USA > North Carolina > Lives of the bishops of North Carolina from the establishment of the episcopate in that state down to the division of the diocese > Part 17
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into Canada; others westward took their course, and onward still, as new territories and States have arisen, quite to the Pacific Ocean." The Richard Lyman, last referred to, owned property in Lebanon, and died November 4, 1708. Among his children was a son, Jonathan, who was born on January 7, 1684, and went with his father from Northampton to Lebanon in 1696. This Jonathan married Lydia Loomis, and died on August 11, 1753. He was a noted Indian fighter. His son and namesake, Jonathan Lyman, was born on the 23d of April, 1712, and resided in Lebanon also. He died July 28, 1792. His wife was Bethiah Clark, to whom he was married on October 2, 1735. Among other children he had a son, William Lyman, born August 12, 1738. On February 12, 1761, William married Mary Parker. In his religious affiliations he was a Congrega- tionalist. He died April 2, 1827. One of his sons, Asa, was the father of Bishop Lyman, to whose history this sketch will be devoted.
The Reverend Asa Lyman, just mentioned, was born in Leba- non, Connecticut, on the 24th of February, 1777. He graduated from Yale in 1797, one of his class-mates being the Reverend Bethel Judd, who afterwards, for a short while, was Rector of Saint John's Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and also president of the convention at New Bern which reorganized the Diocese of North Carolina in 1817. Mr. Lyman became a Con- gregational clergyman, at times being compelled by ill health to retire from the ministry and take up educational work. For a while he was also engaged in mercantile pursuits, being a dealer in books. A few years before his death he removed to Clinton, New York, for the purpose of educating his sons at Hamilton College in that place. He died at Clinton in the year 1836. His wife was Mary Benedict, daughter of Aaron Benedict, and a member of an old colonial family. In addition to other children (including Bishop Lyman) the Reverend Asa Lyman left a son, the Reverend Father Dwight Edwards Lyman, who was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
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The above facts, relative to the ancestry of Bishop Lyman, we have gathered from a work published in 1872, entitled Genealogy of the Lyman Family in Great Britain and America, by the Reverend Lyman Coleman, D. D., a member of the faculty of Lafayette College, in Easton, Pennsylvania.
In the account above set forth, we have spoken only of the direct ancestry of Bishop Lyman, as space will not permit us to go into the history of the widely divergent branches of the numerous and distinguished family to which he belonged. As colonists, soldiers, clergymen, scholars, philanthropists, and men of affairs in general, bearers of the name had exercised a whole- some influence in the communities wherein they dwelt, long be- fore his own achievements added to the honors so worthily won.
The Right Reverend THEODORE BENEDICT LYMAN, D. D., LL. D., D. C. L., fourth Bishop of North Carolina and one hun- dred and third in the succession of the American Episcopate, was born in Brighton, Massachusetts, on the 27th day of No- vember, 1815. He graduated from Hamilton College, at Clin- ton, New York, in 1837, being valedictorian of his class. Hav- ing determined to enter the sacred ministry, he later became a student at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, and graduated from that institution in 1840. Immediately after his graduation he removed to Maryland, and was ordered deacon in Christ Church, Baltimore, September 20, 1840, by the Right Reverend William Rollinson Whittingham, who had been ele- vated to the Episcopate only three days before. At Hagerstown, Maryland, fifteen months later (December 19, 1841), he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Whittingham.
