Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Lyman, Frederick Schwartz July 25, 1837 - April 14, 1918
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J. Orr orr@hawaii.com October 5, 2009, 7:43 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by The Honolulu Star Bulletin, Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

FREDERICK SCHWARTZ LYMAN, Civic and Business Leader. For many years one of the 
most prominent citizens of the Island of Hawaii, the late Frederick S. Lyman 
was a leader in and supporter of good government and religious and educational 
works, and a business builder of worthy achievements.  
  Born at Hilo, July 25, 1837, Mr. Lyman was the third son of the Rev. David 
Belden Lyman and Sarah Joiner Lyman, who arrived in Honolulu on May 17, 1832, 
as missionaries under the American Board of Missions. Receiving his education 
at home and at Punahou, where he was graduated in 1860, Mr. Lyman immediately 
embarked on a career which made him a distinguished figure for over sixty 
years, until his death at Hilo on April 14, 1918.
  Beginning the work during his school years, Mr. Lyman was a government land 
surveyor in Hilo, Puna and Kau, 1854-62. He also served as commissioner of 
boundaries, was tax assessor in Hilo, a trustee of the Hilo Boarding School, 
1868 to 1918, and president of the board for many years; a trustee of the 
First Foreign Church, 1870 to 1918, and a deacon for many years. In 1857, with 
his school friend, Samuel Alexander, Frederick Lyman went to California gold 
fields.
  He was president of the Hilo & Hawaii Telephone Co., 1882-85; organizer of 
the original Hilo Electric Light Co., 1894, and its president until 1911; 
director of the First Trust Co. of Hilo, 1910-11, and director of the 
magistrate of Kau, 1867; judge of the circuit court, Hilo, Puna and Kau, 1868 
to 1893; lieutenant-governor, Island of Hawaii, 1880-88; acting postmaster, 
1893; delegate to the constitutional convention, 1894, and senator from East 
Hawaii, 1895-98. He was a member of the Good Templars’ Temperance Society, the 
Volcano Research Association, Hawaiian Historical Society, Bar Association and 
early dramatic and literary societies.
  Mr. Lyman, on Feb. 16, 1861, married Isabella Chamberlain, youngest daughter 
of the missionaries, Levi Chamberlain, who arrived at Honolulu April 27, 1823, 
and Maria (Patten) Chamberlain, who came on March 30, 1828, one of a group of 
four unmarried women teachers, the first to join the Hawaiian Mission. 
Children of Frederick S. and Isabella (Chamberlain) Lyman are Ellen G. Lyman, 
retired teacher of Hilo; Frederick S.  Lyman, jr., retired pineapple raiser 
and rancher of Oahu; Dr. Francis A. Lyman (deceased), for many years a 
physician in Madison, Wis.; Levi C. Lyman, who retired as principal of the 
Hilo Boarding School after 25 years’ service; Ernest E. Lyman, Honolulu 
business man, and Esther R. Lyman (Mrs. Wm. McCluskey), of Honolulu.
  A pioneer rancher of the Kau district of Hawaii, 1860-68, Mr. Lyman took his 
bride there in 1861. She was the only Anglo-Saxon woman in Kau and their first 
home was a grass hut. With the aid of his Hawaiian ranch boys, Mr. Lyman built 
a frame dwelling and Lady Franklin, in search of her husband, Sir John 
Franklin, the lost explorer, was the first guest in the new home. Mark Twain 
and other notables were entertained at the Kau home and later, in Hilo, Lady 
Brasse, Hawaiian kings and queens, military and public officials, as well as 
civilians, were guests of the Lymans.
  After the disastrous earthquake of 1868 in Kau, the Lymans moved to Hilo, 
where Mr. Lyman engaged in the tanning business, the only available opening. 
He had a saddle and shoe shop for a number of years and was awarded a medal 
for a saddle and bridle exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in 
Philadelphia, 1876. Up to 1914 Mr. Lyman at various times was engaged in 
private surveying. Boundaries which he fixed a half century ago are still 
accepted as accurate. From 1897 to 1918 he conducted an insurance business in 
Hilo with the firms of Bishop & Co. and the Lyman & Watson agency. A thorough 
Hawaiian scholar, his translations were sought as authoritative in connection 
with his law practice.
  His interest in education was exemplified by his long and intimate 
association with the Hilo Boarding School and he gave the use of a site for 
the Hilo Free Kindergarten from its inception in 1897 to 1926. He also 
provided a site for the original Japanese Christian Church. A pioneer in 
building beach houses, he and Mr. C. E. Richardson opened up the lands of 
Makaoku, opposite Coconut Island, building much of the road to “Hale Kainehe,” 
now reserved as a public park. He encouraged the opening and development of 
lands at Kaumana and was among the first builders of summer homes near the 
Volcano of Kilauea. A pioneer in coffee culture on Halai Hill and in Hilo, and 
an experimenter in cocoa and “pia” (arrowroot) culture, Mr. Lyman was also one 
of the pioneer pineapple planters in Hilo. A friend of Captain William Matson 
from the time of the latter’s first arrival in Hilo with the small schooner 
Emma Claudine in 1882, Mr. Lyman’s loyal friendship encouraged the captain in 
his establishment of the Matson Navigation Co.
  “Pele” (Freddie), as he was affectionately called by the Hawaiians, was 
esteemed and trusted by all races and creeds, and advocate of fair play in all 
things and a strong supporter of temperance. He encouraged aquatic sports and 
athletics and in the legislature worked to obtain parks and playgrounds for 
Hilo. After annexation, as a loyal patriot, one of his hobbies was to present 
American flags to schools, churches, friends and relatives.


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