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Except for the journals, these papers were originally part of the Amy Brown Lyman collection (Mss 316). In 1974, an anonymous donor presented the journals to Rare Book Curator, Chad Flake. In 1989, a new collection was formed, bringing all the Richard R. Lyman papers together. For related papers and information see the Amy Brown Lyman Papers.
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Permission to publish material from Richard R. Lyman Collection must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.
Richard Roswell Lyman, a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), was born November 23, 1870, at Fillmore, Millard county, Utah, the son of Francis M. Lyman and Clara Caroline Callister. His father was president of the Council of the Twelve for thirteen years and a member of that Council thirty-six years. Amasa M. Lyman, the grandfather of Richard R. Lyman, was a member of the Council of the Twelve of the LDS Church for twenty-eight years. On his mother's side, Richard R. Lyman belongs to the fifth generation of members of the LDS Church. His great grandfather, John Smith, the Prophet's uncle, was one of the presiding Patriarchs of the Church. The mother of this Patriarch also belonged to the Church. Richard R. Lyman's grandmother, on his mother's side, was Caroline Smith Callister, the only sister of the late George A. Smith, who was a counselor to President Brigham Young. Of Richard R. Lyman it is said that during his childhood he never smiled and that while as a little fellow he would jump with delight, he was a strapping boy before he was induced to laugh.
In April, 1878, at the age of seven years, he moved with his father's family to Tooele, Tooele county, Utah, where his father had been called to preside over the Tooele Stake of Zion in the LDS Church. In a school house at Fillmore (where he began his education), with his face turned toward the south, Richard R. began to study geography. During his twenty-five or thirty years' experience as a teacher, and in his association with school teachers, he endeavored to impress the importance of having students who are beginning the study of geography and the use of maps do so facing the north. When he went to the school taught by William Foster, in the little adobe school house in Tooele, slabs with the round side up were used for the recitation benches; and when home-made wooden benches with backs were brought into the school room for recitation benches, the school children looked upon them as a great luxury.
Richard R. Lyman was baptized into the LDS Church July 29, 1879, and soon afterwards ordained a Deacon. For many years after that, he did duty as a Deacon in the Tooele Ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the age of eight (in the summer of 1879), Richard R. was placed in charge of his father's fine driving team and Concord buggy. While he was not big enough to hitch the team to the buggy, the team being unusually full of life, he took pride, under his father's direction and encouragement, in keeping the horses, harness, buggy and barn in clean and first class condition. In 1881-1882 he drove team for both his father and Heber J. Grant, President of the LDS Church, who had succeeded his father as president of the Tooele (UT) Stake. It always afforded the boy great joy to meet President Grant at the Tooele station or at Lake Point with his fine team. He said he will never forget with what relish he ate candy and raisins with President Grant as they rode together from the station or went about Tooele county on Stake business. While President Grant was in Salt Lake City attending to his personal business Richard R. Lyman, then about eleven years old, used to stay at the home of Pres. Grant's wife, Lucy Stringham Grant, to render what protection he could to her and her two baby daughters, Rachel and Lucy. The family prayers of that good woman as she knelt with her two little girls and the boy (Richard R. Lyman) made a wonderful impression upon the boy's mind. With a mother so saint-like and prayerful he says it is no surprise that the two little girls have developed into such model mothers and influential leaders among the young women of the Church.
In the fall of 1882, at the age of twelve, Richard R. was sent to Provo (UT) to attend school in the Brigham Young Academy. He was a student in that institution when the fire occurred which made it necessary to move the educational institution into another part of the city. Richard R. spent two summers working at the "Mill" located near E T City, on the shore of Great Salt Lake. Here he milked many cows, assisted in hauling logs for lumber out of the mountains, etc. This was also the place where he learned to swim and ride horses. While thus riding and herding in Tooele county Richard R. nearly always carried with him the New Testament, which was given to him by his mother, with instructions to read it frequently. In accordance with this instruction he read and reread of the life and works of the Great Master. The policy of President Francis M. Lyman was to put his boys to work while they were young, being much more anxious about the kind of training the boys received than the amount of money they were paid. For two years Richard R. worked at the ranch of Hyrum E. Booth, near Grantsville, and he regards the training given him and hard work he was required to do by Hyrum E. Booth and his industrious wife and family as one of the most valuable training that came into his life.
