Jacob R. Lyon

As printed in 1880

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 History of Morrow County and Ohio : containing a brief history of the state of Ohio ... a history of Morrow County ... biographical sketches, portraits of some of the early settlers and prominent men, (1880). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.