The Well-Behaved Trader
Seward Wyman was born in 1803 at North Yarmouth, Maine. His father was a shipmaster named Robert Wyman and his mother, Prudence Reed, was the granddaughter of a Revolutionary War general. Wyman was rather self-conscious of the fact that his paternal line was made up of farmers of common ancestry, but still claimed that, “we do not think any less of our birthright… being a sort of the sovereignty of the new yet already farmed land.” Wyman grew up in North Yarmouth and then attended Gorham Academy for high school under the tutelage of Reuben Nason. His classmates in Gorham included James Ware Bradbury, Nathaniel Dunn, and George Washington Lane.
It is likely that Wyman came to Bowdoin as a sophomore or spent his first year studying at home. He first moved to Brunswick at the age of eighteen and started boarding at the Honorable B. Orr’s with ten other members of the Class of 1825. There he may have become close with Elisha Bacon, who he roomed with in Winthrop his junior year. Senior year, Wyman changed rooms in Winthrop and lived with William Hale. For activities, Wyman joined the Athenean Society. Wyman was occasionally cited for absences or neglecting work by the Executive Government, but for the most part he was a well disciplined student. Wyman was commended for taking classes at Bowdoin’s Maine Medical School. For the exhibition of his junior year he gave a conference on “The Power Exerted in Society by Talents and Wealth,” with Richmond Bradford. Wyman also gave a conference at Commencement, entitled “The Writings of Byron, Scott, and Irving.” His conference partners were John S. C. Abbott and John Dafforne Kinsman and the trio were also ranked sixteenth in the class.
Wyman spent the first year after Bowdoin working as a principal at North Yarmouth Academy. He then decided to attend the Andover Theological Seminary in hopes of becoming a minister.
Unfortunately, a bout of ill health destroyed these dreams as Wyman’s constitution became too weak for clerical work. Instead, after his graduation in 1829, he sought a job that would allow him to recover his health and earn a livable income. He moved to New York City and, in 1834, took a job as a discount clerk for Phenix Bank. In 1837,Wyman married Louisa F. Hoole, the daughter of a Portland lawyer. The Wymans had five children, four daughters and a son. Unfortunately, the son and eldest daughter passed away as children. This personal loss did not deter Wyman from his work. He continued to work at Phenix bank until 1844 and then moved back to Portland, where he invested himself in the West India trade. Wyman died in 1860, at the age of 56. He left behind Louisa and his three youngest daughters.