David Belden Lyman was a missionary born in New Hartford, Connecticut, on 28 July, 1803. He graduated from Williams in 1828, studied theology at Andover, and was ordained in Hanover, New Hampshire. On 3 November, 1831, he married Sarah Joiner of Royalton, Vermont who was born there on 29 November, 1805. The day after their marriage they joined a party of nineteen missionaries that sailed from Boston to the Hawaiian islands. They were among some of the early missionaries in Hawaii, the 5th group sent by the ABCFM, and arrived there in May of the following year.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyman were assigned to the station at Hilo, then one of the remotest of the group, but now a beautiful and thriving town. Even before Mr. Lyman had entirely mastered the language, he was placed in charge of the Hilo church and of its outlying dependencies. Here he preached, taught, and traveled incessantly, and with the most promising results. In 1836, the Lyman's opened a Boarding School for boys in Hilo which would educate many notable Hawaiian leaders, including Joseph Nawahi. A Girls Boarding School soon followed in 1839. With Mr. Lyman's supervision and a garden plot, the pupils were thus supplied with food mainly through their own labor.
Mr. Lyman continued his work until failing strength compelled him in 1873 to give up the charge of the school to younger hands. His entire career as a missionary covered a period of fifty-two years, unbroken by any vacation or by any absence from his field of labor other than that required by attendance at missionary meetings at Honolulu.
Staunch supporters of preserving the Hawaiian language, David Lyman's tombstone is itself in Hawaiian; thereon his name is written "Laimana". He died there in Hilo on 4Oct1884. His wife, Sarah, who kept a journal that became an important record of early contact history, soon followed him into death on 6Dec1885 in Hilo.
A song entitled 'Laimana' was written in honor of the Lyman's. "Laimana" is the Hawaii version of "Lyman" and translates to "layman".
The home in which they lived was turned into a museum by their descendants in 1931.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyman were assigned to the station at Hilo, then one of the remotest of the group, but now a beautiful and thriving town. Even before Mr. Lyman had entirely mastered the language, he was placed in charge of the Hilo church and of its outlying dependencies. Here he preached, taught, and traveled incessantly, and with the most promising results. In 1836, the Lyman's opened a Boarding School for boys in Hilo which would educate many notable Hawaiian leaders, including Joseph Nawahi. A Girls Boarding School soon followed in 1839. With Mr. Lyman's supervision and a garden plot, the pupils were thus supplied with food mainly through their own labor.
Mr. Lyman continued his work until failing strength compelled him in 1873 to give up the charge of the school to younger hands. His entire career as a missionary covered a period of fifty-two years, unbroken by any vacation or by any absence from his field of labor other than that required by attendance at missionary meetings at Honolulu.
Staunch supporters of preserving the Hawaiian language, David Lyman's tombstone is itself in Hawaiian; thereon his name is written "Laimana". He died there in Hilo on 4Oct1884. His wife, Sarah, who kept a journal that became an important record of early contact history, soon followed him into death on 6Dec1885 in Hilo.
A song entitled 'Laimana' was written in honor of the Lyman's. "Laimana" is the Hawaii version of "Lyman" and translates to "layman".
The home in which they lived was turned into a museum by their descendants in 1931.
David Belden Lyman was a missionary born in New Hartford, Connecticut, on 28 July, 1803. He graduated from Williams in 1828, studied theology at Andover, and was ordained in Hanover, New Hampshire. On 3 November, 1831, he married Sarah Joiner of Royalton, Vermont who was born there on 29 November, 1805. The day after their marriage they joined a party of nineteen missionaries that sailed from Boston to the Hawaiian islands. They were among some of the early missionaries in Hawaii, the 5th group sent by the ABCFM, and arrived there in May of the following year.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyman were assigned to the station at Hilo, then one of the remotest of the group, but now a beautiful and thriving town. Even before Mr. Lyman had entirely mastered the language, he was placed in charge of the Hilo church and of its outlying dependencies. Here he preached, taught, and traveled incessantly, and with the most promising results. In 1836, the Lyman's opened a Boarding School for boys in Hilo which would educate many notable Hawaiian leaders, including Joseph Nawahi. A Girls Boarding School soon followed in 1839. With Mr. Lyman's supervision and a garden plot, the pupils were thus supplied with food mainly through their own labor.
Mr. Lyman continued his work until failing strength compelled him in 1873 to give up the charge of the school to younger hands. His entire career as a missionary covered a period of fifty-two years, unbroken by any vacation or by any absence from his field of labor other than that required by attendance at missionary meetings at Honolulu.
Staunch supporters of preserving the Hawaiian language, David Lyman's tombstone is itself in Hawaiian; thereon his name is written "Laimana". He died there in Hilo on 4Oct1884. His wife, Sarah, who kept a journal that became an important record of early contact history, soon followed him into death on 6Dec1885 in Hilo.
A song entitled 'Laimana' was written in honor of the Lyman's. "Laimana" is the Hawaii version of "Lyman" and translates to "layman".
The home in which they lived was turned into a museum by their descendants in 1931.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyman were assigned to the station at Hilo, then one of the remotest of the group, but now a beautiful and thriving town. Even before Mr. Lyman had entirely mastered the language, he was placed in charge of the Hilo church and of its outlying dependencies. Here he preached, taught, and traveled incessantly, and with the most promising results. In 1836, the Lyman's opened a Boarding School for boys in Hilo which would educate many notable Hawaiian leaders, including Joseph Nawahi. A Girls Boarding School soon followed in 1839. With Mr. Lyman's supervision and a garden plot, the pupils were thus supplied with food mainly through their own labor.
Mr. Lyman continued his work until failing strength compelled him in 1873 to give up the charge of the school to younger hands. His entire career as a missionary covered a period of fifty-two years, unbroken by any vacation or by any absence from his field of labor other than that required by attendance at missionary meetings at Honolulu.
Staunch supporters of preserving the Hawaiian language, David Lyman's tombstone is itself in Hawaiian; thereon his name is written "Laimana". He died there in Hilo on 4Oct1884. His wife, Sarah, who kept a journal that became an important record of early contact history, soon followed him into death on 6Dec1885 in Hilo.
A song entitled 'Laimana' was written in honor of the Lyman's. "Laimana" is the Hawaii version of "Lyman" and translates to "layman".
The home in which they lived was turned into a museum by their descendants in 1931.
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