Brief Life Sketch

Lydia Partridge Lyman, born May 8, 1830, in Painesville, Ohio, was the sixth child of Edward Partridge and Lydia Clisbee. Her life began just over a month after the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and she grew up amid intense persecution of the Saints. As a child, she witnessed her father's brutal mistreatment at the hands of mobs, which ultimately led to his death when Lydia was only ten years old. From a young age, Lydia gained a strong testimony of the restored gospel, a faith that would sustain her through illness, poverty, and the hardships of polygamous pioneer life.

After her father's death, Lydia lived in Nauvoo and eventually traveled west with her family, enduring the deaths of loved ones and the trials of frontier migration. In 1848, she crossed the plains with Amasa Mason Lyman’s family and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on October 17. At age 24, she married Amasa Lyman as his eighth wife and later moved with him and their children to Fillmore, Utah, where he hoped to better support and educate his families. Lydia bore four children and worked hard to provide for them, using her skills as a seamstress and her craftsmanship with buckskin goods to earn a living.

Lydia endured chronic illness throughout her life, including severe rheumatism, yet remained devoted to her family. When Amasa was excommunicated from the Church, Lydia and her sisters chose to separate from him, settling in Oak City with their mother and children. In her final illness, Lydia was lovingly cared for by her family during sixteen painful weeks before her passing on January 16, 1875, at age 44. She was buried in Fillmore, Utah, the only one of Amasa Lyman’s eight wives to be laid to rest at his side. Her life stands as a testament of resilience, faith, and quiet strength in the face of enduring trials.