Encyclopedia Dubuque
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LYON, Delos E.
Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=wmrblakeley&id=I27250
LYON, Delos E. (Franklinville, NY, 1834--Dubuque, IA, Apr. 10, 1913). The fifth in the family of six children, Lyon attended the public schools and later entered the Buffalo Academy. He attended Oberlin College for three years and then returned to his home in New York.
Lyon worked in the commission and mercantile business for five years. In 1857 he sold his business interests to N. F. Weed and his father William F. Weed and began the study of law in Judge Spring's office in Franklinville. He was admitted to the bar in 1859. (1)
He traveled to Denver, Colorado at the suggestion of a friend. It was full of lawyers and doctors. After visiting many of the then important places in the West, he found no promising field and concluded as a sight seeing trip to take the overland stage to Pike's Peak and then return to New York State. On the way back, he stopped at Dubuque. (2)
Prior to the CIVIL WAR, Lyon held the office of surveyor of the port of Dubuque. During the war he was a recruiting officer and aide de camp to Governor Kirkwood. Celebrating the surrender of Lee at Appomattox and the end of the CIVIL WAR, the church bell of First Congregational Church (later FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CHRIST) cracked as it rang by Union Colonel Lyon on the night on April 9, 1865. (3) Upon returning to Dubuque, Lyon established one of the city's major legal firms with clients ranging from RAILROADS to corporations. In September, 1895 he was elected president of the St. Cloud Minnesota Milling Company. (4)
Col. D. E. Lyon's daughter (Abigail Farwell Lyon) married Andrew Young MCDONALD II. Delos Lyon MCDONALD was their son.
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Source:
1. "The Town of Franklinville Early Pioneers," USGenWeb Project. Online: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycattar/towns/franklin/lyon.htm
2. Ibid.
3. "Extensive Remodeling Program Begins at First Congregational," Telegraph Herald, September 4, 1955, p. 3
4. "Brief Locals," Dubuque Daily Herald, September 4, 1895, p. 5
Oldt, Franklin T. The History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Western Historical Association, 1880, p. 841
Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties, Iowa. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1894, p. 184
Christa Hughes, descendant