Between the years 1841 and 1850, Mr. Lyman served as Rec- tor of Saint John's Church at Hagerstown. While there he ren- dered a great service to the cause of education by being the chief co-worker with Bishop Whittingham in founding the College of Saint James. In a monograph by the Reverend Hall Harrison, published in Doctor Bernard C. Steiner's Ilistory of Education in Maryland, there is some account of this movement. It seems
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that Bishop Whittingham desired to establish an educational institution for boys, and opened, in October, 1842, at Hagers- town, a school called Saint James's Hall. Soon afterwards there was thrown upon the market a fine country estate called Fountain Rock, in Washington County, Maryland, about six miles from Hagerstown, and Mr. Lyman realized that this was admirably suited for uses as a school. He communicated his views to Bishop Whittingham, who determined to buy it, and appointed Mr. Lyman to interest the people of Maryland (par- ticularly those in Washington and Frederick Counties) in the undertaking. It was also necessary to raise five thousand dol- lars to start the enterprise, and this Mr. Lyman succeeded in doing, after much labor. In selecting a principal for Saint James's Hall, Bishop Whittingham chose the Reverend John Barrett Kerfoot, a young clergyman who had been born in Ire- land and was then living on Long Island, in New York, where he was Assistant Rector of the school conducted by the Reverend Doctor Muhlenburg, under whom he himself had been educated. Mr. Kerfoot entered upon his new duties with zeal and success ; and, in 1843, the Legislature of Maryland passed an act of incorporation by which Saint James's Hall became the College of Saint James. Mr. Lyman was one of the trustees named in the act of incorporation of this college, and it conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1856, after his removal to Pennsylvania. Saint James's College had a good patronage from North Carolina, among the many students from this State being the Reverend Bennett Smedes, who in later years assisted his father as Rector of Saint Mary's School at Raleigh, and ultimately became his successor. As to the later history of the College of Saint James, it remained in operation until 1864, toward the close of the War Between the States, when President Kerfoot and his chief assistant, the Reverend Joseph Howland Coit, were arrested by order of General Jubal A. Early, of the Confederate Army, in retaliation for the seizure by Union forces of some clergymen in Virginia who were Southern sympathizers.
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After the release of the Reverend Messrs. Kerfoot and Coit, the former accepted the presidency of Trinity College, at Hartford, later becoming Bishop of Pittsburg; and Mr. Coit removed to New Hampshire, where he was elected Vice-Rector of Saint Paul's School in Concord, eventually becoming Rector as suc- cessor of his brother, the Reverend Henry Augustus Coit, when that gentleman died, in 1895. After the removal of President Kerfoot and Professor Coit from Maryland, the College of Saint James became a grammar school, and is now in operation as such.
While priest in charge of Saint John's Church at Hagers- town, the Reverend Mr. Lyman declined three calls from North Carolina, including one from the parish of Saint James in Wil- mington. In the Spring of 1850 he accepted an invitation to become Rector of Trinity Church, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and there officiated with great success for ten years, his parish growing to such an extent that a new one-Saint Peter's-had to be organized. In 1860 he resigned, wishing to spend some time in Europe. This resignation was not accepted, his congre- gation prevailing upon him to take a two years' leave of absence instead. At the end of the two years, however, he decided to remain abroad for a longer period, and insisted upon relinquish- ing his charge in Pittsburg, much to the regret of his parishion- ers. He remained in Europe ten years, and was an efficient fac- tor in building up missions of the American Church in Roman Catholic countries. He also extended his travels eastward, twice visiting Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land (including Mount Sinai), as well as going to other localities of interest. While in Italy he had charge of a Church at Florence in the years 1860 and 1861. In 1862 he went to Rome, and there officiated (con- jointly with another clergyman) in the household of the Ameri- can Ambassador, remaining until 1863. In 1864 and 1865, he travelled extensively in Europe and the Orient. Upon his re- turn to Rome in the Spring of 1865, he found a new Ambassador representing the United States, and was prevailed upon by that
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gentleman to become Chaplain of the Embassy. This he con- sented to do, and the Ambassador rented the upper apartments of an old palace belonging to a Roman prince, one of the largest rooms in this building being used as a chapel. When the lease expired, the owner of the palace, who occupied the lower floor and was allied with the papal party, refused to re-rent it unless the religious services therein were discontinued. Doctor Lyman then rented a hall at his own expense, and held services in it in 1866-1867. In the Spring of the latter year, Cardinal Antonelli formally notified the American Ambassador that these services would no longer be tolerated inside the city unless conducted within the privileged precincts of the Embassy. As the Pope then exercised temporal sovereignty, this left Doctor Lyman to choose between services in the Embassy or beyond the limits of the city. Believing that separating from the Ambassador's house was the surest means of rendering the services permanent, he organized a congregation which worshipped in a little chapel outside of the limits of Rome, and there he ministered till 1869, when he resigned. Soon after he returned to America, the temporal power of the Pope was abolished, and the Protestant congregation outside the walls (then under the Reverend Doctor Nevin) was no longer hindered from entering the gates. Saint Paul's Church, in Rome, was accordingly built, at a cost of about $150,000, and many years later Doctor Lyman had the pleasure, under happier conditions, of paying several visitations to it as Bishop. And there it stands at the present time, "a witness to the ancient Catholic faith, as upheld by the Reformed Anglican Communion."
