The subject of this sketch was a descendant in the fifth generation of John Hall, who, coming from Coventry, England, crossed the Atlantic in the ship Griffin, and, after a sojourn in Boston and New Haven, established his home at Wallingford, Connecticut. In this village Lyman Hall, son of the Hon. John Hall and Mary Street, was born on the 12th of April, 1724.

Graduating from Yale College in 1747, in a class of twenty-eight members, several of whom attained distinction in after life, he entered upon the study of theology under the guidance of his uncle, Rev. Samuel Hall. His purpose undergoing a change he abandoned the idea of becoming a minister of the gospel, and applied himself to the acquisition of a medical education. After quite a thorough preliminary course he was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, married Mary Osborne, and commenced the practice of his profession in his native town.

Early in 1697 a body of Puritans from the towns of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Milton, in Massachusetts, taking with them their pastor, Rev. Joseph Lord, and proclaiming their desire to encourage the foundation of churches and the promotion of religion in the Southern planations, removed with their families and personal effects and formed a new residence at Dorchester, on the left bank of the Ashley River, not many miles above Charlestown in South Carolina. Here these enterprising colonists multiplied in numbers and increased in wealth, exerting a strong moral and political influence. Attracted by tidings of the prosperity of this settlement, and anxious to advance his professional and personal interests, Dr. Hall -- himself in full sympathy with the religious tenets of these Congregationalists -- in the twenty-eighth year of his age abandoned his home at Wallingford, and cast his lot among the Puritan dwellers at Dorchester and Beach Hill in South Carolina. He was cordially welcomed, and appears at once to have secured the confidence of the community.

After a residence of rather more than fifty years in this swamp region of Carolina, finding their lands impoverished and insufficient for the rising generation, Dorchester and Beach Hill proving unhealthy, -- the good reports of the lands in southern Georgia having been confirmed upon the personal inspection of certain members of the society who had been sent for that purpose, and a grant of 22,400 acres of rich land having been secured from the Georgia authorities, -- the members of the Dorchester society, in 1752, began moving into what is now the swamp region of Liberty County. This territory lay between Mount Hope Swamp on the north and Bull Town Swamp on the south. Begun in 1752, the immigration continued until 1771, and embraced about three hundred and fifty whites and fifteen hundred negro slaves. The influx of this population was most marked during the years 1754, 1755, and 1756. It was about this time that Dr. Hall, following the fortunes of his newly formed friends, accompanied them to the Midway settlement, and became the owner of a small plantation a few miles north of Midway Meeting-House on the line of the Savannah and Darien highway, -- a road connecting the northern and southern confines of the province, which had been completed under the guidance of Tomochi-chi and by the command of General Oglethorpe. The region into which the Dorchester congregation thus immigrated was known as the "Midway district." The country was densely wooded, marish, and filled with game. Ducks and geese in innumerable quantities frequented the low grounds, creeks, and lagoons. Wild turkeys and deer abounded. Bears and beavers dwelt in the swamps, and buffalo herds wandered in the neighborhood. There was no lack of squirrels, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, snipe, woodcock, cranes, herons, and rice-birds. Wildcats and hawks were the pest of the region, while the cry of the cougar was often heard in the depths of the vine-clad woods. The waters were alive with fishes, alligators, terrapins, and snakes.

In utter disregard of the manifest laws of health, these immigrants located their dwellings and plantation quarters on the edges of the swamps, and in such malarial situations passed the entire year. While corn, potatoes, and peas were planted on the upland, chief attention was bestowed upon the cultivation of rice. To that end, the swamps, at great labor, were cleared, ditched, and drained. A miasmatic soil was thus exposed to the action of the sun; and, as a direct consequence of injudicious location and a too frequent inattention to domestic comfort, occurred violent sickness and considerable mortality.

Dr. Hall found ample employment for his best professional skill, and endeared himself to the community by his unremitting exertions to counteract the pernicious influences of bilious fevers during the summer and fall, and pleurisies in the winter and spring.

