The History of
Paulina Eliza PHELPS LYMAN was born March 20, 1827, at Lawrence, Illinois, to Morris Charles PHELPS and Laura CLARK PHELPS. Her parents were early converts to the Church. She was blessed by Parley P. Pratt in a dungeon in Richmond, Missouri, and baptized by her father June 1, 1835, in Crooked River, Missouri. She was one of the children whom the Prophet Joseph Smith blessed and promised that she would come to the Rocky Mountains.
Her father was imprisoned with Parley P. Pratt and others. Her mother, whose fourth child was under one year of age, rode 250 miles on horseback to see him, and with the aid of Orson Pratt, was successful in having him released. It was in this prison she sewed the manuscript of the "Key to Theology" in her clothing, thus preserving it for the Church.
As a child, Paulina was melancholy and often felt lonely and sad. One night she dreamed that if she would read one-half hour daily, it would keep her mind occupied, relieving her despondency as well as improving her mind. When she was 14 years of age, her mother died and Paulina took over the responsibility of the home and family until her father married again. Circumstances were very hard and Paulina had to help the family by working for other people.
She was married January 16, 1846, to Apostle Amasa Mason LYMAN, in the Nauvoo Temple. Later she drove a four-horse team for Sidney Tanner across the plains to pay for her fare. Paulina took care of Mrs. Tanner during her illness until her death, and then for a time cared for the eight motherless children. Pauline's first child was born at Winter Quarters. She arrived in Salt Lake City in October 1848, living in the fort for one year. Food was very scarce and expensive, flour being $1.00 per pound. She obtained a few pounds for her baby, whom she could only allow a spoonful a day.
Later when Apostle Lyman returned from a mission to the Southern States, he brought a bale of cotton. This Paulina carded and spun, making candle wicking and thread, which was sold. She wove carpets, jeans, tablecloths, and bedspreads.
In the late 50's she came to Parowan with her three children. Brother Jess N. Smith invited them into his home, caring for them until one could be provided for her. Later Cornelia Lyman came from California, with her two boys, to share Pauline's home. She took care of Cornelia, who was very frail and ill, until she died, and then reared the two boys, always giving them first consideration. Mrs. Lyman was left a widow early in life. She labored early and late to support her family, weaving and sewing, tailoring, etc. and her work was of the highest quality.
When she was past 60 years old, she went to Salt Lake City to study obstetrics under Dr. Ellis R. Shipp, and obtained her diploma. Mrs. Lyman not only presided at the birth of more than 500 babies, but was a surgeon and doctor as well, setting broken limbs and providing for and nursing any affliction. She kept up with the latest methods, being interested in every advancement in medicine. She taught classes in obstetrics, passing on her knowledge that others might learn and be of service in the community.
She was the mother of seven children, six boys and one girl, two of whom met with tragic deaths early in life. Her sorrows and her responsibilities were met with faith in her Heavenly Father, and with courage and willingness to do her part. On October 8, 1912, she passed away at her home in Parowan, at the age of 85 years, her mind keen and alert to kindness to all the malice toward none.
SOURCE| compiled by Kate B. Carter
Mrs. Paulina Eliza PHELPS LYMAN, daughter of Morris PHELPS and Laura CLARK PHELPS, was born March 20th, 1827, in Lawrenceville, Illinois.
The family and ancestry were from the New England States and came to this country in the Mayflower. With the family she moved in 1832 to the Little Prairie near Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. At this place and time she was given a blessing by the Prophet Joseph Smith in which he promised her that "she would go to the Rocky Mountains."
She remembered the destruction of the printing press at Independence and the driving of the Mormons from Jackson County.
Her father was imprisoned in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, with Parley P. Pratt and others. After being driven from their home, her mother returned 250 miles on horseback and with the assistance of Orson Pratt succeeded in getting her husband released from prison. On this visit to the Richmond prison Mrs. Phelps sewed the manuscript of "The Key to Theology" in her clothing and brought it out safely. Otherwise that precious volume, by Parley P. Pratt, might have been destroyed.
Mrs. Lyman was baptized by her father June 1st, 1835, in Crooked River.
She was blessed by Parley P. Pratt in the Richmond Jail. When her father was freed from jail the family moved to Nauvoo. She saw the body of the Prophet twice after the martyrdom.