An expert gardener from England pruned the trees, planted and cared for the garden and did the irrigating on the two homes belonging to Francis M. Lyman in Tooele. When this work was turned over later to Richard R. as a boy, he followed the example set for him by the English gardener. The weeds were hoed with regularity, and the gravel walks about the home were carefully raked and crowned. He also cared for the trees, the vines, the flowers, the chickens and the cows. Following the example and teachings of his father, Richard R., during most of his boyhood, kept a daily journal, and perhaps the most striking feature contained in this record is the regularity with which the boy attended Priesthood meetings, Y.M.M.I.A. meetings, Sunday schools and other meetings at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In August, 1888, with his sister Mary, he went to the Brigham Young Academy at Provo to study. At that time this educational institution was under the able leadership of Karl G. Maeser. Richard R. was ordained a Teacher by Bishop Thomas Atkin Jr. Sept. 16, 1888. While attending school in Provo, Richard R. began a courtship with Miss Amy Brown, which would continue for a period of eight years. To this girl, whom he married September 9, 1896 (President Joseph F. Smith performing the ceremony), Richard R. always regards himself as greatly indebted for whatever degree of success has come to him in the business world, in the educational field or in Church work.
After a summer of hard work at Grantsville, Richard R. and his sister Mary were sent by their father to the Brigham Young College at Logan (UT), which institution then was under the direction of Dr. Joseph M. Tanner. During this school year (1889-1890), Richard R. began his labors as an assistant teacher in the college. While in Logan he took out special certificates in plane and solid geometry, algebra and physiology. The following year, in Provo (UT), his studies covered trigonometry, analytic geometry, theory of teaching, psychology, logic, surveying, physics and rhetoric. During the summer of 1890, Richard R. was employed as a bookkeeper in the combined jewelry and furniture store of T. B. Cardon & Co. at Logan, and during the summer of 1891 he was bookkeeper for the Utah Manufacturing & Building Co. at Mill Creek, near Salt Lake City (UT).
Thus far during his school life Richard R. had been required to furnish his own clothing, his own books and his own spending money, while his father had paid his tuition and board. When Richard R. now asked his father for an opportunity to go East to college, the father offered to lend him the necessary means for a period of four years, an offer which the son promptly accepted. Repaying this money and the interest on it at the rate of 10 percent required a period of seven years, the principal amounting to nearly $2500. Richard R. was ordained an Elder, August 29, 1891, by Joseph F. Smith and after receiving his endowments in the Logan Temple he went East to study. On his way East, Richard R. spent ten days with his mother at Manassa, Colorado, she and her family being at that time on the "underground." The ten days spent in Manassa are remembered vividly by Richard R. because they were the last ten days he spent with his mother. He separated from the family September 19, 1891, and his mother died September 21, 1892. He remembers with great gratitude how his dear mother prepared underclothing, socks and other necessities to serve him during his four years of college life.
While he attended the University at Ann Arbor (MI), primarily for the purpose of studying mathematics with the thought of teaching in the Brigham Young Academy at Provo, and while he registered in the department of civil engineering, he devoted a great deal of time to the study of literature, history and public speaking. During his sophomore year he was elected president of his class and was elected to the same position a second time during his senior year. Richard R. spent all his vacations in hard work; one was devoted to the study of chemistry at the University of Michigan, while two were devoted to traveling through the State selling school supplies for a business firm at Chicago (IL), and one was spent as assistant mine and railroad surveyor in the Tintic mining district, Utah.
In the Spring of 1895 he received the degree of Bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of Michigan. The school year 1895-1896 was spent in the Brigham Young Academy as principal of the High School in Provo (UT) and head of the department of mathematics and physics. Beginning in the fall of 1896 and continuing until the spring of 1918, Richard R. Lyman, in the University of Utah, passed through all the grades of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor and full professor in charge of the department of civil engineering. He held a full professorship and was head of the department for eighteen years and he held a professorship in the department of civil engineering.
With his family Professor Lyman spent the summer of 1902 doing advanced work in the University of Chicago (IL); thence he went to Cornell University (New York) where he was given a residence credit of three years. While there, with the class of 1903, he was graduated with the degree of M.C.E. (Master of Civil Engineering). In the spring of 1904 he was elected by the faculty of Cornell University to membership in the society of The Sigma Xi, a scientific organization into which only those who have achieved marked success and have unusual ability in the line of scientific investigation and research are supposed to be received. With the class of 1905 he was graduated with the degree of Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy). In one year he was awarded the only scholarship offered by the college of civil engineering and during another the only fellowship offered by that same department.