In 1758 Mark Carr conveyed three hundred acres of land bordering upon Midway River to certain trustees, with instructions to lay out a town to be called Sunbury. So soon as the lots were surveyed and designated, many members of the Midway congregation, attracted by the beauty and salubrity of the location, became purchasers, and there established their summer homes. Among them was Dr. Lyman Hall, who bought two of the most desirable lots, numbers 33 and 34, fronting on the bay. Here he built a residence, and spent most of his time when not actively employed in visiting his patients. His reputation as a successful practitioner and sympathizing friend was most enviable. In fact, he speedily became the leading physician of the town and adjacent country. His polite address, literary attainments, public spirit, social habits, thoughtful views, and well-rounded character united in rendering him popular and influential with the inhabitants of St. John's Parish. That he entertained a lively interest in public affairs, and enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens, is evident from the prominence accorded to him when the differences between England and her American colonies were seriously discussed, and the question of a separation from the mother country was gravely considered. His sympathies from the first were with the "Liberty Boys," and his arguments and labors were boldly expended in compassing liberation from kingly rule. Georgia occupied a position peculiar among her sister colonies. Since her settlement she had received by grant of Parliament nearly £200,000, besides generous bounties extended in aid of silk culture and various agricultural products. The paternal care of the Crown had been kindly and signally manifested in her behalf. As a natural consequence, there existed a marked division of sentiment upon the political questions which agitated the community during the years immediately preceding open rupture between England and America. The royal party was active and strong, and it required no little effort on the part of the rebels to acquire the mastery and place the province fairly within the lists of the revolutionists. The line of demarcation was sometimes so sharply drawn that father was arrayed against son, and brother against brother. Thus, not to multiply examples, the Hon. James Habersham and Colonel Noble Jones maintained their allegiance to the Crown, while their sons were among the foremost champions of the rights claimed by the rebels. The cruel effects of such disagreements, experienced prior to and during the progress of the Revolution, were projected beyond even the final establishment of the republic. Governor Wright was most energetic in upholding the fortunes of his royal master, and succeeded in delaying action on the part of the Colony. Through his influence, Georgia was not represented in the first session of the Continental Congress. The Parish of St. John -- which then possessed nearly one third of the aggregate wealth of Georgia, and the citizens of which were noted for their thrift, courage, honesty, and determination -- chafed under the inaction of the province, which bred dissatisfaction at home, and called down denunciation most violent from the republican party in South Carolina. The Puritan element in the parish, cherishing and proclaiming intolerance of Established Church and of the divine right of kings, impatient of restraint, accustomed to independent thought and action, and careless of associations which encouraged tender memories of and love for the mother country, asserted its hatreds, its affiliations, and its hopes with no uncertain utterance, and appears to have controlled the action of the entire parish. In commenting upon the disturbed condition of affairs, Governor Wright advised the Earl of Dartmouth that the head of the rebellion in Georgia should be located in St. John's Parish, and that the revolutionary measures there inaugurated were to be mainly referred to the influence of the "descendants of New England people of the Puritan independent sect," who, "retaining a strong tincture of republican or Oliverian principles, have entered into an agreement among themselves to adopt both the resolutions and associations of the Continental Congress."

On the revolutionary altars erected within the Midway district were the fires of resistance to the dominion of England earliest kindled; and of all the patriots of that uncompromising community Lyman Hall, by his counsel, exhortations, and determined spirit, added stoutest fuel to the flames. Between the immigrants from Dorchester and the distressed Bostonians existed not only the ties of a common lineage, but also sympathies born of kindred religious, moral, social, and political education. It is therefore not difficult to perceive why the Midway settlement declared at such an early period and in such an emphatic manner for the revolutionists.

