Abner Lyman, Portland Township Justice of the Peace

 

On September 11, 1830, Abner Lyman was appointed Justice of the Peace for the township of Portland, in Huron County, Ohio. (Portland Township and the city of Sandusky were effectively the same at that time; Erie County was not formed until 1838.) The certificate was signed by Allen Trimble, Governor of Ohio.

Abner Lyman settled in the Sandusky area in 1818. Lyman Coleman in his 1872 Genealogy of the Lyman Family in Great Britain and America wrote that Abner Lyman was “a worthy, estimable man, who enjoyed the respect and confidence of all who knew him.”  He worked as a millwright and carpenter, and had been both a captain and a major in the Ohio Militia. During the War of 1812, he was a private and participated in the battle at Sackett’s Harbor.  Mr. Lyman’s wife was the former Eunice Wheeler. They had four children, including Hiram A. Lyman, who was Keeper of the Cedar Point Lighthouse for nearly thirty years.

You might wonder whether the Abner Lyman family is related to that of Bernard Lyman, founder of Lyman Boat Works, a well-regarded boat manufacturer in twentieth-century Sandusky. To date, no connection has been found between Abner Lyman and Bernard Lyman.

Nope, not the same Lymans