Asa Lyon

Lyon was born in Pomfret in the Connecticut Colony to Jonathan Lyon and Rebecca Maxley Lyon. He attended the common schools. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1790.{{cite book|last=Gilman|first=Marcus Davis|title=The bibliography of Vermont|year=1897|publisher=Free press association|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_T1I0AAAAMAAJ/page/n168 157]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_T1I0AAAAMAAJ|quote=asa lyon born in Pomfret, Connecticut.}} He was a divinity student with the Reverend Charles Backus in Somers, Connecticut.{{cite book|last=Packard|first=Theophilus|title=A history of the churches and ministers: and of Franklin Association, in Franklin County, Mass., and an appendix respecting the county|year=1854|publisher=S.K. Whipple|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ahistorychurche00packgoog/page/n390 374]|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorychurche00packgoog|quote=asa lyon born in Pomfret, Connecticut.}} Lyon was ordained the pastor of the Congregational Church in Sunderland, Massachusetts, in 1792.{{cite book|last=Chapman|first=George Thomas|title=Sketches of the alumni of Dartmouth college: from the first graduation in 1771 to the present time, with a brief history of the institution|year=1867|publisher=Riverside press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_sju7AAAAIAAJ/page/n57 55]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_sju7AAAAIAAJ|quote=asa lyon born in Pomfret, Connecticut.}} He moved to South Hero, Vermont, in 1794 where he studied law. Lyon was also a tutor, and among his students was Herman R. Beardsley, who later served as a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court{{cite book |last=Sowles |first=Edward A. |date=October 21, 1890 |title=Memorial Sketch of Herman R. Beardsley in Proceedings of the Vermont Bar Association |volume=II, 5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGQDAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA310 |location=Barre, VT |publisher=Thomas H. Cave, Book and Job Printer |pages=310–313 |ref={{sfnRef|Memorial Sketch of Herman R. Beardsley}}}}

Lyon was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1799 until 1802, 1804 until 1806 and 1808. He was a member of the Vermont Executive Council in 1808.{{cite book|last=United States Congress|title=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005|year=2005|publisher=Government Printing Office|pages=1481|isbn=9780160731761|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9MBIctdjjkC&q=asa+lyon+born+in+Pomfret%2C+Connecticut&pg=PA1481}} Lyon was a town representative in Grande Isle from 1810 until 1813.{{cite book|last=Hemenway|first=Abby Maria|title=The Vermont Historical Gazetteer: A Magazine, Embracing a History of Each Town, Civil, Ecclesiastical, Biographical and Military, Volume 2|year=1871|publisher=Abby Maria Hemenway|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_eJUbAQAAMAAJ/page/n547 533]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_eJUbAQAAMAAJ|quote=asa lyon Vermont.}} He organized the church in South Hero and served as its first pastor from 1802 until 1840,{{cite book|last=Lyons|first=Albert Brown|title=Lyon Memorial: Massachusetts Families, Including Descendants of the Immigrants William Lyon, of Roxbury, Peter Lyon, of Dorchester, George Lyon, of Dorchester, with Intro. Treating of the English Ancestry of the American Families|year=1905|publisher=W. Graham Print. Company|pages=84|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wic3AAAAMAAJ&q=asa+lyon+born+in+Pomfret%2C+Connecticut&pg=PA84}} and as chief judge of Grand Isle County Courts from 1805 until 1809, 1813 and 1814.{{cite book|last=Proctor|first=Redfield|title=Men of Vermont: an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont|year=1894|publisher=Transcript publishing company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Nvg_AAAAYAAJ/page/n139 142]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Nvg_AAAAYAAJ|quote=asa lyon born in Pomfret, Connecticut.}}

He was elected as a Federalist candidate to the Fourteenth United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1815, until March 3, 1817.{{cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/asa_lyon/407023| title =Rep. Asa Lyon| publisher= Govtrack.us|access-date= November 26, 2012}}

Lyon married Esther Newell Lyon. They had three children, Esther Lyon, Abigail Lyon and Newell Lyon. Lyon was thought to be the second-cousin of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet and lyricist.{{cite book|last=Greene|first=Richard Henry|title=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volumes 28-29|year=1897|publisher=New York Genealogical and Biographical Society|pages=79|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdQUAAAAYAAJ&q=asa+lyon+born+in+Pomfret%2C+Connecticut&pg=PA78}}{{cite book|last=Lanman|first=Charles|title=Biographical annals of the civil government of the United States: during its first century. From original and official sources|year=1876|publisher=J. Anglim|pages=[https://archive.org/details/biographicalann00lanmgoog/page/n299 267]|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalann00lanmgoog|quote=Asa Lyon Vermont representative, second cousin of Robert Burns.}}

Lyon died in South Hero on April 4, 1841. He is interred at the Grand Isle Cemetery in Grand Isle, Vermont.

{{reflist}}

• "A history of the churches and ministers: and of Franklin Association, in Franklin County, Mass" by Theophilus Packard, published by S.K. Whipple, 1854.
• "Men of Vermont: an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont" by Redfield Proctor", published by Transcript publishing company, 1894.

• [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000539 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]
• [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/asa_lyon/407023 Govtrack.us]
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/lyon.html The Political Graveyard]

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{{US House succession box

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Category:1763 births

Category:1841 deaths

Category:People from Pomfret, Connecticut

Category:Members of the Vermont House of Representatives

Category:Dartmouth College alumni

Category:Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly