Lyman Township was named after Samual Lyman, the descendant of Richard Lyman who came to Connecticut in 1631. Samual, his wife Lucretia (Burt) and five children moved to what was to become Lyman Township and built the first permanent house there in July of 1856.
In 1857 a colony of Connecticut people settled in the area and took up about 7,000 acres. Among the settlers listed in the colony were the following: S.K. Marston, E.L. Havens, Captain A.C. Maxon, S.C. Burt, John T. Forbes, Lyman Peck, J.M. Wyman, G.H. Thompson, G.B. Winter, H.J. Gamble, William S. Rossey, William Bentley, Daniel Hutchinson, Enoch and Moses Morgan, Robert Eggleston, Sam Birdsley, I.N. Newton, N.C. Ball, James Sellick, W.S. Larkin, Reuben Pearson, R.A. Hungerford, and Henry Dennis.
At a meeting of the board of Supervisors held September 9, 1867 a petition was presented to form a new township out of part of Brenton, described as town 25 north, range 9 east of the third principal meridian. The petition was granted and the township took its name after the first resident settler. In April 1868 the first township meeting was held and the following officers were elected: Samual Woodward, supervisor; A.M. Haling, town clerk; Daniel Woodward, collector; A.V. Burcham, assessor; A.V. Burcham, James Roberts, and P.S. Gose, highway commissioners. Samuel Woodward and T.A. Ireland, justices of the peace; Daniel Woodward and Daniel Althen, constables. At the same meeting four road districts and nine school districts were designated.
The first child born in the township was Rosa Bushor. The first marriage was celebrated in 1860 between James Crow and Kate Birdsley. The first death was that of Mrs. Henry Dennis, who was buried on the A.M. Peck farm, Section 4.
--History of Ford County Illinois. 1985.
