The Lyon Families of Morrow County, Ohio

SMITH LYON, farmer; P. O., Bloomfield; was born in Connecticut in 1811, and lived there until he was nearly 7 years old; his father and mother, Walker and Mary Ann

(Tuttle) Lyon, came to South Bloomfield Tp. in 1817, and thus were among the earliest settlers. The father was born in April, 1779, and was married in Aug., 1808; he had a family of three children — Smith, born as above; Jennet, born July, 1817, and Harriet, born Sept., 1823; all three are yet living. When Smith was 21 he married Sally Jane Marvin, and by her has one child — Newton T., born in January, 1833. After his first wife died he married Deborah J. Lounsbury, and by her has one chikU-Sally Jane — who is the wife of Col. A. H. Brown. Mr. Lyon is a Republican; he owns 475 acres of land, and is one of the few oldest settlers in the township. His father came here late in the fall of 1817 — so late that cold weather set in before he could finish his log cabin; he could not make mortar, and had to fill up the thinks with moss and sod; he taught school at an early day, and was among the first teachers in the township. He was a Justice of the Peace, and performed many marriage ceremonies, receiving for his services some sort of produce, such as potatoes. Smith Lyon received but a meagre education in youth, as his services on his father’s farm were indispensable, and he was kept at home chopping and clearing. He is well known and universally respected.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

MARVIN B. LYON, shoemaker. The present Postmaster at Bloomfield, is Marvin B. Lyon, who was born in Tompkins Co., N. Y., Nov. 24, 1830. His father came to Ohio in 1834, and located in Hilliar Tp., Knox Co., where Edwin Lyon now lives. Mr. Lyon’s early years were passed on his father’s farm; he received a good common school education, and at the age of 21 was united in marriage to Selina, daughter of Daniel Chadwick, and by her has the following family — Orlin M., born Dec. 24, 1852, and Ernest W., born Feb. 26, 1857; his marriage was celebrated Jan. 1, 1852; in Aug., 1875, his son Orlin, married Hena, daughter of Robert Gray, of Delaware Co.; Orlin has one son, Clarence, born in Feb. 1877. Mr. Lyon’s parents are David S. Lyon and Ivah, daughter of Elmer Chase, Esq.; and in his father’s family were the following children — Sherwood, who died in infancy; Marvin B., Cornelia, Edwin L. and Daniel E.; Cornelia is dead; Edwin L. married Fannie, daughter of Isaac Brokaw; has three children, and lives in Hilliar Tp., Knox Co.; Daniel E. married lone, daughter of Wesley Clark, and has one child. After Mr. Lyon married he lived with his father about four years, and then moved to Johnson Co., Iowa, where he remained almost a year, and then came back to Ohio. He settled in Bloomfield and worked at his trade — shoemaking; in 1873 he bought 80 acres of land, adjoining the town. In 1878 he started a store in Bloomfield, with an assortment of groceries, notions, boots and shoes; he has quite a lively trade, with a stock worth about $1,000. He is at present justice of the peace. Is a Republican and Prohibitionist, and a member of the Advent Christian Church at Sparta. He is one of the most prominent men in the township.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JACOB R. LYON, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O., Iberia. Among the self-made men and successful farmers in Canaan Tp., we find J. R. Lyon, who is located, in the extreme north east corner of the township. His place of birth, was Sussex Co., N. J., Nov. 17, 1828. His parents were, Holsey and Harriet (Rose) Lyon, who were both natives of New Jersey, and had twelve children born unto them, Jacob being the third. At the age of sixteen he began for himself, and worked by the month until he was 23 years of age. Dec. 22, 1851, he was married to Esther Johnson, who was born Sept. 3, 1828, in Sussex Co., N. J., daughter of Elias and Mary (Ivimber) Johnson. For three years after marriage, he was engaged in farming in N. J. During the time he was engaged in working by the month, and while teaming across the mountains, noted the difference between products of the rough and mountainous part, and the valleys and rich bottom land, the difference being very perceptible; attributing the contrast to the character of the soil more than the climate, he determined, in as much as he had decided upon leading the life of a husbandman, to seek the country affording the best soil. Coming from New Jersey, he “struck” for the Buck Eye State, and landed in Canaan Tp., and settled near Denmark, on Shaw’s Creek, purchasing 80 acres; subsequently, he went north of Denmark, and located in August 1862; he volteered in Co “C” 96th, O. V. I., and served until the close of the war; upon his return from service, he lived three years on the eighty-acre tract on Shaw’s Creek he then went north of Denmark where he purchased 160 acres, and remained on the same until 1872, when he sold his farm, and purchased the Dalrymple farm where he now resides. He has now 245 acres of choice land, most favorably located. Few men in the county have been more successful than Mr. Lyon. Beginning a poor boy, he worked by the month, at low wages, and gave one-half of his earnings to his father, and saved every dollar he earned, and has at length become one of the staunch and affluent farmers in the locality, farming and stock-raising being his delight. Three girls have been born him, Mary, now Mrs. Frank La Fever; Hattie, Mrs. John Maiden; and Amy, born June 14, 1861. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

, widow; Mt. Gilead; was born April 15, 1819; she attended school in the old pioneer school-house, and worked on the farm in her younger days; she was married in Feb., 1839, to Cyrus Lyon, born in 1810. They settled soon after marriage on the present farm of fifty acres; he died in 1868; they had fourteen children, six of whom grew up — Elizabeth, Belle, Margaret, Sarah, Charlotte and Phoebe. The former married C. C. Barber; Sarah married William Roberts, farmer, Knox Co.; Charlotte married William Watkins. Mrs. Lyon has been an active member of the Old School Baptist Church. Her father, John, was born in Pennsylvania, and her mother in Virginia; they came to Ohio about 1816, and made their final settlement in Knox Co.; the father died in Delaware Co., in 1867, and the mother in 1861; they had nine children, seven of whom survive — Ruth, Eliza, William, Sarah, Mary A., Lewis and Elizabeth. Her father was an Old-School Baptist. Mrs. Lyon is pleasantly located on fifty acres of well improved land, the result of her own and husband’s labors; in her early days she shared the hardships of the old pioneers.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.