Our native son, Lyman Hall, and The Declaration of Independence
by Barbara Sherburne
I never really gave this much thought until I went to the Wallingford Historical Society the other day and spoke with Ray Chappell. He and his wife had just finished giving a busload of elementary school children a tour of the Historical Society. I asked him what sort of the things he discussed with the children, and this is how the subject came up.
Did you know that there were only 56 men who signed The Declaration of Independence? There are only 56 towns or cities in the whole United States whose citizens can say, “One of the signers of The Declaration of Independence was born here.” Wallingford is one of the 56 towns.
Lyman Hall was born here on April 12, 1724, and went to school here. His paternal grandfather, The Honorable John Hall (1670-1730), was a member of the Governor's Council and a justice of the colony's supreme court. His maternal grandfather was Rev. Samuel Street (Harvard 1664), Wallingford's first pastor. The Town of Wallingford has honored Lyman Hall by naming one of its two high schools after its distinguished native son. Also in the Wallingford Center Street Cemetery there is a marker memorializing him on the north end of the 330-year-old cemetery.
Lyman Hall graduated from Yale College in 1747. He studied theology, and began preaching in 1749. He then studied medicine and actually had a practice in Wallingford for a short time. He moved to South Carolina, and then to Georgia. He represented Georgia in the Continental Congress from 1775 until 1777. He also served as governor of Georgia from 1783 to 1784. He continued to practice medicine. He died on October 19, 1790, in Burke County, Georgia, and was buried on his plantation in Burke County. However, in 1848 he was interred once more, buried beneath the monument in front of the courthouse on Greene Street in Augusta, Georgia.
There were only three other signers of The Declaration of Independence who were born in Connecticut: Samuel Huntington of Windham; William Williams of Lebannon; and Oliver Wolcott of Windsor.
I never really gave this much thought until I went to the Wallingford Historical Society the other day and spoke with Ray Chappell. He and his wife had just finished giving a busload of elementary school children a tour of the Historical Society. I asked him what sort of the things he discussed with the children, and this is how the subject came up.
Did you know that there were only 56 men who signed The Declaration of Independence? There are only 56 towns or cities in the whole United States whose citizens can say, “One of the signers of The Declaration of Independence was born here.” Wallingford is one of the 56 towns.
Lyman Hall was born here on April 12, 1724, and went to school here. His paternal grandfather, The Honorable John Hall (1670-1730), was a member of the Governor's Council and a justice of the colony's supreme court. His maternal grandfather was Rev. Samuel Street (Harvard 1664), Wallingford's first pastor. The Town of Wallingford has honored Lyman Hall by naming one of its two high schools after its distinguished native son. Also in the Wallingford Center Street Cemetery there is a marker memorializing him on the north end of the 330-year-old cemetery.
Lyman Hall graduated from Yale College in 1747. He studied theology, and began preaching in 1749. He then studied medicine and actually had a practice in Wallingford for a short time. He moved to South Carolina, and then to Georgia. He represented Georgia in the Continental Congress from 1775 until 1777. He also served as governor of Georgia from 1783 to 1784. He continued to practice medicine. He died on October 19, 1790, in Burke County, Georgia, and was buried on his plantation in Burke County. However, in 1848 he was interred once more, buried beneath the monument in front of the courthouse on Greene Street in Augusta, Georgia.
There were only three other signers of The Declaration of Independence who were born in Connecticut: Samuel Huntington of Windham; William Williams of Lebannon; and Oliver Wolcott of Windsor.
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