David Belden Lyman (July 28, 1803 – October 4, 1884) was an early American missionary to Hawaii who opened a boarding school for Hawaiians.

His wife Sarah Joiner Lyman (1805–1885) taught at the boarding school and kept an important journal.

Only a few days later they sailed from Massachusetts in the fifth company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Hawaii.

Mrs. Lyman made a note in her diary about the unusual customs of drinking hot coffee, tea, and "English dinners".

[5] Sarah Joiner Lyman's journal recorded earthquakes felt in Hilo and volcanic eruptions of Kilauea and Mauna Loa.

[8] Titus Coan and his wife Fidelia arrived in 1836 and officially took over preaching duties at the Haili church.

[9] Lorrin Andrews had established the Lahainaluna Seminary in 1831, but primary and secondary schools were also needed on each island.

Students tended a garden to grow their own food, and to raise some cash crops to support expenses.

In 1848 the school was officially incorporated, and the Great Mahele formally acknowledged property of 40 acres (16 ha).

Dr. Charles Wetmore became the first doctor in Hilo and taught some classes at the school, moving into the former house of the Lymans.

The Lymans enforced strict discipline, dismissing students at a high rate because of the large demand to be admitted.

[10] Local businessmen such as Pitman raised funds to rebuild, aided by an appropriation of the Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The third and final school campus opened in 1856 about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) inland from the church and Lyman house.

[17] Henry Munson Lyman graduated from Williams College in 1858 and became a physician in the American Civil War, then married Sarah K. Clark and moved to Chicago.

[19] Frederick's son Levi C. Lyman served 25 years as principal of the Hilo Boarding School, from 1897 to 1922.

[15]: 38 Rufus Anderson Lyman born on June 23, 1842, was probably named after Rufus Anderson who was foreign secretary of the mission board and visited the mission in 1863,[21] married Chinese-Hawaiian Rebecca Brickwood, became a local politician and judge, and had fifteen children.