Frederick Schwartz Lyman (July 25, 1837 – April 14, 1918) was a surveyor, rancher, judge, and politician on
Hawaii Island
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii ) is the largest island in the United States, located in the state of Hawaii. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of , it has 63% of t ...
.
Life
Frederick Schwartz Lyman was born July 25, 1837, in
Hilo, Hawaii
Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. It is the fourth-largest settlement i ...
. His middle name is sometimes spelled "Swartz".
His father was
David Belden Lyman
David Belden Lyman (July 28, 1803 – October 4, 1884) was an early American missionary to Hawaii who opened a boarding school for Hawaiians. His wife Sarah Joiner Lyman (1805–1885) taught at the boarding school and kept an important journal. Th ...
(1803–1868) and mother was Sarah Joiner Lyman (1805–1885). The couple were early missionaries who founded Hilo Boarding School. His boyhood home is now the
Lyman House Memorial Museum
The Lyman House Memorial Museum, also known as the Lyman Museum and Lyman House, is a Hilo, Hawaii-based natural history museum founded in 1931 in the Lyman family mission house, originally built in 1838. The main collections were moved to an ad ...
.
He attended
Punahou School
Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...
(known as Oahu College at the time) from 1850 through 1860.
He and schoolmate
Samuel Thomas Alexander
Samuel Thomas Alexander (October 29, 1836 – September 10, 1904) co-founded a major agricultural and transportation business in the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Early life
In November 1831, the Reverend William Patterson Alexander (1805–1884) and Mary An ...
left briefly to seek their fortunes in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, but soon returned after finding the
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
had already run its course.
In July 1857 he worked as tax assessor for
Hawaii Island
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii ) is the largest island in the United States, located in the state of Hawaii. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of , it has 63% of t ...
. He continued working as surveyor and tax assessor during school vacations and after graduation.
He was required to record people's ages for the land they owned, but since
ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii is the period of Hawaiian history preceding the unification in 1810 of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great. Traditionally, researchers estimated the first settlement of the Hawaiian islands as having occurred sporadicall ...
did not use the Christian calendar, he used oral tradition calibrated with a list of major events. One of these was the unusually explosive eruption of
Kīlauea
Kīlauea ( , ) is an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. Located along the southeastern shore of the Big Island of Hawaii, the volcano is between 210,000 and 280,000 years old and emerged above sea level about 100,000 years ago. Hi ...
known as ''
Keonehelelei'', "the falling sands".
He married Isabella Chamberlain (1838–1901), daughter of Levi Chamberlain, another missionary, on February 16, 1861 and had six children. Isabella's childhood home is now the
Mission Houses Museum
The Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives Honolulu, Hawaii, was established in 1920 by the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, a private, non-profit organization and genealogical society, on the 100th anniversary of the arrival of ...
. They moved to a ranch to raise various livestock such as sheep and goats
at Keaīwa in the remote
Kaū district to raise a family.
Lady Franklin was a guest during her search for her husband, the lost explorer
Sir John Franklin
Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...
.
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
was a guest on his 1866 visit.
Lyman became a judge, first a district magistrate in Kaū in 1867.
However, a series of disasters struck the otherwise quiet bucolic area in 1868.
Letters to his brother David Brainerd Lyman (1840–1914) describe a massive eruption of
Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa ( or ; Hawaiian: ; en, Long Mountain) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano (as opposed to subaqueous volcanoes) in both mass and ...
on their ranch accompanied by a series of earthquakes from March 27 to March 31. His eyewitness observations, sometimes called the "best account" of the events, has been used by scientists for many years.
A few days later the powerful April 2,
1868 Hawaii earthquake
The 1868 Hawaii earthquake was the largest recorded in the history of Hawaii island, with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). The earthquake occurred at 4 p.m. local time on April 2, 1868 and caused ...
, destroyed their house and most others in the area. A massive landslide triggered by the shock killed much of his livestock.
From one of the letters:
"It was impossible to stand, we had to sit on the ground, bracing with hands and feet to keep from rolling over. In the midst of it we saw burst out... what we supposed to be an immense river of molten lava (which afterwards proved to be red earth), which rushed down its headlong course and across the plain below, ... swallowing up everything in its way, trees, houses, cattle, horses, goats and men. ... After the hard shaking had ceased, all along the sea-shore the sea was boiling and foaming furiously, all red, for about an eighth of a mile from the shore, and the shore was covered by the sea."
The resulting
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
killed many of the witnesses who were living at lower elevations. It was the largest earthquake in modern recorded history of the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
.