Dissatisfied with the failure of the Savannah Congress to place the province in direct association with the other twelve American colonies, the inhabitants of St. John's Parish, under the leadership of Lyman Hall, resolved "to exert themselves to the utmost, and to make every sacrifice that men impressed with the strongest sense of their rights and liberties, and warm with the most benevolent feelings for their oppressed brethren, can make to stand firmly or fall gloriously in the common cause." They called a convention of their own, extending invitations to the inhabitants of other parishes, in the hope "that, if a majority of the parishes would unite with them, they would send deputies to join the General Congress, and faithfully and religiously abide by and conform to such determination as should there be entered into, and come from thence recommended."

This effort failing of success, on the 9th of February, 1775, at a meeting of the inhabitants of St. John's Parish, -- convened at Midway and presided over by Lyman Hall, -- Joseph Wood, Daniel Roberts, and Samuel Stevens, members of the parish committee, were deputed with a carefully prepared letter to repair to Charlestown, South Carolina, and request of the Committee of Correspondence their "permission to form an alliance with them, and to conduct trade and commerce according to the Act of Non-importation to which they had already acceded." Among other arguments advanced in that communication, framed and signed by Dr. Hall as chairman, we find the following: --

"Our being a parish of a non-associated province cannot, we presume, prevent our joining the other provinces, as the restrictions mentioned in the 14th clause of the General Association must, as we apprehend, be considered as a general rule only, and respects this province considered in a mixed or promiscuous sense; but as we of this parish are a body detached from the rest by our resolutions and association, and sufficiently distinct by local situation, large enough for particular notice, and have been treated as such by a particular address from the late Continental Congress, adjoining a seaport, and in that respect capable of conforming to the General Association, and (if connected with you) with the same fidelity as a distinct parish of your own province: therefore we must be considered as comprehended within the spirit and equitable meaning of the Continental Association, and we are assured you will not condemn the innocent with the guilty, especially when a due separation is made between them."

Reaching Charlestown on the 23d of February, Messrs. Wood, Roberts, and Stevens waited upon the General Committee and earnestly endeavored to accomplish their mission. While expressing their admiration of the patriotism of the parish, and entreating its citizens to persevere in their laudable exertions, the Carolinians deemed it "a violation of the Continental Association to remove the prohibition in favor of any Part of a province."

Disappointed, and yet not despairing, the inhabitants of St. John's Parish "resolved to prosecute their claims to an equality with the Confederated Colonies." Having adopted certain resolutions by which they obligated themselves to hold no commerce with Savannah or other places except under the supervision of a committee, and then only with a view to procuring the necessaries of life, and having avowed their entire sympathy with all the articles and declarations promulgated by the General Congress, the inhabitants of St. John's Parish elected Dr. Lyman Hall as a delegate to represent them in the Continental Congress. This appointment occurred on the 21st of March, 1775, and was conferred in direct recognition of his prominent and persistent services in behalf of the revolutionists. No more suitable selection could have been made. Among the prominent citizens of the parish no one enjoyed a more enviable reputation for courage, ability, wisdom, and loyalty to the aims of the republican party. When departing for the Continental Congress, he carried with him, as a present from his constituents to the suffering patriots in Massachusetts, one hundred and sixty barrels of rice and fifty pounds sterling.

The patriotic spirit of its inhabitants, and this independent action of St. John's Parish in advance of the other Georgia parishes, were afterwards acknowledged when all the parishes were in accord in the revolutionary movement. As a tribute of praise, and in token of general admiration, the name of Liberty County was conferred upon the consolidated parishes of St. John, St. Andrew, and St. James. On the 13th of May, 1775, Dr. Hall, who had been so instrumental in persuading the Parish of St. John to this independent course, attended at the door of Congress, presented his credentials, and was unanimously "admitted as a delegate from the Parish of St. John in the Colony of Georgia, subject to such regulations as Congress should determine relative to his voting." Until Georgia was fully represented, he declined to vote upon questions which were to be decided by a vote of colonies. He participated, however, in the debates, recorded his opinion in cases where an expression of sentiment by colonies was not required, and declared his earnest conviction "that the example which had been shown by the parish which he represented would be speedily followed, and that the representation of Georgia would soon be complete."