Richard R. Lyman began writing for publication while he was a student at the University of Michigan. He wrote a series of articles on "The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor," for the Juvenile Instructor, beginning in May, 1894. In addition to writing a good many articles of a non-technical character, he wrote scientific articles for the Engineering Record, the Engineering News, and for the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. For the University of Utah Experiment Station, he prepared one bulletin entitled "The Construction and Maintenance of Earth Roads," and another on "The Measurement of Flowing Streams." For his article entitled "Measurement of the Flow of Streams by Approved Forms of Weirs with New Formulas and Diagrams," which was published in Vol. LXXVII, page 1189 (1914) of the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, he was awarded the "J. James R. Croe's Gold Medal," for the year 1915. This prize is awarded only for a paper which is "judged worthy of the award of this prize for its merit as a contribution to engineering science." From 1909 to 1918 he served as vice-chairman of the Utah State Road Commission. During this nine years of service the work of the State Road Commission, from a beginning with little funds, so advanced that at the expiration of this time the State Road Commission was expending in the neighborhood of three-fourths of a million dollars annually. The Utah State Road Commission was created in 1909 and Richard R. Lyman was one of its original members and its first vice-chairman, which position he held during the whole nine years.
He served as city engineer of Provo (UT), was transitman on a railroad survey from Springville through Hobble Creek Canyon toward the Uintah reservation for Jesse Knight in 1898, and designed and superintended the construction of waterworks systems in nearly all the towns and smaller cities of Utah and many in Idaho and Wyoming. For years he conducted an office as a civil and consulting engineer. At various times he served as chief engineer and consulting engineer for the following companies: Melville Irrigation Company, Delta, Utah; Deseret Irrigation Company, Oasis, Utah; Oasis Land & Irrigation Company, with headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah; Delta Land & Water Company of Salt Lake City, Utah; Utah County Light & Power Company, American Fork, Utah, and Utah Copper Company of Salt Lake City. He was one of the original directors of the Inter-mountain Life Insurance Company and served as vice-president of this company. He was also president of the Giant Racer Company, vice-president of the Ensign Amusement Company, director of the Pleasant Green Water Company, president of the Lyman-Callister Company, and director of Heber J. Grant & Co.
Brother Lyman had experience in the Brigham Young Academy administering the Sacrament and doing other similar service. From the fall of 1895 to the summer of 1896 he acted as a counselor to Bryant S. Hinckley, superintendent of the Mutual Improvement Associations of the Utah Stake, when the Utah Stake embraced all of Utah county. In 1897 (September 12), he was ordained a High Priest by President Angus M. Cannon and set apart as superintendent of the Y.M.M.I.A. of Salt Lake Stake (UT), which Stake then included the whole of Salt Lake county. He continued to serve in this capacity until the spring of 1902, when he, with his family, went to the University of Chicago. For several years Brother Lyman acted as supervisor of the parent's classes of the Ensign Stake. He was ordained an Apostle and set apart as a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles by President Joseph F. Smith April 7, 1918, in the Salt Lake Temple, assisted by Presidents Anthon H. Lund and Charles W. Penrose and the members of the Council of the Twelve. He served as President of the British and European Mission, 1936-1938. Richard R. Lyman was excommunicated from the LDS Church on November 12, 1943 [see the notice in Deseret News, November 13, p 1]. He was rebaptized into the LDS Church on October 27, 1954 and died in full fellowship December 31, 1963, at the age of 93.
Richard R. Lyman and his wife, Amy B. Lyman, have had two children, namely, Wendell Brown Lyman, born December 18, 1897, in Salt Lake City (UT), and Margaret Lyman, born September 15, 1903, at Ithaca, New York. Amy B. Lyman was the general secretary of the Relief Society of the LDS Church. Wendell B. Lyman was ordained an Elder in the LDS Church by his father June 11, 1920, and served on an LDS mission to the Northwestern States in the 1920's.
Richard R. Lyman was involved in the Utah religious, social, educational, and business scene from his birth in 1870 to his death on December 31, 1963. His papers document some of his achievements in these areas, with the bulk of the material related to his religious ideals and service.
The papers consist of biographical materials and memorabilia, journals, and writings, including typescripts of published biographies of Richard R.'s grandfather, Amasa M. Lyman and his father, Francis M. Lyman. The latter two were authored by Albert R. Lyman.
