Darius Lyman
Darius Lyman (deceased), born at Goshen, Litchfield Co., Conn., July 19, 1789, died at Cleveland, Ohio, December 13, 1867, aged seventy-six years, five months. He graduated at Williams College in the class of 1810. Soon after he entered the law school at Litchfield, then under the charge of Judge Gould, where by diligent application to his studies he soon won the respect of his distinguished teacher and all those who were associated with him. After leaving the Litchfield Law School he went to Pittsburgh, Penn., and in order to more fully perfect his legal studies he spent several months in the law office of Hon. Henry Baldwin, subsequently one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. In the spring of 1814 he came to this county, was admitted to the bar, and established himself permanently in his profession in Ravenna. He was soon appointed Prosecuting Attorney of the county, and in 1816 was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature for two years. In 1828 he was elected to the State Senate, where he served two terms ending in 1832. In the fall of the latter year he was the anti-Masonic candidate for Governor, and was defeated by Robert Lucas by a small majority. Judge Lyman has ever been regarded one of the pioneer lawyers of Portage County. Although not a brilliant advocate, his thorough knowledge of legal principles, his unswerving integrity and love of justice gave him great influence with both court and jury, which made him a formidable competitor. For some years he was in partnership with the late Hon. Luther Day. Judge Lyman acquired an extensive practice in Portage and adjoining counties. His well-balanced, clear and discriminating mind, inflexible uprightness and unsullied purity of heart won the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He was an ardent friend of education, and for many years an efficient member of the Board of Trustees of the Western Reserve College. He early identified himself with the Free Soil party, and in 1850 was elected to the State Senate on that ticket. This was his last service as legislator. In 1855 he was elected Probate Judge of Portage County, was re-elected and occupied the position until 1864. After retiring from the Judgeship he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived to the time of his death. Our subject was twice married. He was the father of six children, some of them dying young. His eldest son, Prof. Darius Lyman, for nearly twenty years has held an important position in the Treasury Department at Washington, D. C. Henry D. Lyman, his grandson, is now Second Assistant Postmaster-General. His daughter, Laura, is the widow of the late Hon. William S. C. Otis, of Cleveland, Ohio. The other surviving children are Mrs. Mary L. Hood, of Minneapolis, Minn., and Mrs. Anna L. Woodworth, of St. Louis, Mo. In all his relations as a citizen Judge Lyman was a worthy exemplar; opposed to all forms of oppression, he was ever guided by the highest principles of honor and rectitude; his heart and hands wero ever ready to do all in his power to preserve peace and order in the community and to improve and elevate society.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885