This came to pass within a very few months, and Georgia assumed her station and responsibilities in the sisterhood of Confederated Colonies.By successive appointments Dr. Hall was continued as a member from Georgia of the Continental Congress. Upon the fall of Savannah in December, 1778, and the capture of Sunbury, the entire coast region of Georgia passed into the possession of the king's forces, which overran, plundered, and exacted the most onerous tribute. To the families of those who maintained their allegiance to the rebel cause no mercy was shown. Stripped of property, their homes rendered desolate, often without food and clothing, they were dependent upon the charity of impoverished neighbors.

Dr. Hall's residence in Sunbury and his rice plantation near Midway Meeting-House were despoiled. Under such melancholy circumstances he removed his family to the North, and there resided until the evacuation of Savannah in 1782. While his services as a member of the Continental Congress were perhaps not as conspicuous as those rendered by some of his brethren, it may nevertheless be fairly claimed that he was regular, earnest, and intelligent in the discharge of the important duties devolving upon him. He was present, and in association with Button Gwinnett and George Walton affixed his signature to the Declaration of Independence.

Between Dr. Hall and the gifted, ambitious Gwinnett existed a warm friendship. The former resided at Sunbury, and the latter upon St. Catherine Island, within distant sight of that pleasant village. They constantly exchanged social courtesies, and were of one mind upon the political questions which then agitated and divided the public thought. As president of the Council of Safety and Commander-in-Chief of Georgia, Gwinnett, in 1777, anxious to signalize his administration by a feat of arms, planned an expedition for the subjugation of East Florida. Instead of intrusting the command of the forces employed to General Lachlan McIntosh, who, as the ranking military officer of Georgia, was entitled in all fairness and in accordance with custom to expect and to claim it, Gwinnett set him aside and determined in person to lead the expedition. McIntosh was not even permitted to accompany his brigade, and Colonel Elbert was assigned to the command of the Continental forces to the exclusion of his superior officer. General McIntosh was naturally incensed at this conduct of Gwinnett, and denounced him in unmeasured terms.

Soon after, when, in the exercise of his gubernatorial powers and responding to the emergency caused by the lamented death of Archibald Bulloch, Gwinnett convened the Legislature to elect his successor, McIntosh espoused the choice of John Adam Treutlen, who was the rival candidate for popular favor. Gwinnett had set his heart upon the office, and was grievously disappointed at the selection of his opponent. So violent was the animosity harbored by McIntosh, that, during the short but heated canvass, he publicly denounced Gwinnett in unmeasured terms. The quarrel between these gentlemen culminated on the 15th of May, 1777, when Gwinnett challenged McIntosh to mortal combat. They met the next morning at sunrise within the present limits of the city of Savannah. What then transpired we relate in the language of Dr. Hall, who, in a postscript to a letter addressed to the Hon. Roger Sherman, under date of Savannah, June 1, 1777, writes as follows: --

