Near a marker noting another signer of the Declaration of Independence, this one in Midway honors Doctor Lyman Hall. His is the second in the left-most column with Button Gwinnett and George Walton.
The marker reads, "Dr. Lyman Hall was a Georgia signer of The Declaration Of Independence. He represented Saint John's Parish in the Continental Congress, and was a delegate from Georgia to the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia.
"He was a founder of Sunbury and as Governor of Georgia (1783-1784) he gave strong support to education and religion. He was instrumental in obtaining the grant of land which led to the establishment of the University of Georgia.
"Born in Wallingford, Connecticut, April 12, 1724, Dr. Hall moved to Saint John's Parish where he purchased the plantation now known as Hall's Knoll. He became a leading physician, planter, patriot, and was active in mercantile and shipping circles in Sunbury.
Dr. Hall died in 1790 and was buried on his plantation at Shell Bluff Landing in Burke County. In 1848, his remains were re-interred in Augusta, beneath the granite obelisk, 'The Signers' Monument.'"
Dr. Lyman Hall became a central figure in Saint Johns Parish, where the independent Congregationalist community trusted him enough to send him to the Continental Congress even before the rest of Georgia committed to the patriot cause. His work in Sunbury's commercial world and his ties to the Midway church network helped shape the region's political identity, and his later push for education grew directly from the parish's long tradition of literacy and religious instruction. His eventual reinterment beneath the Signers Monument in Augusta reflects how Georgia slowly came to honor a man whose medical skill, political resolve, and deep connection to Midway left a lasting imprint on the state's early history.
The marker was erected by the Daughters of American Colonists.
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