William C. Lyon

{{Short description|American politician}}

{{infobox officeholder

|name=William Cotter Lyon

|image=William Cotter Lyon.png

|birth_date={{birth date|1841|7|4}}

|death_date={{death date and age|1908|9|24|1841|7|4}}

|birth_place=Homer, Ohio

|death_place=Ohio

|restingplace=Woodland Cemetery, Xenia, Ohio

|office=20th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio

|term_start=January 9, 1888

|term_end=January 13, 1890

|governor=Joseph B. Foraker

|preceded=Silas A. Conrad

|succeeded=Elbert L. Lampson

}}

William Cotter Lyon{{Cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038161/1887-09-29/ed-1/seq-1/|title=The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, September 29, 1887, Image 1|first=National Endowment for the|last=Humanities|date=29 September 1887|accessdate=23 July 2023|via=chroniclingamerica.loc.gov}} (July 7, 1841 – September 24, 1908) was an American Republican politician who served as the 20th lieutenant governor of Ohio from 1888 to 1890 under Governor Joseph B. Foraker.{{cite web |title=Lieutenant Governors Of The State Of Ohio: 1852 - Present |url=http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/Research/electResultsMain/HistoricalElectionComparisons/Lieutenant%20Governors%20of%20the%20State%20of%20Ohio%201852%20-%20present.aspx |publisher=Ohio Secretary of State | access-date=2012-01-24}}

Lyon was born July, 1841 at Homer Township, Medina County, Ohio. His mother died in Michigan in 1847, and his father was murdered in Putnam County, Ohio in 1853.Smith 1898 : 544 He was left at age twelve to care for himself and his younger orphan siblings. He learned the shoemaker's trade, educated himself and sometimes attended the Seville Academy. At outbreak of the Insurrection, he enlisted in the Twenty-third Ohio Regiment. He served two years as a private before being made a commissioned officer. Thirteen months before the end of the war, he was captured and imprisoned in a POW camp. After release he was made a captain. After the war he returned to the shoe business in Medina County, and moved to Newark in Licking County in 1870. In 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him Postmaster of that city, and he was re-appointed by President Chester A. Arthur. He resigned with the election of Grover Cleveland, but it was not accepted until January 1, 1886. In 1884, he purchased the Newark American. In 1887 he was nominated and elected Ohio Lieutenant Governor.1887 election Lyon 356,932 Democrat De Witt C. Coolman 328,189 from Smith 1898 : 541 He was not re-nominated in 1889. He died in 1908.{{Cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F68B-NY7|title=FamilySearch.org|website=FamilySearch |accessdate=23 July 2023}}