervised the colonization of Tooele, Utah, where he served as Tooele Stake president until 1880.

Apostle

1880. April: Called to the Council of Fifty. "This appears to be one of the greatest steps in my life."

October: Exploring southeastern Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona with Erastus Snow and others, Lyman learned he had been sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve when he read a conference report in the Deseret News.

During ordination, the First Presidency and members of the Twelve "told me that Father's robes had fallen on me, and their words so overcame me that I wept." Amasa Lyman had been excommunicated in 1870.

1889. Lyman's two years on the underground in Mexico and Canada produced wild rumors about the apostle. When he heard them, Wilford Woodruff thundered, "I might believe the report of a general earthquake, but the report that Francis M. Lyman is guilty of drunkenness and adultery, never, no never! That is something that can never be truthfully reported in heaven, on earth, or in hell."

Lyman refused to compromise with the government on plural marriage. "How we are to be pitied when we cannot face bonds and imprisonment, persecution or death for our holy religion. Latter-day Saints must be made of better stuff. O that the Lord will let me die before I cower like a whipped cur and yield to the infernal lash. I would a hundred times rather hear of a good man's death than to hear that he has yielded any principle of the gospel."

Following President George Q. Cannon's example, he surrendered to U.S. marshals and was fined $200 and sentenced to eighty-five days in the territorial "Pen."

When a suit of stripes could not be found to accommodate his 280 pounds, Lyman had to settle for a mere "striped hat."

Financial Benefactor

Lyman served as a director of Zion's Savings Bank and Trust, Consolidated Wagon and Machine, Home Fire Insurance, and the Heber J. Grant Company.

1893. When the federal government confiscated Church assets over $50,000, Lyman and other Church leaders signed personal notes to guarantee the Church's credit:

"The possibility of losing all my earthly possessions by endorsing with the Church, troubles me only so far as it may hurt people I am owing ... If it be necessary that I must be sacrificed, I do now and for all time to come acknowledge the hand of the Lord in taking it from me, as [p.176] freely as I acknowledged His hand in receiving it from Him. 'The Lord giveth and Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord!'"

A few months later, Lyman exuberantly recorded, "President Cleveland signed the bill to return the personal property of the Church, $300,000 ... This is a great blessing from the hand of the Lord for He has done it and not men."

President of the Quorum of the Twelve

1899. When anti-Mormons began disclosing the names of men who had married plural wives after Wilford Woodruffs 1890 Manifesto, Lyman began a private campaign to discourage men from entering plural marriage, despite the encouragement they were receiving from other apostles. He made a public example of a neighbor who unwisely claimed to have entered into an authorized plural marriage: Lyman instigated civil and ecclesiastical actions which resulted in the man's imprisonment and excommunication. As more plural marriages were performed by other apostles in Mexico, Canada, and the United States during the next five years, Lyman quietly tried to counter their influence.

1903. Became president of the Quorum of the Twelve, serving until his death thirteen years later.

1904. The disclosures of the Reed Smoot investigation (1904-07), Joseph F. Smith's "second manifesto" (1904), and the resignation of Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley (1905) encouraged Lyman to intensify his campaign to stop new plural marriages. As president of the Quorum of the Twelve, he spearheaded numerous investigations and Church court actions against post-manifesto polygamists.

Death

1916. November 18: Died of pneumonia at the age of seventy-six. Buried in the Tooele, Utah, Cemetery.

Sources
Lyman, Albert R. Amasa Mason Lyman. Fillmore, Utah: Melvin A. Lyman, 1957.
Lyman, Albert R. Francis Marion Lyman: Apostle. Delta, Utah: Melvin A. Lyman, 1958.
Salt Lake City, Utah. University of Utah. J. Willard Marriott Library. Samuel W. Taylor Papers.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents


	Francis M. Lyman (1840-1916)

			Francis M. Lyman was president of the Quorum of the Twelve. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.


