Background
Theodore Lyman was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, the son of Theodore Lyman, a man of broad culture and varied interests, and Mary Elizabeth Henderson. He was reared in a home of affluence and culture.
(Excerpt from Papers Relating to the Garrison Mob In Octo...)
Excerpt from Papers Relating to the Garrison Mob In October of 1835 there had come to Boston Mr. George Thompson, a Scotchman, who proposed to speak publicly in favor of the abolition of negro slavery. This was a discussion which few people then heard patiently, especially from the lips of a foreigner; and a considerable excitement followed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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military politician scientist Soldier Zoologist
Theodore Lyman was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, the son of Theodore Lyman, a man of broad culture and varied interests, and Mary Elizabeth Henderson. He was reared in a home of affluence and culture.
In his early youth, Lyman was instructed by private tutors. In 1855 he was graduated from Harvard College, and at the time of his graduation he stood fourth in his class. He took the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1858.
In 1850s Lyman worked under the tutelage of Louis Agassiz in the Lawrence Scientific School, joined an expedition of scientific research in Florida waters, and began the publication of papers on Ophiurans. In 1859 he was elected one of the original trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and somewhat later treasurer. For the next score of years he wrote numerous articles on the Ophiuridae, which appeared in the publications of learned societies. From 1861 to 1863 Lyman was abroad in the pursuit of his scientific work and securing collections for the Museum.
The outbreak of the Civil War did not seem to stir him greatly. The progress of the war, however, awakened his interests and a letter from General Meade whose acquaintance he had made on the Florida research expedition, inviting him to be a member of his staff, offered him an opportunity for service in the Unionist cause. He was commissioned as volunteer member of the staff of Governor Andrew, serving without pay, and in the autumn of 1863 joined Meade's headquarters with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was a personal aide-de-camp of the General and served bravely and efficiently under Meade for the remainder of the war. Upon his return to civil life he read before the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts numerous papers on phases of these operations.
In 1866 Lyman became chairman of the newly established Fisheries Commission of Massachusetts and was elected Overseer of Harvard College in 1868. Founder of the Reform Club, he was elected to Congress in 1882 on the issue of civil-service reform on an independent ticket, but he failed of reelection largely because of the disappearance of the reform issue, and because of the beginning of the malady which was to make him a helpless invalid for the last dozen years of his life.
Besides numerous articles written for scientific societies, he contributed a short biography of his father to the Memorial Biographies of the New-England Historic Genealogical Society (vol. I, 1880) and published Papers Relating to the Garrison Mob (1870) in vindication of the action of his father who was mayor of Boston at the time of the riots.
(Excerpt from Papers Relating to the Garrison Mob In Octo...)
Lyman opposed to the abolitionists and did not vote for Lincoln in 1860. He was a Republican representative to the Forty-eighth Congress.
Lyman was a member of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts. In 1884 he became the president of the American Fish Cultural Association. He was also active in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
Lyman was attractive in physical appearance, of great personal charm, with a keen intelligence and sense of humor.
Quotes from others about the person
"His rare common sense acted as a balance wheel in its somewhat hectic development. " - George R. Agassiz
Lyman married on November 28, 1856, Elizabeth Russell, daughter of George Robbert Russell, a successful merchant of Dorchester, Massachusetts.