So wide had Doctor Lyman's reputation as a theologian spread, and so well known was his interest in education, that he was invited, in June, 1869 (while still abroad), to return to America and become Dean of the General Theological Semi- nary, in New York City, but this high honor he declined. Upon
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his non-acceptance, the Reverend John Murray Forbes, D. D., was made Dean .*
After resigning his charge at Rome in 1869, Doctor Lyman again travelled in the far East, later spending some time in Eng- land. He came back to America in 1870, and accepted a call to become Rector of Trinity Church, in San Francisco, California, one of the strongest parishes on the Pacific coast. He was there officiating with great success and ever-growing influence when elected Assistant Bishop of North Carolina in the Spring of 1873. As his consecration was not to take place until December of that year, it gave him an opportunity to spend the Summer in Europe, and he returned from this tour in good health and spirits.
In the sketch of Bishop Atkinson, heretofore presented in this work, there is some account of the proceedings in the Diocese of North Carolina which led up to the creation of the office of Assistant Bishop, and hence it is unnecessary to repeat the same here.
It was on the 30th day of May, 1873, during a session of the Diocesan Convention at Fayetteville, that the Reverend Doctor Lyman was elected Assistant Bishop of North Carolina. Thirty- four ballots were taken before the constitutional majority was
* This Doctor Forbes had been a friend of Bishop Ives, and was connected, to some extent, with him after Ives became a Roman Cath- olic. After enjoying success as a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Doctor Forbes had himself become a Roman Catholic in 1849 (three years ahead of Ives), had entered the priesthood of the Church of Rome, and been placed in charge of several parishes. In 1852, the Right Reverend Ignatius A. Reynolds, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, in South Carolina, appointed him his theolo- gian in the Plenary Council of Baltimore; and he received a similar honor from the Right Reverend John Bernard Fitzpatrick, Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston, when the Provincial Council of New York assembled in 1854. In the latter year the degree of S. T. D. was con- ferred upon him by a Vatican Decree of Pius IX. In 1859. Doctor Forbes became convinced that he had taken an erroneous step in be- coming a Roman Catholic, and forthwith re-entered the Church which he had formerly abandoned, was restored to his priestly office therein, and remained true to the Anglican communion throughout the remain- der of his life.
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attained. Among other clergymen voted for were at least five who afterwards became Bishops, these being the Reverend Doctors Alfred A. Watson, William Stevens Perry, George F. Seymour, Hugh Miller Thompson, and John H. D. Wingfield. On several of the earlier ballots, Doctor Lyman received a substantial ma- jority of the votes cast, but canon law required that an election should not result until one person should receive a majority of the number of clergymen who were entitled to seats in the Con- vention, whether they were present in person or not. On the final ballot, Doctor Lyman was lacking only one vote of having such majority, when the casting vote of Bishop Atkinson elected him.
The consecration of Doctor Lyman as Assistant Bishop of North Carolina took place in Christ Church at Raleigh on the 11th day of December, 1873, and was the first ceremonial of the kind which ever occurred within the Diocese-Bishops Ravens- croft, Ives, and Atkinson, all having been consecrated in other States. The presiding Bishop at the above consecration was the Right Reverend William Rollinson Whittingham, of Maryland, an aged and venerable prelate, by whom Doctor Lyman had been made deacon and priest, as heretofore stated. There were also present and participating in the impressive ceremonies on this occasion, Bishops Atkinson and Lay-the latter having been transferred from the Missionary Jurisdiction of the South-west and made Bishop of the Diocese of Easton, in the State of Mary- land. Bishop Lay delivered the consecration sermon-a dis- course of great power, pleading for Christian unity -- this being afterwards published by order of the Convention.
Bishop Lyman selected Raleigh as his place of residence, and purchased a large lot, with the dwelling thereon, on the north- east corner of North and Wilmington Streets. The dwelling he beautified and enlarged, among the additions thereto being a handsome gallery, where were displayed many paintings and other works of art which he had gathered during his residence in various parts of the world. Being a man of wealth, he was able freely to indulge his love for the fine arts, and still have
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means left with which to help the poor and contribute to the cause of religion.