	Family Background: 1840. January 12: Born Francis Marion Lyman in Goodhope, Illinois, to future Apostle Amasa Lyman and Louisa Maria Tanner. At seventeen, he married Rhoda Taylor ("My modesty made me a long time in solving the problem"). He married Clara Caroline Callister in 1869 and her sister Susan in 1884. Father of seventeen children, including Apostle Richard R. Lyman. Teen-age Freighter 1855. As a fifteen-year-old freighter, Marion "took to drinking, and found that I really liked it … though it was miserable stuff, and I wonder we were not poisoned by it. … Freighters generally do their praying, if any, before they leave home or after they return, so nothing of that kind takes their attention while on the road." "I had the pernicious habit of smoking cigarettes fairly well fastened upon me. It gave my father and mother very much concern lest one bad habit should be followed by another. The Mexicans of that [Mojave Desert] region were expert smokers, and would pass volumes of smoke out by the nose which, to such boys as me, appeared to be a very great accomplishment, and I strove to do likewise, or like-foolish, and succeeded. … I attempted to break my habit of smoking, and father, to stimulate my undertaking, offered me a number-one horse and saddle and outfit if I would persevere to succeed, but I failed." Missionary 1856. Ordained an elder. "I was sixteen years old, six feet one and a half inches high, and weighed 184 pounds. I was notorious for my strength among the boys and small men. I was boisterous but not wicked." Lyman was called on a mission to Europe with his apostle father, but the approach of the Utah Expeditionary Force cancelled all missions. The following year, he married Rhoda Taylor. 1859. As a nineteen-year-old husband and father, Lyman decided, "I could no longer be a Latter Day Saint in a manner satisfactory to myself without attending to my family and secret prayers." He learned to pray before his mission, and gave up tobacco at age twenty-five and alcohol at twenty-six. 1860. As Amasa Lyman was preparing to leave for another mission, Brigham Young learned that Marion was planning to manage the family farm in his father's absence. President Young declared he "would not leave him home for the price of a farm." As a newly-ordained seventy, Marion Lyman left for Europe with his cousin and close friend, Joseph F. Smith. Colonizer 1863. Brigham Young called Marion to assist his father, Amasa, in colonizing Fillmore, Utah, where they jointly built the O.K. Flour Mill. During his fourteen years in Fillmore, Lyman served as county recorder, superintendent of schools, prosecuting county attorney, officer in the Nauvoo Legion, and member of the Utah legislature. 1874. Joseph F. Smith and Marion Lyman served another mission to Europe. When he returned to Utah, Lyman brought three hundred immigrants with him. 1877. Supervised the colonization of Tooele, Utah, where he served as Tooele Stake president until 1880. Apostle 1880. April: Called to the Council of Fifty. "This appears to be one of the greatest steps in my life." October: Exploring southeastern Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona with Erastus Snow and others, Lyman learned he had been sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve when he read a conference report in the Deseret News. During ordination, the First Presidency and members of the Twelve "told me that Father's robes had fallen on me, and their words so overcame me that I wept." Amasa Lyman had been excommunicated in 1870. 1889. Lyman's two years on the underground in Mexico and Canada produced wild rumors about the apostle. When he heard them, Wilford Woodruff thundered, "I might believe the report of a general earthquake, but the report that Francis M. Lyman is guilty of drunkenness and adultery, never, no never! That is something that can never be truthfully reported in heaven, on earth, or in hell." Lyman refused to compromise with the government on plural marriage. "How we are to be pitied when we cannot face bonds and imprisonment, persecution or death for our holy religion. Latter-day Saints must be made of better stuff. O that the Lord will let me die before I cower like a whipped cur and yield to the infernal lash. I would a hundred times rather hear of a good man's death than to hear that he has yielded any principle of the gospel." Following President George Q. Cannon's example, he surrendered to U.S. marshals and was fined $200 and sentenced to eighty-five days in the territorial "Pen." When a suit of stripes could not be found to accommodate his 280 pounds, Lyman had to settle for a mere "striped hat." Financial Benefactor Lyman served as a director of Zion's Savings Bank and Trust, Consolidated Wagon and Machine, Home Fire Insurance, and the Heber J. Grant Company. 1893. When the federal government confiscated Church assets over $50,000, Lyman and other Church leaders signed personal notes to guarantee the Church's credit: "The possibility of losing all my earthly possessions by endorsing with the Church, troubles me only so far as it may hurt people I am owing ... If it be necessary that I must be sacrificed, I do now and for all time to come acknowledge the hand of the Lord in taking it from me, as [p.176] freely as I acknowledged His hand in receiving it from Him. 'The Lord giveth and Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord!'" A few months later, Lyman exuberantly recorded, "President Cleveland signed the bill to return the personal property of the Church, $300,000 ... This is a great blessing from the hand of the Lord for He has done it and not men." President of the Quorum of the Twelve 1899. When anti-Mormons began disclosing the names of men who had married plural wives after Wilford Woodruffs 1890 Manifesto, Lyman began a private campaign to discourage men from entering plural marriage, despite the encouragement they were receiving from other apostles. He made a public example of a neighbor who unwisely claimed to have entered into an authorized plural marriage: Lyman instigated civil and ecclesiastical actions which resulted in the man's imprisonment and excommunication. As more plural marriages were performed by other apostles in Mexico, Canada, and the United States during the next five years, Lyman quietly tried to counter their influence. 1903. Became president of the Quorum of the Twelve, serving until his death thirteen years later. 1904. The disclosures of the Reed Smoot investigation (1904-07), Joseph F. Smith's "second manifesto" (1904), and the resignation of Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley (1905) encouraged Lyman to intensify his campaign to stop new plural marriages. As president of the Quorum of the Twelve, he spearheaded numerous investigations and Church court actions against post-manifesto polygamists. Death 1916. November 18: Died of pneumonia at the age of seventy-six. Buried in the Tooele, Utah, Cemetery. Sources Lyman, Albert R. Amasa Mason Lyman. Fillmore, Utah: Melvin A. Lyman, 1957. Lyman, Albert R. Francis Marion Lyman: Apostle. Delta, Utah: Melvin A. Lyman, 1958. Salt Lake City, Utah. University of Utah. J. Willard Marriott Library. Samuel W. Taylor Papers.