Lovancia Pease Lyman Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-358

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers consist of 12 letters from Lovancia Pease (1821-1912, enrolled 1839-1841) and classmates Rhodelia Cole and Fanny Hovey at Oberlin, 1839-1841; copies of five letters from her mother, Lucinda Pease, 1839-40; notes on Alice Welch Cowles' lectures, 1839; a printed essay, ca. 1868, focused on the "woman question" and titled "Lost Image Found," by Lovancia P. Lyman; a sketch of her life; photographs; genealogical information; song books; and other related items.

Dates

Creation: 1838-1933, undated
Other: Majority of material found in 1838-1841
Other: Date acquired: 1969 March 27

Creator

Lyman, Lovancia Pease (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Lovancia Pease was born on December 23, 1821 in Madison, Ohio, the oldest daughter of the six children of George Pease and Lucinda Campbell Pease–pioneer farmers, educated, and "staunch and god-fearing." In 1839 she traveled for nearly two days from Madison to Oberlin, Ohio to enter the Preparatory Department at Oberlin College. Letters show that she studied arithmetic, composition, and singing and became known for her fine singing voice. Between terms of study, she taught local children to help defray her expenses. During her years in the Preparatory Department, she changed the spelling of her name from Lovantia to Lovancia.

Leaving Oberlin in 1841, she taught for nearly ten years in the schools in Madison, Unionville, and Painesville, Ohio until her marriage on September 18, 1850 to Henry Martyn Lyman, a former schoolmate from her student days in the Madison school. She then moved to Downer's Grove, Illinois where her husband's family, originally from New England, were farming as homesteaders. In time, her home, where she lived for over 61 years, became known as "The Lyman Homestead." She had two children: a daughter about whom there is no information and a son, Walter C. Lyman, who pre-deceased her.

At Oberlin, Lovancia Pease became interested in the plight of Black people and the role of women in American society. Her daughter-in-law, Jessie Woodward Lyman, wrote that Lovancia Lyman "bore her lot in life though not agreeing with the popular and accepted idea of male supremacy.” Around 1870, Lovancia Pease Lyman wrote and published a small monograph, The Lost Image: Found in which she examines the role of women in its Biblical context. She concludes that men and women must work together for the equality of all humanity. In 1899, she added a preface to the piece, reaffirming her conviction that women's suffrage would come.

Lovancia Pease Lyman died at Downer's Grove on March 25, 1912.

Sources Consulted

Lyman, Jessie Woodward. "Lovantia Pease Lyman." [A sketch of the life of her mother-in-law.]

Lyman, Lovantia. Pease. The Lost Image: Found.

Oberlin Collegiate Institute. Commencement Program, 1839.

Oberlin College postcard records of address changes.

"An Old Resident Gone." Downer's Grove Reporter. April 5, 1912.

Reminiscent. [A newspaper clipping with no date written by a friend after Lovancia Pease Lyman died. Probably from a Downer's Grove or Naperville newspaper.]

Note written by Elizabeth Brinkman