At the time of Doctor Lyman's election as Assistant Bishop, Christ Church was the only general house of worship in Raleigh for the white race of the Episcopal communion, and that parish then labored under the disadvantage of the pews be- ing owned . by the various families composing its congrega- tion-in fact, the Church was mainly built with funds raised through the sale of pews, though these (with few exceptions) have since been donated by their respective owners to the parish, thus making Christ Church a free house of worship. To supply the need, existing in 1874, of a church with free pews, the Church of the Good Shepherd was organized in Raleigh. The plan of the building was donated by the Reverend Johannes Adam Oertel, a clergyman of the Diocese who had made a study of ecclesiastical architecture and had planned quite a number of other churches throughout North Carolina, though his fame as an artist will be more enduring-he having made a number of celebrated paintings of a religious nature, some of these now being owned by the University of the South at Sewanee. As the Church of the Good Shepherd was attended by Bishop Lyman and his household, a word or two concerning its history may be of interest. It is located on the western half of a block bounded by Hillsborough, MeDowell, Morgan, and Salisbury Streets, facing on the first-named thoroughfare, one block west of the Capitol. Its first Rector, the Reverend Edward R. Rich, in making his report to the Diocesan Convention of 1874, said: "This parish, which now makes its first parochial report and applies for admission into union with the Convention at its present session, was organized on the 25th of February, 1874, to meet the imperative demand of a free church in this rapidly growing city. The first services were held in 'Tucker Hall,' on Quinquagessima Sunday, 1874, and have been continued regu- Jarly ever since, with joint service during the week in Christ
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Church. The Easter offering of the congregation, amounting to $4,135.75, was a noble beginning towards the building fund of our free church, and every effort is being made to swell that amount, so that we may, with the aid rendered us by our friends, secure a lot and erect our Church at an early day." Upon the resignation of the Reverend Mr. Rich as Rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, he was succeeded by the Reverend Robert Strange, now Bishop of East Carolina. Doctor Strange later gave place to the Reverend William Meade Clark (now editor of the Southern Churchman, in Richmond) ; and, the latter's pastorate being relinquished, November 30, 1891, he was succeeded, in turn, by the Reverend I. McK. Pittenger, D. D., present Rector of the parish. This congregation, in recent years, has outgrown its original Church building (which will hereafter be used as a chapel and parish house), and is erecting a beautiful and spacious granite edifice which, when completed, will be one of the finest buildings of its kind in North Carolina. Its corner-stone (sent from the Holy Land by Doctor Pittenger during his travels abroad) was laid on All Saints Day, 1899, twenty-five years after the foundation of the parish.
When Bishop Lyman first came to North Carolina he was fifty-eight years old, yet strong and vigorous in physique, and he set about his work with indomitable zeal and energy. Not only did he labor for the welfare of the white race, but great interest was also manifested by him in the spiritual and educa- tional enlightenment of the negroes. Mention has already been made of the Church's having established Saint Augustine's School, for negroes, at Raleigh, during the Episcopate of Bishop Atkinson. After a visit paid to that institution in May, 1875, Bishop Lyman commented upon it as follows: "No better evi- dence could be desired, than is furnished by this congregation, of the eminent adaptedness of the services of our Church to our colored population. The responses were full and general, the singing and chanting spirited, and the behavior of the congrega-
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tion remarkably reverent and devotional. A liturgical service, where the language is plain and simple, and where its frequent repetition makes it most familiar, is just that which is specially suited to this class of people, while its sober and chastening spirit serves to restrain those emotional excesses into which they are otherwise so liable to be drawn."
In January, 1876, Bishop Lyman visited Randolph County, where was then located Trinity College, a Methodist institution of learning which has since been removed to Durham. No house of worship of the Episcopal Church then being near Trinity, the chapel of the college was graciously tendered Bishop Lyman by the president of the institution, who, with his faculty and students, attended the services in a body. Speaking of the reception with which he had met on that occasion, the Bishop said: "I very highly appreciated the kind courtesy of the Presi- dent, which enabled me to give the benefit of our services to several members of our Church, living in the immediate neigh- borhood, and who are quite remote from any of our places of worship. I was glad, too, of this opportunity for manifesting to our Methodist brethren how friendly are our feelings toward them; and that, while ecclesiastically separated from them, we entertain no other sentiments than those of Christian kindness and cordiality. I can never be brought into contact with then without deeply lamenting that we cannot all 'speak the same thing, and be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment.' May He 'who maketh men to be of one mind in an house,' in His own good time, remove all grounds of mis- apprehension and alienation, that so we may be drawn together 'in the unity of the spirit and in the bond of peace.'"
