Lyman Percy Maxson, Sr.

At age 19 Lyman Percy Maxson went to Canada where he was in the lumber business until the outbreak of the War of 1812, when he was forced into a Canadian camp. He refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Canadian government, and was put in prison. He and another man escaped. The other man was so elated at the escape that he insisted on singing and otherwise making noise. This resulted in their re-capture and return to prison. Lyman later escaped a second time, evaded capture, and swam across the St. Lawrence River to the U.S. After the war he returned to Canada to find that his wife had died and his children scattered. Ann, the youngest, had been taken by a rich family, so, leaving the two boys, Phineas and Abidah with relatives (presumeably his deceased wife's), he took Betsy and Sally back to the United States, where he married his second wife, Polly Madison.