Lyman Hall

Stylized signature of 'Lyman Hall' in cursive.
A black-and-white portrait of a man with short hair, wearing a high-collared jacket and shirt.

BORN - April 12, 1724, in Wallingford, CT.  Parents (English ancestry) - John Hall III (b1693-d1773) and Mary Street Hall (b1698-d1778).  Nine Children – Hannah Hall (b1717-d___), Mary Hall Foote (b1718-d___),  John Hall (b___-d1737), Eunice Hall Dickinson (b___), Street Hall, Sr. (b1721-d1809), Lyman Hall (1724-1790), Susannah Hall Street (b1726-d1797), Giles Hall (b1733-d1789), Rhoda Hall (b1734-d1792).

DIED - October 19, 1790 (age 66), at his Shell Bluff Plantation in Burke County, Georgia, on Shell Bluff Landing overlooking the Savannah River.  Religion – Congregationalist (Puritan).  Buried - Initially in the family vault at his plantation.  Reburied under the Signer Monument in Augusta, GA in 1848.  The original gravestone to Wallingford, CT, his original home  for display as a memorial in the local cemetery. 

APPEARANCE – The picture above is a water color of Lyman Hall drawn by Thomas Addis Emmet - date and source to be determined.

FAMILY – Married - Abigail Burr (b1723- d1753) in 1752.  No Children.  Wife Abigail died in 1753, one year after they were married.  Married - Mary Osborne (b1736-d1793) in 1757.  One Child – John Hall (b1760-d1792).  Mary and son John died soon after Lyman.    

OCCUPATION – PHYSICIAN, CLERGYMAN, LEGISLATOR, JUDGE.   Graduated from Yale College (now Yale University) in 1747 (in theology) and 1754 (in medicine).  Moved and established a medical practice in Dorchester, near Charleston, SC.  Moved with the townspeople to Sunbury, (now Liberty County), GA in 1756.  Established the Hall’s Knoll rice plantation in 1760.  Member of the Continental Congress representing Georgia from 1775 to 1780.  Governor of Georgia for one year from 1783 to 1784.  Led the founding of the University of Georgia in 1785.           

AT SIGNING – Age 52 at signing. 

AFTER SIGNING – Continued to serve in Congress in Philadelphia until 1780.  In 1778, the British invaded Georgia, and destroyed Hall’s home and rice plantation.  Hall and his family escaped north to Philadelphia where they remained safe until the end of the war.  They returned to Georgia in 1782, settling in Savannah.

HISTORIC SITES                                                                                                                                           

Gravesite – Signers Monument, Augusta, GA (1848).  Located at the 500 block of Greene Street in front of the Augusta Municipal Center, Augusta, GA.

Sunbury Home – Hall’s Knoll Plantation, Sunbury, GA (1760).  Rice plantation and home of Lyman Hall from 1760 to 1790.  The roadside historical marker reads (on US Route 17 north of Midway, GA) - “DR LYMAN HALL - Dr. Lyman Hall was a Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence.  He represented Saint John’s Parish in the Continental Congress, and was a delegate from Georgia to the second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia.  He was a founder of Sunbury and as Governor of Georgia (1783-1784) he gave strong support to education and religion.  He was instrumental in obtaining the grant of land which led to the establishment of the University of Georgia.  Born in Wallingford, Connecticut, April 12, 1724, Dr. Hall moved to Saint John’s Parish where he purchased the plantation now known as Hall’s knoll.  He became a leading physician, planter, patriot, and was active in mercantile and shipping circles in Sunbury.  Dr. Hall died in 1790 and was buried on his plantation at Shell Bluff Landing in Burke County.  In 1848, his remains were re-interred in Augusta, beneath the granite obelisk, “The Signers’ Monument.”

Shell Bluff Home – Shell Bluff Plantation, Burke County, 25 miles south of Augusta, GA (1790).  Rice plantation and home of Lyman Hall in 1790, and where he was initially buried. 

Church – Midway Congregationalist Church, Midway, GA (1752 / 1792).  Located at 8815 East Oglethorpe Highway, Midway, GA 31320, Phone 912-884-2037.  Church attended by Lyman Hall.  The original church was burned by the British during the Revolutionary War. 

Monument – Located at the Center Street Cemetery, Wallingford, CT.  The town was his original home prior to moving to Georgia. 

White obelisk monument in a park with trees and a blue sky background.

Gravesite of Lyman Hall and George Walton, Signers Monument, Augusta, GA (1848). 

Located at the 500 block of Greene Street in front of the Augusta Municipal Center, Augusta, GA.

The Monument honors Georgia's three Signers of the Declaration of Independence - Lyman Hall, George Walton, and Button Gwinnett.  Augusta was the capital of Georgia when the monument was built in 1848.  The remains of Hall and Walton were reburied beneath the monument after it was completed.  The third Signer, Button Gwinnett, is buried Colonial Park Cemetery in Savannah, GA.  However the exact burial location within the cemetery is unknown, and therefore his remains could not be moved to the monument.