Richard R. Lyman's journals cover only a small segment of his life, that from 1918 to 1937 with important gaps. The early journals record his daily activities and also served as notebooks of ideas he jotted down during meetings notes to be used in his talks. In his records of conferences, he listed the speakers and the time each person started to speak. On October 5, 1919, for example, he listed ten speakers for General Conference, gave time from three minutes to twenty minutes; the Sunday School Conference for that day had twenty-three speakers, given one to thirteen minutes each. For each day he consistently recorded the date, time and his location.
Among the subjects covered by Lyman's interests were religion, church education concerns, irrigation and dam projects, patriotism, League of Nations, boy scout work, service men, returned missionaries, child welfare and self-improvement. He expressed great love for his family, told of trips made with them and revealed his impressions about places he visited. He usually gave histories of the countries and described the people he met. However, he revealed very little about his personal life.
In 1925 Lyman's style began to change. He started giving more detailed accounts of his activities and thoughts. The lists of speakers were no longer given and he revealed much more of his own reactions to his experiences. He gave a very good description of airplanes, parachutes and their use including his first flight. He told of the beginning of the Boulder Dam, the planning and trips the engineers took to study the terrain involved. His final journal is a record of his assignment as Mission President in Europe (1836-1838). His love for cultural things is revealed in his discussion of Art Galleries, Concerts, and historical spots he visited. He gave a very good description of the Coronation of the King of England in 1937 and gave a view of Europe as Hitler was rising to power.
Selected notes and entries which reveal his diverse interests are as follows: "Must have the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job and the persistence of the devil."
"In 1902, only the intense interest of President Roosevelt made it possible to get the reclamation law."
"Monday, November 24, 1919, attended 'celebration' held because Zion Canyon has just been designated 'Zion Canyon National Park.' I think the bill making this a National Park was signed by Pres. Wilson last Thursday, November 20, 1919."
"John Henry Evans 'We must begin to train young people to do what we want the next generation to do. By training we do not mean scolding or nagging. We tell, we scold too much, we train too little."
"It is the same steam in an engine that makes it go forward as makes it go backward."
"I'd rather be a one legged optimist than to be a centipede with a grouch."
"Show me a man who has made a great success who worked but 8 hours a day."
"Long sermons, and long prayers do not count for much, if it does not bring right living. It is what we do and what we are that counts."
In 1929 "I am sure that very soon our great distances will be traveled in the air. The airplane looked almost like a street car inside and soon it may be as common or more common than street cars. But a few years will be required to make great progress in air travel is my opinion."
"Met with Dr. Mead and Mr. Walter on Boulder dam site for a planning meeting for the dam. Continued meetings for establishing or determining the amount of power the surrounding states will use and cost. Felt that the success or failure of the Reclamation Service depended on the success or failure of Boulder Dam."
January 29, 1937. Dresden, Germany. "These men are much opposed to the Jews. The army man says the World War was brought on by the Jews of England for the profit they expected to make. I say this officer of the German army will in my opinion make a good successor to Herr Hitler if they need a successor."
February 19, 1937, Brussels, Belgium. "Many soldiers were marching and shooting for practice while we were there. Many soldiers marched into two too through rain and slush. The whole world seems to be preparing for war although it is called defense. It is my personal view that if the world ever has to tackle Germany again there will be no Germany remaining when the world gets through next time."
Monday, June 7, 1937, Harve, England. "Stratford upon Avon. We were greatly pleased with the 'Shakespeare Memorial Theater' and the interesting and humorous production of 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'. Perhaps the play should be changed now to 'The Merry Wife of the Duke of Windsor' since he and Miss Simpson were married last Thursday, June 3."
A publication entitled "Emeritus Club, Brigham Young University, Origin and Original Organization," partially documents Richard's association with higher education and his love for BYU, while articles from various other publications point out his status and talent as a civil engineer and a writer.
The papers also contain information on Lyman's father and grandfather. Newspaper clippings contain an account of the death of his father, Francis M. Lyman. A partial typescript draft of his father's biography, authored by Albert T. Lyman, is found in two folders. His grandfather's biography "A Mormon Patriarch -- Amasa R. Lyman and His Eight Wives," also written by Albert R. Lyman, contains a history of the family's beginnings in New England, their involvement in early Church history, their journeys to Utah and resettlements in California, southern Utah, and central Utah. These writings form their own category at the end of the collection under "Albert R. Lyman."
For information on the rich history of the Lyman family see the following: