Theodore Lyman (militiaman)

Theodore Lyman (1792-1849) was an American philanthropist, politician, and author, born in Boston. He graduated at Harvard in 1810, visited Europe (1812-14), studied law, and with Edward Everett, revisited Europe in 1817-19. From 1819 to 1822 he was aid-de-camp to the Governor of Massachusetts and became brigadier general of militia in 1823, from 1820 to 1825 he served in the State Legislature, and from 1834 to 1835 he was mayor of Boston. He was a steadfast opponent of the radical Abolitionists, and in August, 1835, presided over a pro-slavery meeting in Boston; though a few weeks later, during an anti-Abolitionist riot, he rescued William Lloyd Garrison from the mob and confined him to jail to save his life. He was a liberal benefactor of the State Horticultural Society and of the Farm School and was the founder of the Lyman School for Boys, a reform school to which, altogether, he gave $72,000. He published:

Three Weeks in Paris (1814)
The Political State of Italy (1820)
Account of the Hartford Convention (1823); in which he defended those who were concerned in that convention
The Diplomacy of the United States with Foreign Nations (1828); a work which is still valuable for the period covered.

Preceded by Charles Wells	Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts 1834 - 1835	Succeeded by Samuel T. Armstrong

This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.