Richard R. Lyman

Richard Roswell Lyman (November 23, 1870 – December 31, 1963) was an American engineer and religious leader who was an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1918 to 1943.

Lyman is often noted as the most recent LDS Church apostle to have been excommunicated. In 1943, the church's First Presidency became aware that Lyman had for a number of years been in an intimate relationship with a woman other than his legal wife. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles convened a disciplinary council and Lyman was immediately excommunicated. Lyman was rebaptized in 1954 at age 83, nine years prior to his death.

Lyman was the husband of Amy B. Lyman, the church's Relief Society general president during the period of his excommunication.

Early life and family

Lyman was born in Fillmore, Utah Territory, and was closely related to many early leaders of the LDS Church. His father, Francis M. Lyman, was the son of Amasa M. Lyman, both of whom were LDS Church apostles. His mother was Clara Caroline Callister, whose grandfather was John Smith, an uncle of church founder Joseph Smith and a church Presiding Patriarch. Clara's mother was Caroline Smith Callister, the only sister of apostle George A. Smith, who served with Brigham Young as a counselor in the First Presidency. Lyman was ordained an elder in the LDS Church on August 29, 1891, by Joseph F. Smith.

Education and marriage

Lyman graduated from high school at Brigham Young Academy (BYA) in Provo, Utah, in 1891 with a Normal Certificate, then taught at Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah, and later studied at the University of Michigan, graduating with a BS degree in 1895. He later pursued graduate studies in civil engineering, earning an MA from the University of Chicago in 1903 and a PhD from Cornell University in 1905.

In 1888, while attending BYA, Lyman began courting Amy Brown, but then left for the University of Michigan. After his graduation, from 1895 to 1896, Lyman taught at BYA. After eight years of courtship, Lyman married Brown on September 9, 1896; the marriage was performed by Joseph F. Smith in the Salt Lake Temple.

Amy Brown Lyman was a member of the church's Relief Society general board, which had appointed her to lead the church's newly formed Social Service Department to oversee aid to the needy. She had studied and engaged in social work during Lyman's University of Chicago years. She later served as general secretary of the Relief Society, and then the eighth Relief Society general president from 1940 to 1945.

Richard Lyman was a prolific writer and engineer, contributing both non-technical and scientific articles to various publications. He authored key works on road construction and water flow measurement, earning the prestigious J. James R. Croes Gold Medal in 1915 for his contributions to engineering science. As vice-chairman of the Utah State Road Commission from 1909 to 1918, he played a crucial role in expanding its budget and infrastructure projects. Lyman also served as city engineer of Provo, worked on railroad surveys, and designed waterworks systems across Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. He held leadership roles in multiple irrigation, power, and insurance companies.

Apostleship

Lyman was ordained an apostle on April 7, 1918. As an apostle, he also served as Assistant Commissioner of the Church Educational System from 1919 to 1924, and as a member of the superintendency of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association until 1935. He was also president of the church’s European Mission from 1936 to 1938.

Excommunication

In 1922, Lyman was assigned to counsel Anna Jacobsen Hegsted, a woman previously excommunicated for polygamy, and prepare her for readmittance to the church. By 1925 the two had formed an attachment, but were unable to marry due to his existing marriage and the church's ban on polygamy. Lyman and Jacobsen exchanged a promise to marry under plural marriage in the next life and continued to see each other.

Before returning from his service as mission president in Europe in 1938, Lyman maintained their relationship was not sexual. But upon his return, he reported, "the long separation and the fiery nearness of her being my prospective plural wife ... led to a temptation I did not resist." By 1943, both individuals were in their seventies.

In 1943, J. Reuben Clark, first counselor in the church's First Presidency and its ''de facto'' leader due to church president Heber J. Grant's poor health, became aware of suspicious behavior by Lyman. After the Salt Lake City Police Department, who were at the time enforcing anti-polygamy laws, joined the investigation by church leaders, Lyman and Jacobsen's relationship was proven.

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles convened a disciplinary council on November 12, 1943 to hear the case, and Lyman was immediately excommunicated. The church-owned Deseret News published the excommunication the next day, declaring that "Richard R. Lyman has been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for violation of the Christian law of chastity."

Lyman's wife, Amy B. Lyman, was the general president of the Relief Society at the time of his excommunication. She continued to serve for an additional 16 months before her release.

A minority opinion holds that Lyman and Jacobsen's promise to marry functioned as a "plural marriage by mutual covenant," but there is little indication that at any point they considered themselves being actually married. Apostle Spencer W. Kimball recorded regarding the disciplinary council that "He tried to link his sin with polygamy but the evidence gave no corroboration to the story." After the excommunication, J. Reuben Clark worried that Lyman might join the Mormon fundamentalist movement, though this did not occur.

Age 72 at the time of his excommunication, Lyman later returned to the LDS Church through rebaptism on October 27, 1954, at age 83, but he was not reinstated as an apostle. He died in Salt Lake City, Utah on December 31, 1963. His full priesthood blessings were restored posthumously in 1970.Janet Peterson and LaRene Gaunt, "Faith, Hope, and Charity: Inspiration from the Lives of the General Relief Society Presidents," Covenant Communications, Inc., 2008, p. 155.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyman, Richard R.
1870 births
1963 deaths
20th-century Mormon missionaries
American Mormon missionaries in the United Kingdom
American general authorities (LDS Church)
Apostles (LDS Church)
Brigham Young Academy alumni
Brigham Young Academy faculty
Brigham Young College faculty
Cornell University College of Engineering alumni
Counselors in the General Presidency of the Young Men (organization)
Excommunicated general authorities (LDS Church)
Latter Day Saints from Michigan
Latter Day Saints from Utah
Mormonism and polygamy
People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
People from Fillmore, Utah
People rebaptized after excommunication by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Smith family (Latter Day Saints)
University of Chicago alumni
University of Michigan alumni