Lyman Hall, Governor of Georgia
Lyman Hall was born in Connecticut 1731; graduated in Yale College at an early age, studied medicine, married a wife before he was twenty-one, and removed to Dorchester, South Carolina in 1752 to begin practicing medicine. Soon thereafter, he joined a congregation of some forty families, mostly New Englanders, and removed to Midway, Georgia.
He attended the patriotic meetings held at Savannah in 1774 and 1775 to help promote the cause of freedom. Midway was an isolated frontier settlement with a port at Sunbury mostly occupied by Northerners who had cottages on the river.
In March 1775 his friends elected Lyman Hall to the Continental Congress to represent the parish of St. John that stood like an isolated island of granite in the ocean regardless of the waves of fury that were foaming around it. In 1777 the region became the county of Liberty.
On taking his seat in Congress Dr. Hall was hailed with enthusiasm as the nucleus of patriotism that would eventually draw to one common centre the people of his province. He was a valuable acquisition to the various committees on which he was placed and gained the esteem of all around him. On the floor he was listened to with profound attention. He reasoned closely and calmly, confining himself to the question under consideration without any effort to shine as an orator. His known patriotism, decision of character, purity of purpose and honesty of heart gave him a salutary influence that was sensibly felt, fully acknowledged and judiciously exercised.
In 1776 he again took his seat in Congress and became decidedly in favor of cutting loose from the mother country. He had induced his own district to present a miniature example that stood approved by every patriot. He felt the justice of the cause of Liberty. He was continued in Congress up to 1780 when he took his final leave of that body where he had rendered faithful and important service. In 1782 he returned to his own State and aided in rendering more perfect the organization of her government. The enemy had destroyed his property and wreaked a special vengeance on his district generally. His family had been compelled to fly to the North and depend on others for support. In 1783 he was elected Governor of Georgia and contributed largely in perfecting the superstructure of her civil institutions and in placing her on the high road to peace and prosperity. This accomplished he retired from public life and died in 1790.
Source: The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson
Note: The difference in the birthdate
Lyman Hall,a Georgia Patriot,born 1724, died 1790 near Shell Bluff, in Burke County, Georgia, married 1st, Abigail Burr of Fairfield, Connecticut (died 7/8/1753); and 2nd, Mary Osborne,the daughter of Samuel and Hannah of Fairfield. He was a member of the historic Midway Church in Midway, Georgia. A clip from old Georgia Newspapers &Quot; Governor Lyman Hall died Nov. 19, 1790, Burke County, Georgia, aged 67."
Issue:
- John Hall, who had no issue.