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Richard Roswell Lyman (November 23, 1870-December
31, 1963) was an apostle in The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1918 to 1943. He
was excommunicated in 1943 for cohabitation and
rebaptized in 1954.
 
Richard R. Lyman was born 1870 in Fillmore,
Millard county, Utah. His father was Francis M.
Lyman, who was the son of Amasa M. Lyman, both of
whom served as apostles in the church. His mother
was Clara Caroline Callister, whose grandfather
was John Smith, Joseph Smith's uncle, and a
presiding Patriarch in the church. Clara Caroline
Callister's mother was Caroline Smith Callister,
the only sister of the apostle George A. Smith,
who served with Brigham Young as a counselor in
the presidency of the church.

Richard R. Lyman was ordained an Elder August 29,
1891 by Joseph F. Smith.

He studied at the University of Michigan.

He was known for his civil engineering and work on
the Utah State Road Commission.

Richard R. Lyman married Amy Brown on September 9,
1896 by Joseph F. Smith.

He was ordained an apostle April 7, 1918.

In 1943, the First Presidency discovered that
Lyman was cohabitating with a woman other than his
legal wife. As it turned out, in 1925 Lyman had
begun a relationship which he defined as a
Polygamy#Mormon_polygamy|polygamous marriage.
Unable to trust anyone else to officiate, Elder
Lyman and the woman exchanged vows secretly.
Despite the fact that both Lyman and the woman
were in their seventies, Lyman was excommunicated
on November 12, 1943 at age 73. The Quorum of the
Twelve provided the newspapers with a one-sentence
announcement, stating that the ground for
excommunication was violation of the Christian law
of chastity, even though many believe the real
reason was his practice of post-Manifesto
polygamy. For years after his excommunication,
some apostles worried that Apostle Lyman might
join the Mormon Polygamous Mormon
fundamentalists|fundamentalist movement.

Later, he returned to the church through rebaptism
on October 27, 1954.

He died 1963 at Salt Lake City, Utah.

==External links==
*http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/w/o/wol3/lymanr
r1.htm Biography of Richard R. Lyman

==Bibliography==
2005 Church Almanac (Salt Lake City, Utah: The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
2005): 65.
 
D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions
of Power (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books,
1997): 183.

D. Michael Quinn, Same-Sex Dynamics Among
Nineteenth Century Americas: The Mormon Example
(Urbana & Chicago: Illinois University Press,
1996): 371-372.

D. Michael Quinn, Elder Statesman: A Biography of
J. Reuben Clark (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature
Books, 2002): 252-253.

Edward L. Kimball & Andrew E. Kimball Jr., Spencer
W. Kimball: Twelfth President of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City,
Utah: Bookcraft, 1977) p. 208-210.

John R. Sillitoe, "Enigmatic Apostle: The
Excommunication of Richard L. Lyman." Paper
presented at Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City,
Utah, 1991.







start box
series box |
 title= Quorum of the Twelve Apostles |
 years= April 7, 1918–November 12, 1943 |
 before=Stephen L. Richards |
 after= Melvin J. Ballard |

end box