William Whittingham Lyman Jr, (January 3, 1885 - November 8, 1983) also known as Jack Lyman, was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer and academic, primarily in the field of Celtic studies.

Life and work

Lyman was born at Napa County, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, the son of William Whittingham Lyman

William Whittingham Lyman

William Whittingham Lyman was the son of Theodore Benedict Lyman. He built the Lyman winery, now known as the El Molino winery. At one point owned what has now become Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park. He helped found Grace Episcopal Church of St. Helena, California...

 and Mrs Sarah A. Nowland, and the grandson of Theodore Benedict Lyman

Theodore Benedict Lyman

Theodore Benedict Lyman , was the fourth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. He was born in Brighton, Massachusetts. Father of William Whittingham Lyman...

. His father built the Lyman winery, now known as the El Molino winery. In 1905, whilst an undergraduate at University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, he was convinced by Charles Mills Gayley

Charles Mills Gayley

Charles Mills Gayley was a professor of English and the Classics at the University of California at Berkeley, from the fall of 1889 through July 1932.-Biography:...

 to achieve an academic major

Academic major

In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....

 in English literature

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

. Upon completion of his Master's degree

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

, Gayley arranged for him to receive a university fellow

Fellow

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

ship to travel to the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 to study Celtic languages

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...

 with Sir John Rhys

John Rhys

Sir John Rhys was a Welsh scholar, fellow of the British Academy, celticist and the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University.-Early years and education:...

. After a year at Oxford, Lyman spent two years at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 studying the Irish language

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

. He returned to the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 to take up a post as Instructor in Celtic (then a tenure

Tenure

Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...

-track position) within the English department in 1911-1912. In the same year, Celtic appears on the list of approved majors in the College of Letters and Science and in the following year Lyman is named also as "Graduate Adviser" in Celtic. There he remained until 1922, whereupon he moved to Southern California and taught until his retirement. After retirement he and his family moved back to the family home at Bayles Mills, St Helena.

Commenting on his long life, Ruth Witt-Diamant

Ruth Witt-Diamant

Ruth Witt-Diamant, a professor at San Francisco State University from 1931, founded and was the first director of the SFSU Poetry Center in 1954. In her youth, she traveled and taught English poetry in Japan, becoming good friends with the Tokugawa family. She hosted many famous poets in her guest...

 declared him to be the "oldest living poet".

He was a poet of some renown, as mentioned by Josephine Miles

Josephine Miles

Josephine Miles was an American poet and literary critic; the first woman to be tenured in the English Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She wrote over a dozen books of poetry and several works of criticism....

:

"In a legendary time in the Greek Theater in Berkeley at the end of the first world war, poets gathered around the visitor Witter Bynner with a great sense of inventiveness and praise. Names I have heard from that time were Genevieve Taggard, Hidegarde Flanner, Eda Lou Walton, David Greenhood, Jack Lyman."

From preface to

At some point in his life he married the US poet Helen Hoyt

Helen Hoyt

Helen Lyman commonly known as Helen Hoyt or Helen Hoyt Lyman was an American poet.-Life and work:...

.

As Author

- Contains 24 poems in all, chiefly concerning the natural beauty of various California locales; dedicated to Helen Hoyt. The book itself is an early example of LA printer Richard Hoffman.

Memoirs

His memoirs are held at the University of California

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, Berkeley Bancroft BANC MSS 71/150 c.