Sometimes a person appears in the historical record for only a moment. Lyman Bishop is one of the forgotten figures in the story of abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy and the violence surrounding his printing press in Alton, Illinois.
Bishop was a young carpenter who had recently come to Alton from the East. He hadn’t been in town long. He found work at Roff’s store and began making a life for himself in a new place. Then he became caught up in the controversy surrounding Elijah Lovejoy.
We know how Bishop’s story ended. He joined the men attacking the stone warehouse where Lovejoy’s printing press was being protected. During the confrontation, Bishop was shot. The other men carried him to Dr. Hart’s office. There he died. But the historical record doesn’t tell me something important: why was he there?
I don’t know. And that’s where historical fiction sometimes has to take over. Lyman Bishop is one of the lesser-known historical people I encountered while researching the world of young Abraham Lincoln for Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy.
In my novel, Bishop is new in Alton. He doesn’t have established friendships or a place in the community yet. He’s trying to meet people, make friends and fit in. That part is fiction. But I didn’t want Bishop simply to appear when the historical record needed someone to be shot. He had been a young man before he became a name in an account of the Lovejoy controversy. He had traveled a long way to start a life in Alton. He had found a job. Presumably, he expected to have a future there.
Instead, within a very short time, he was dead. I don’t even know whether the family he left behind ever learned what happened to him. That’s one of the things historical fiction can do with the people history barely remembers. I can’t tell you what Lyman Bishop actually thought. But I can remember that he had life before he became a footnote.
Current Projects
- My Book: Continuing revisions of Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy, where even people who appear only briefly in the historical record can have a story.
- Edward Bryant: Continuing preparations for future publication and preservation of stories by my friend Edward Bryant.
Thanks for walking alongside me.
