Descendants of Amassa Lyman held a three-day reunion during the last week of July. Elder Dallin Oaks and renowned LDS historian Richard Bushman both spoke about Lyman. According to the Deseret News Mormon Times, “Lyman, an original pioneer to enter the Salt Lake Valley, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and in the First Presidency at the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith's death.”For members of the Genesis Group, Amassa Lyman has some additional significance. Two of his wives—one, Lydia Partridge, a progenitor of Elder James E. Faust, and the other, Eliza Partridge—were left destitute when Elder Lyman went on a mission to California. Eliza Partridge Lyman recorded in her journal that they were left with “no flour nor any way to get it.” Two weeks later, her journal records: “Jane James, the colored woman, brought me two pounds of flour, it being about half she had.”
Jerri Harwell, who portrays Jane Manning James at This Is the Place Heritage Park, appeared in costume for the Lyman reunion at the gravesite of Jane James, where nearly a decade ago, the Genesis Group erected a monument to Jane’s act of service. Sister Harwell gave part of Jane’s life story and spoke to Lyman’s descendants about the contributions of Jane Elizabeth Manning James.