The Bishop of Tennessee, intending to be absent abroad for some months during the year 1876, had invited Bishop Lyman to visit the eastern part of that Diocese and perform the duties of the Episcopate in his absence. In accordance with this request, Bishop Lyman spent the early part of February in Tennessee, administering the rite of confirmation on several occasions, be-
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sides holding other services. In recording that visitation, he remarked: "This brief visit to a sister Diocese proved a very pleasant one, and I was glad of this opportunity for manifesting such fraternal relations."
Returning from Tennessee in February, Bishop Lyman re- sumed his duties in North Carolina, in a few weeks going to the eastern part of the State. In the latter locality he visited Saint Thomas's Church in Bath-the oldest church building in North Carolina-and expressed great gratification at the restoration of that venerable edifice, as well as at the care taken of the burial ground adjacent thereto.
At the end of the Summer of 1876, Bishop Lyman went to his old home in California to arrange some private business, and returned to North Carolina in November. He held services at numerous points throughout the Western States during his absence, and came back by way of Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, also conducting religious worship on several occa- sions in those cities.
Mention has already been made, in the sketch of Bishop Atkinson, of the conference of Bishops of the Anglican Church which he attended in 1867 at Lambeth Palace, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. That conference resulted so satis- factorily and awakened so much interest in the cause of religion that it has since been held about every ten years. In 1878, Bishop Atkinson was too much enfeebled in health to make the trip again, but Bishop Lyman accepted the Archbishop's invita- tion. Upon hearing of this, the Diocesan Convention of 1878 passed a resolution (offered by the Reverend Jarvis Buxton) as follows :
"RESOLVED, That the Convention has heard with gratification of the intention of the Assistant Bishop to attend the Conference of Bishops of the Anglo-Catholic Church, called by the Archbishop of Canter- bury, to meet at Lambeth in the month of July next ; and it would be a matter of additional gratification could the Bishop of the Diocese also make it his convenience to attend the same Conference, and con- tribute thereto the benefit of his wise councils."
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Bishop Lyman sailed from New York, June 6, 1878, on his journey to the Lambeth Conference. Among his fellow-passen- gers, with the same destination as his own, were Bishops Bedell of Ohio, Doane of Albany, and Spalding of Colorado. After a pleasant voyage, the vessel landed at Queenstown. From there Bishop Lyman went first to Cork and afterwards to Dublin. Going from Ireland to Oxford, he there participated in a mis- sionary meeting in the interest of the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. On June 24th, in Saint Paul's Cathedral, he participated in the consecration of the Bishops of Litchfield, Nassau, and Queensland. At this conse- cration, the Archbishop of Canterbury presided.
Of his interesting experiences while abroad on the above mis- sion in 1878, Bishop Lyman's journal gives a graphic account, which space will not permit us to reproduce in full. Referring to June 28th, he says: "On the afternoon of that day, in Can- terbury Cathedral, there was a very impressive service, when the Archbishop gave a warm address of welcome to the Bishops from foreign lands whom he had invited to meet him on that occasion. The grand old Cathedral with all its memories of the past, the large stone chair of St. Augustine in which the Arch- bishop was seated and from which he gave his address, the long line of white-robed choristers, followed by the clergy and Bishops-all duly vested and passing up the venerable nave -- combined to make this one of the most imposing, solemn, and impressive ceremonials which it has ever been my privilege to witness. On the following Tuesday, July 2d, the opening ser- vice of the Lambeth Conference took place in the Chapel of the Palace. I felt that I was standing on a very sacred spot, when I remembered that it was in this same chapel that the first American Bishops, who received English consecration, were admitted to the Episcopate on the 4th of February, 1787. What a marvelous expansion has been witnessed since that day of small things !"
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