January 16th, 1846, she was married to Amasa M. LYMAN in the Nauvoo temple. That year she was in the exodus from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, where she abode with the family and Saints during the Pioneer year 1847.
In 1848 she crossed the plains to Salt Lake Valley. In 1857 she moved to Parowan, her home for the remainder of her life.
In later life she studied and practiced obstetrics and became a successful physician. She assisted at the coming into this world of five hundred children.
She was the mother of seven children: Oscar Morris, Mason Roswell, Clark, Charles Rich, William Horn, Solon Ezra and Laura Paulina. Three sons, Charles, William and Solon, and her only daughter, Laura P. Clark, survived her. She was left a widow in 1877 and was obliged to support her family by her own labors.
In early days she spun and wove cloth and made one hundred and thirty suits of clothes for men and boys. In cases of emergency and accidents she was indispensable in the community where she lived. She lived 85 years, 6 months and 21, days.
SOURCE| Daughters of the Utah Pioneers And Their Mothers -- Mrs. Paulina Eliza Phelps Lyman
Paulina PHELPS LYMAN was born at Lawrenceville, Illinois, March 20, 1827, the daughter of Morris PHELPS and Laura CLARK PHELPS. Her father joined the Church in 1831 and was a prominent member from that time until his death. When Paulina was five years of age, she received a blessing from the Prophet Joseph Smith in which he promised her "that she would live to go to the Rocky Mountains," a remarkable prophecy to be given at that date. At the age of 14, she took the responsibility of caring for her father's family as her mother had passed away.
On January 15, 1846, Paulina was married to Apostle Amasa LYMAN in the Nauvoo Temple, as a plural wife. When the Saints were driven from their homes in Nauvoo, she drove a four-horse team across Iowa to Winter Quarters, for Sidney Tanner, as this was the only means she had of paying her way. Mrs. Lyman arrived in Salt Lake Valley, October, 1848. Here she made her home until 1857, then moved to Parowan in Southern Utah, where she lived until her death at the age of eighty-five years.
Added to the responsibilities of looking after the home, Mrs. Lyman had to provide for the physical necessities of her large family, and to that end she turned to different kinds of employment such as spinning, weaving and sewing. From her own home-woven cloth she made one hundred and thirty suits for men and boys. She next turned to obstetrics, since there were no doctors for many miles around. In this field of medical science she was unusually successful, but with the thought of increasing her efficiency in the care of women, she went to Salt Lake City to take some advanced work in obstetrics under Dr. Ellis Shipp. She was then past sixty years of age, but she was an apt student and succeeded in passing the prescribed course with honors.
Her services in the medical field were not confined to maternity cases but she became a general practitioner, even to the extent of setting broken bones. She was the first in Parowan to use disinfectants, the most commonly used by her being carbolic acid and iodoform. At a time when vaccination was frowned upon by many who thought it would leave the patient with some physical disability, this far-visioned woman doctor procured the vaccine from Salt Lake City and injected it into the blood stream of nearly every resident of Parowan during an epidemic of smallpox that was sweeping the country.
Much of the success achieved by Paulina Lyman in her work among the afflicted can be accredited to her supreme faith in the power of prayer. Always she carried a prayer in her heart for the recovery of those who came under her care, and this, together with her skill, resulted in a remarkable percentage of successful cases, both in childbirth and in her general practice.
SOURCE| Our Pioneer Heritage: Volume 6 -- Pioneer Midwives
Paulina Lyman Ranch
Aunt Paulina Lyman ranched at the north end of the Co-op Valley, when the saw mill was there. The Blow-up was just east of her ranch and over the hill. Wilcoxes’ old saw mill setting was just south and east of the Blow-up. As soon as there was a good road through Bear Valley, William Holyoak established a ranch in Upper Bear Valley on a spring near the main road. William Mitchell had a ranch at the north end of Dry Lakes, just over the hills east from the first lake where Aunt Deanie D. Mitchell ranched for many years.
Jimmie Applegate ranched at Dry Lakes. This was a big country with many ranches. Lyman‘s ranch was just east of the old Wilcox mill built above the big cliffs on the road to Mammoth and up over the grade. Sydney Beerton’s and Frank Woodbury‘s ranch and also Joseph McGregor’s were all on the grade. The Lymans finally took over most of these ranches.
SOURCE| Heart Throbs of the West Volume 12 -- Ranching in the Early Days -- Paulina Lyman Ranch
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