Episode 128: Before They Were Famous: Amasa Lyman

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:27)
I do not care what you say has cleansed you from sin, but I do not want you to believe that the blood of Jesus has cleansed you from all sin, and yet see you going down a perdition because you have continued to sin. I want you to understand that by practicing purity continually, by being righteous and holy, honest with our God and with one another, by this means we will avoid doing evil.
Amasa Lyman, Millennial Star 1862

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:01)
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:03)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:04)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion, this isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:32)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:37)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:45)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.
Thanks for watching! Bryan, can you come in here and sit down for a minute?

**SPEAKER_3** (2:14)
Uh, okay, are we going to have the talk? Well, I do have something really important to tell you.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:18)
Are you and Dad getting divorced?

**SPEAKER_3** (2:21)
Yes.
No. I just wanted to give you a heads up that we're doing another Before They Were Famous.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:29)
Am I getting a new baby brother? Oh, wait, you just said what it is. All right, fine, fair enough. That is probably good. And do you remember us just kind of hanging in the Amasa Lyman Charles Rach double billing out there, flapping in the wind?
Well, right off the bat, we need to warn all of you we're back in tricky Mormon name territory because our first subject is Amasa Mason Lyman.
For hanging out with enough descendants, like his biographer, Leo Lyman, for example, his name is pronounced Amason. If you're a real Lyman or his friend, apparently you can say an Amasi. It's probably good he didn't marry Valade Kimball.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:06)
But we digress.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:09)
But we digress.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:11)
Our second character and Amasa's frequent brother in shenanigans is Charles Colson Ridge. Am I saying that right, Charles?

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:21)
From my interactions with Ridge descendants, yes, I believe that is correct.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:25)
That's a relief. Because we've been promising we would do this. I still can't say Amasa's name. Say it slow.
Amasa.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:34)
Amasa like stress on the first syllable.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:35)
I know. People don't tell me that. Listen, my brain doesn't work that way when it's a stress. Like, have you tried to see me dance to hip hop? Like, I can't.
Amasa.
I can't do it. My mouth doesn't work that way.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:50)
I thoroughly enjoyed Phelanke Kimball's biography. I think literally first page, they address the pronunciation. I've heard it.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:57)
I could do that? Good. It's about time. I mean, I'm going to call him a Massey. That's... I can handle that.
Okay, let's do this.
These two large sass of potatoes aren't going to biographize themselves.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:12)
All in good time. First, however, a word from our friends at the University of Utah, Nebraska.

**SPEAKER_3** (4:18)
Celebrating their 75th anniversary.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:22)
Celebrating their 75th anniversary. It's quite the career for them.
I'm actually going to probably be a feather in your metaphorical cap if you were to publish a book with them.

**SPEAKER_3** (4:31)
Wouldn't that be something?

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:33)
The early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is filled with fascinating characters, but few led a more tumultuous life than Amasa Lyman. Though he has been largely forgotten, this new biography provides a unique and revealing account of the early days of Mormonism and Lyman's role in creating that history. He served as a missionary in the Burdover district of upstate New York and in Ohio before moving to Kirtland, where he suffered in the infant church's financial crisis. He participated in the conflicts with hostile Missourians and emigrated to Navu, Illinois. There, he became a leader in the church and a close associate of Joseph Smith. Lyman then led a company of pioneers across Iowa to winter quarters and on to the Salt Lake Valley. He was sent to the California Goldfields and led the colonization of San Bernardino, where he became its first mayor, before returning to Utah, and he traveled to Europe as head of the church's European missions.
Having spent more than 30 years in the service of his church, Lyman began to move away from its teachings after a series of conflicts with its second leader, Brigham Young.