"I resume my Pen to confirm what you have no Doubt heard, that our worthy Friend Gwinnett has unfortunately fell. The Contention between him & the Genl run high, principally respectg the Expedition against E. Florida, which brot on an Enquiry in the House of Assembly into the Conduct of Mr Gwinnett who, as President & Commander in Chief, had made the preparations & meant with the Militia, and aid of Continentl Troops, to have carried them into Execution as principal Leader & Commander: he proceeded as far as Sunbury, -- from this about 40 mile, -- with a small Fleet, from thence sent for the Militia and Continentl Troops to join him -- few of the Militia turned out, except those of the Parish of St. John, & when the Genl with the Continentl Troops arrived, Mr Gwinnett summoned a Council of War, but the Genl it seems would not hold a Council of War with him: he repeated his Summonses, but to no purpose, on which Mr. Gwinnet's Council & the Field Officers of the Genl advised both to return to this place and leave the command of the Expedition to the next Officer. This matter was laid before the Assembly, where both appeared and were heard, on which the Assembly Resolved 'that they approved the Conduct of Mr Gwinnett & his Council so far as those matters had been laid before them.' Here it was (in Assembly) that the Genl called him (as 't is said) a Scoundrell & lying Rascal -- I confess I did not hear the words, not being so nigh the parties; however it seems agreed that it was so. A Duel was the consequence, in whh they were placed at 10 or 12 foot Distance. Discharged their Pistols nearly at the same Time. Each wounded in the Thigh. Mr Gwinnett's thigh broke so that he fell -- on whh ('t is said) the Genl Asked him if he chose to take another shot--was answered Yes, if they would help him up (or words nearly the same). The seconds interposed. Mr Gwinnett was brought in, the Weather Extremely hot. A Mortification came on--he languish'd from that Morning (Friday) till Monday Morning following, & expired. "O Liberty! Why do you suffer so many of your faithful sons, your warmest Votaries, to fall at your Shrine! Alas! my Friend, my Friend!" "Excuse me, Dr Sir, the Man was Valuable, so attached to the Liberty of this State & Continent that his whole Attention, Influence, & Interest centered in it, & seemed riveted to it. He left a Mournful Widow and Daughr & I may say the Friends of Liberty on a whole Continent to deplore his Fall." ...

Gwinnett's death caused intense excitement. Dr. Hall--one of his executors and a warm personal friend--and other gentlemen of influence brought the matter to the notice of the Legislature, and charged the judicial officers with a neglect of duty in not arresting McIntosh and binding him over to answer to the charge of murder. Informed of these facts, so soon as his wound permitted, the general surrendered himself to Judge Glen, entered into bonds for his appearance, was indicted, tried, and acquitted. Even this determination of the matter did not allay the resentment of the Gwinnett party, who, incensed at the loss of their leader, used every exertion to impair the influence of McIntosh and to fetter his efforts in the public service. At the suggestion of his friends, he repaired to the headquarters of General Washington for assignment to duty in other quarters. For nearly two years he remained absent from his native State.Upon his return to Georgia, Dr. Hall selected Savannah as his home, and, with shattered fortunes, resumed the practice of his profession. While thus quietly employed he was, in January, 1783, elected Governor of Georgia. His acknowledgment of the honor thus conferred was expressed in the following brief inaugural address:"

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly:

"I esteem your unsolicited appointment of me to the office of Chief Magistrate of this State as the greatest honor, and I am affected with sentiments of the warmest gratitude on this occasion. The early and decided part which I took in the cause of America originated from a full conviction of the justice and rectitude of the cause we engaged in, has uniformly continued as the principle of my heart, and I trust will to the last moments of my life.

"If I can, by a strict attention to the various objects of government, and a steady and impartial exertion of the powers with which you have invested me, carry into execution the wise and salutary laws of the State, it will afford a pleasing prospect of our future welfare, brighten the dawn of independence, and establish the genuine principles of whigism on a firm and permanent foundation.

"The confident reliance, gentlemen, I have in the wisdom of the council you have assigned me, and the firm support of your honorable House, afford a flattering expectation of succeeding in this difficult and important trust."

"Georgia had but recently emerged from the perils and privations of the Revolution; and, while all were rejoicing in the inchoate blessings of independence, poverty, sorrow, and desolation were the heritage of many homes. The energies of his administration, which lasted for only one year, were chiefly directed to the establishment of land offices and the sale of confiscated property; to the arrangement of the public debt, and the rewarding of officers and soldiers with bounty warrants for services rendered; with the accommodation of differences and the prevention of further disturbance with Florida, and the adjustment of the northern boundary of Georgia; with the establishment of courts and schools; and with the consummation of treaties of cession from and amity with contiguous Indian nations. The most important of these were solemnized at Augusta with the Cherokee Indians in May, and with the Creek Indians in November, 1783. Upon the assembling of the Legislature at Augusta, on the 8th of July, 1783, Governor Hall, in his message, thus commended to its members the subject of public education:--

"In addition, therefore, to wholesome laws restraining vice, every encouragement ought to be given to introduce religion, and learned clergy to perform divine worship in honor of God, and to cultivate principles of religion and virtue among our citizens. For this purpose it will be your wisdom to lay an early foundation for endowing seminaries of learning; nor can you, I conceive, lay a better than by a grant of a sufficient tract of land, that may, as in other governments, hereafter, by lease or otherwise, raise a revenue sufficient to support such valuable institutions."