This convinced the family to return to town, where he looked for whatever employment he could.
After moving back to Hilo, he started a tanning and saddle business, with William Alfred Todd as partner.
Lyman became a Circuit judge from 1869 through 1893. He was fluent in the
Hawaiian language
Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language o ...
, and had the Hawaiian nickname "Pele", a pun based on the volcano goddess
Pele and the Hawaiian version of "Freddie".
From 1879 through 1888 he acted as secretary for the
Royal Governor of Hawaii Island, first
Princess Likelike
Likelike (; Miriam Likelike Kekāuluohi Keahelapalapa Kapili; January 13, 1851February 2, 1887) was a princess of the Hawaiian Kingdom and member of the reigning House of Kalākaua. She was born in Honolulu, on the island of Oʻahu. Likelike ...
, and then
Victoria Kinoiki Kekaulike
Victoria Kūhiō Kinoiki Kekaulike II (1843–1884) was a Princess of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Her name also sometimes spelled as Kinoike Kekaulike has been written as Mary Kinoiki Kekaulike in many sources. Her name Kekaulike translates as "the ...
.
Although not directly involved in the 1893
overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a ''coup d'état'' against Queen Liliʻuokalani, which took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu and led by the Committee of Safety (Hawaii), Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign ...
, his fortunes grew as he advocated ties to the United States. He invested in real estate, and various agricultural enterprises around Hilo, experimenting in
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
,
cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
, and
arrowroot
Arrowroot is a starch obtained from the rhizomes (rootstock) of several tropical plants, traditionally ''Maranta arundinacea'', but also Florida arrowroot from ''Zamia integrifolia'', and tapioca from cassava (''Manihot esculenta''), which is oft ...
.
In 1894 he was a delegate to the convention to write a constitution for the
Republic of Hawaii
The Republic of Hawaii ( Hawaiian: ''Lepupalika o Hawaii'') was a short-lived one-party state in Hawaii between July 4, 1894, when the Provisional Government of Hawaii had ended, and August 12, 1898, when it became annexed by the United State ...
.
He was elected to the Senate of the Republic in 1895, and reelected through 1898.
He was president of the Hilo & Hawaii Telephone Company (now part of
Hawaiian Telcom
Hawaiian Telcom, Inc., is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) or dominant local telephone company, serving the state of Hawaii. In 2005, Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc., was formed by The Carlyle Group, following its purchase of the Hawaiian ...
), 1882–1885, organizer of the original Hilo Electric Light Company in 1894 (now part of
HEI), and its president until 1911.
From 1897 to 1918 he ran an insurance business. He worked with
William Matson
William Matson (born Wilhelm Mattson) (October 18, 1849 in Lysekil – October 11, 1917) was a Swedish-born American shipping executive. He was the founder of Matson Navigation Company.
Early life
Wilhelm Matson said he was born on October 18, 18 ...
to promote Hawaii as a tourist attraction, leading to the establishment of
Matson Navigation Company Matson may refer to:
*Matson (surname)
*Matson, Gloucester, England, a suburb of Gloucester
*Matson, Missouri, an unincorporated community
*2586 Matson, an asteroid
* Matson, Inc., a shipping company, formerly Matson Navigation Company
*Matson Film ...
.
He donated land for use in schools, churches, and parks.
Isabella died on May 16, 1901, and he died in Hilo on April 14, 1918.
Brother
Rufus Anderson Lyman
Rufus Anderson Lyman (June 23, 1842 – July 4, 1910) was a son of a missionary who became a lawyer and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii, founded the Paauhau Sugar Plantation Company, and had many notable descendants.
Life
He was born on Ju ...
also became active in politics and business (they were partners in several ventures).
Son Levi Chamberlain Lyman was born December 16, 1866, and served 25 years as principal of the Hilo Boarding School, from 1897–1922.
After a fire in 1927 destroyed the original 1856 building, Levi Lyman phased out church control of the school in favor of public schools of the
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...
.
Other children were teacher Ellen Goodale Lyman (born November 30, 1861), twins
pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...
rancher Frederick S. Lyman, Jr. (also known as Frederick Snowden Lyman, born May 7, 1863), and physician Francis Anderson Lyman (May 7, 1863 – October 22, 1917), businessman Ernest Everts Lyman, and Esther Rosalie Lyman (who married William McCluskey).
Family tree
References
Further reading
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyman, Frederick Swartz
People from Hilo, Hawaii
1837 births
1918 deaths
Ranchers from Hawaii
Hawaiian Kingdom judges
Republic of Hawaii politicians
Businesspeople from Hawaii
Punahou School alumni