Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/91

 LYON

LYON

the state assembly, resigning April 26, 1851. He was chosen a state senator in November, 1851, and soon after the expiration of his term of office, he visited Europe and travelled extensively in Turkey, Egypt and Pales- tine. While at Constantinople he addressed a letter to Com. Duncan A. Ingraham of the U.S. corvette St. Louis, highly approving of the measure taken in the rescue of Martin Koszta from an Austrian brig. On returning to the United States he was elected a representative in the 33d congress, serving 1853-55. He was governor of Idaho, 1864-66. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Norwich uni- versity in 1851. A number of his poems were published in current magazines. His home in Lyonsdale was burned in 1866 and he removed to ♦'Ross Castle," Staten Island, N.Y., where he died Sept. 8, 1875.

LYON, Chittenden, representative, was born in Fair Haven, Vt., in 1786; son of the Hon. Matthew and Beulah (Chittenden) Galusha Lyon, and grandson of Gov. Thomas and Elizabeth (Meigs) Chittenden. In 1801 he removed with his father to Eddyville, Ky. He was a rep- resentative in the Kentucky legislature ; a state senator ; a Jacksonian Democratic representative in the 20th, 21st, 22d and 23d congresses, 1827-35, and an unsuccessful candidate for presidential elector on the Van Buren and Johnson ticket in 1836. His wife died Feb. 4, 1828, leaving five children, and their daughter, Margaret A., became the wife of Willis B. Machen (q. v. ). Lyon county, Ky., of which Eddyville is the capital, was named in his honor. He died in Caldwell county, Ky., Nov. 23, 1842.

LYON, David Gordon, orientalist, was born at Benton, Ala., May 24, 1852; son of Isaac and Sarah Caroline (Arnold) Lyon. He was a student at William Jewell college. Mo., 1869-72 ; at How- ard college, Ala., 1872-75, receiving his A.B. de- gree from Howard college in 1875. While an undergraduate he had charge of the business interests of the Alabama Baptist, a religious weekly, and held this office one year after grad- uation. He was a student at the Southern Bap- tist Theological seminary, 1876-79. He then pursued special courses in Semitic philology at the University of Leipzig, 1879 to 1882, receiving the degree of Ph.D. in the latter year. In 1882 he accepted the HoUis professorship of divinity in Harvard university, and was also made curator of the newly established Semitic Museum in 1891. He was elected a member of the American Orien- tal society in 1882 and its recording secretary in 1886, serving in this capacity for nine years. He was corresponding secretary of the Society of

Biblical Literature and Exegesis, 1894-99. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Har- vard in 1901. His works include : Keilschrifttexte Sargo7is Konigs von Assyrien (Leipzig, 1883) ; An Assyrian Manual for the Use of Beginners in Hie Study of the Assyrian Language (1886 ; new ed., 1892).

LYON, Francis Strother, representative, was born in Stokes county, N.C., Feb. 25, 1800 ; son of James and Beliethland (Gaines) Lyon ; grandson of James and Bettie (Strother) Gaines and a de- scendant of Francis Strother of Culpeper county, Va. He removed to St. Stephens, Washington county, Miss. Ty., with his brother, James G. Lyon, in 1818, and was employed in the office of the clerk of the court. He studied law under Abner S. Lipscomb, W. H. Crawford and Henry Hitchock ; was admitted to the bar in 1821, and practised at Demopolis, Ala. He was secretary of the Alabama senate, 1820-30 ; state senator, 1833-34, and presi- dent of the senate in 1834. He was a representa- tive in the 24th and 25th congresses, 1835-39, and in 1845 when the state bank and its branches were placed in liquidation he was selected with William Cooper and Clement C. Clay as a com- missioner to adjust all claims, and after their re- port in 1847 he continued as sole commissioner until the final settlement in 1853. He was a rep- resentative in the Alabama legislature in 1861 ; declined to serve as a representative in the pro- visional Confederate congress, but was a member of the 1st congress under the Confederate consti- tution, 1862-64. He was re-elected to the 2d Confederate congress in 1864, and served until the close of the war. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1875 and made the draft of the constitution adopted by the con- vention, and was a state senator in 1876. He was married, March 4, 1824, to Sarah Serena, daughter of Allen Glover of Marengo county, Ala. He died in Demopolis, Ala., Dec. 31, 1882.

LYON, Lucius, senator, was born in Shelburne, Vt., Feb. 26, 1800. In 1822 he removed to Bron- son, Michigan Territory, where he engaged as surveyor-general of the Northwest Territory. He was territorial delegate to congress, 1833-35 ; a delegate from the eleventh district to the state constitutional convention of 1835 ; U.S. senator from Michigan for the short term, 1835-39 : re- moved to Grand Rapids, and was a Democratic representative from the 5th congressional district in the 28th congress, 1843-45. He was a regent of the University of Michigan by appointment, 1837-39, and by re-appointment, Feb. 27, 1839, for a term of four years, but resigned in 1839. He died in Grand Rapids, Mich., Sept. 24, 1851.

LYON, Mary, educator, was born at Buck land, Mass., Feb. 28, 1797; daughter of Aaron and Jemima (Shepard) Lyon ; granddaughter of Isaac