Be it spoken and remembered to his perpetual praise that Governor Hall, by this early and wise suggestion, sounded the key-note and paved the way for the foundation and the sustentation of the University of Georgia, which, for nearly a century, has proven the parent of higher education and civilization in Georgia. Upon the conclusion of his term of service he resumed, in Savannah, the practice of his profession, holding no public office save that of judge of the inferior court of Chatham County. This position he resigned upon his removal to Burke County in 1790. He had evidently prospered and accumulated a fortune somewhat unusual in that day and community, for he then purchased a fine plantation on the Savannah River, not far from Shell Bluff, and furnished it with a considerable number of negro slaves, and all animals, implements, and provisions requisite for its proper cultivation.

Here he died on the 19th of October, 1790, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, leaving a widow Mary, and a son John (both of whom within a short time followed him to the tomb), and was buried in a substantial brick vault situated on a bold bluff overlooking the Savannah River. There he rested until his remains were removed and brought to Augusta, Georgia, and placed, in association with those of George Walton, beneath the monument erected by patriotic citizens in front of the court house in honor of the signers from Georgia of the Declaration of Independence. Gwinnett's bones could not be found; for, although it was believed that he was interred in the old cemetery on South Broad Street in Savannah, no stone having been erected over his grave, all memory of the place of his sepulture had vanished.

The will of Dr. Hall, which was on file in the office of the Court of Ordinary of Burke County, at Waynesboro', was destroyed by an accidental fire which consumed the court house and most of the public records. Subsequent to the removal of his remains to Augusta, Mr. William D'Antignac, who then owned the Hall plantation, forwarded to the corporate authorities of Wallingford, Connecticut, the native town of the signer, the marble slab inserted in the front of the brick vault wherein they had so long rested. That slab is still carefully preserved. It bears the following inscription: --

But reader, above all know from this inscription that he left this probationary state as a true Christian and an honest man.

In Sanderson's "Lives of the Signers" we are advised that Dr. Lyman Hall was six feet high and finely proportioned; that his manners were easy and polite; that his deportment was affable and dignified; that the force of his enthusiasm was tempered by discretion; that he was firm in purpose and principles; that the ascendency which he gained was engendered by a mild, persuasive manner coupled with a calm, unruffled temper; and that, possessing a strong, discriminating mind, he had the power of imparting his energy to others, and was peculiarly fitted to flourish in the perplexing and perilous scenes of the Revolution.

While there are several engraved portraits of this signer, we cannot speak authoritatively in regard to the genuineness of any of them. Careful inquiry has thus far failed to disclose the existence of any original portrait of Dr. Hall, unless that in the Philadelphia group, from which my friend Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, of New York city, had his drawing made, may be so regarded. So far as we can ascertain, there is in Georgia no original likeness of Dr. Hall. His only son died childless, and there are no lineal descendants of this signer. The State of Georgia perpetuates his name by one of her counties, and the memory of his manly walk and conversation, of his Christian virtues, useful acts, and patriotic impulses, is and will be gratefully cherished.

Although he never bore arms, or won the distinction of an orator, he hazarded everything in the cause of humanity and liberty, on every occasion manifesting an exalted patriotism conscious of the blessings to be secured and jealous of the rights to be defended.

Source:
Jones, Charles C., Jr., Biographical Sketches of the Delegates From Georgia to the Continental Congress, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, New York, 1891, pp. 88-105

Submitted by Bob Franks