John Lyon (poet)

Early years John J. Lyon was born to Thomas Lyon and Janet McArthur, a poor and illiterate family in the slums of Glasgow. He was the only child of Thomas and Janet's four children to live to adulthood. Thomas' sister Margaret, who had lost all of her children, adopted five-year-old John in order to alleviate some of her brother's monetary expenses. After less than a year, young Lyon returned to Glasgow after the passing of Margaret's wealthy husband. A year or so later, his father died. At age eight, Lyon began attending school and did so for only a year and a half. That was the extent of his formal childhood schooling. Lyon's lack of schooling as a child pushed him to make sure that his children were well-educated. His children were weavers as he was, but they learned to read and write at an early age. ==Religious Affiliations==

As a child, Lyon was familiarized with the Bible and in turn introduced the Bible to his own children while they were young. Each night Lyon and other church leaders lead the saints (and anyone else who wanted to participate) in prayer and gospel sermons. Because of these daily sermons and good relations between voyagers, all 48 non-Mormon passengers were baptized, including the captain and crew, making this specific emigration voyage unique. On 23 April 1853 the International docked in New Orleans. On their last day on the International, Lyon was appointed to lead the 237 Ten Pound Saints (referring to the fact that they each paid ten pounds for the journey to Zion). The Ten Pound Saints stayed in New Orleans for four days before boarding a Mississippi steamer called the Leah Tunah and prepared for the 1,200 mile, eight day trip to St. Louis. The morning after arriving in St. Louis, the saints boarded the Jenny Dean, a small paddle-wheeler, heading to Keokuk, Iowa. They arrived in Iowa on 8 May 1853 and would now be walking the rest of the trip. Because of insufficient funds, the saints stayed in Iowa for one month as some of the men got jobs in order to subsidize money for the necessary travel provisions. On 2 June 1853 Lyon's group of fifty saints and eighteen wagons left Iowa to begin their journey across the plains as part of the Gates Company. They walked an average of twelve miles a day through what was often wet and uncomfortable terrain. After a month, the saints stopped in Council Bluffs for a couple weeks, then crossed the Missouri River and began the last 1,031 miles to arrive in the Great Salt Lake Valley. The Gates Company reached the Great Salt Lake Valley on 30 September 1853. The Lyon family settled near other Scottish emigrants in Salt Lake. In order to support his family, Lyon would work in carpentry and weaving. Life in Zion On 12 January 1854, shortly after settling in Salt Lake, Lyon was sustained as a seventy and then as the president of the 37th Quorum of the Seventies and would serve in that capacity for the next thirty years. Lyon joined the Deseret Dramatic Association, the Universal Scientific Society, the Deseret Press Association, the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing society, and others. Lyon became great friends with William C. Staines who would eventually marry Lyon's eighteen-year-old daughter as his second wife. This was the first time that the Lyon family would show their acceptance of plural marriage, commonly practiced in the LDS church at that time. Lyon and Staines worked in the Council House together administering temple ordinances until the Endowment House was built. In March 1855, after the Endowment House was completed and dedicated, Lyon was asked to be its superintendent and worked in that capacity for thirty years. During the 1855 October General Conference of the church, Brigham Young called Lyon, along with twenty-nine other men, as "home missionaries" to strengthen the members in Zion and hold conferences in the area. In 1856 Lyon had a dream that he entered into plural marriage and did so in March of that same year. At age fifty-three, Lyon was sealed to sixteen-year-old Caroline Holland who in the following years would bear seven children. In August 1857 the saints in Salt Lake found-out that an army was coming to stop a rumored rebellion in Utah. This caused 30,000 saints, including Lyon's family, to move south along with important church documents and other valuables. He, along with 300 other brethren, would stay in Salt Lake until Brigham Young gave the order to return on 28 June 1858. When famous visitors such as Mark Twain and Horace Greeley came to the region, Lyon was able to meet these men and show them his impressive book collection and other gems unique to the Salt Lake area. At the end of 1859 the last of Janet and John's children made it to the Salt Lake Valley after years of postponed travel west. Even with all of his responsibilities in the church, Lyon found time to teach aspiring young actors important elements for acting and was the critic at the Salt Lake Theatre. He taught drama to Maude Adams who would become a famous actress. From 1867 to 1869, after some conflicting ideas between Lyon and other church leaders regarding free trade and other economic practices, Lyon and his family invested much time and effort into being baptized for their ancestors who had died without becoming members of the LDS church. Lyon was sealed by proxy to four deceased women in 1871 and six more deceased women in 1874. On 7 May 1872, Wilford Woodruff ordained Lyon to be a patriarch in the LDS Church with the approval of Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells, John Taylor, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young Jr., and Joseph F. Smith. When he reached the age of seventy, many saints gave him the title of "Father Lyon" as a sign of respect and friendly intimacy. In 1885, Lyon resigned his service at the Endowment House. On 28 November 1889 at age eighty-six, "Father" John Lyon died due to old age and was outlived by both of his wives. ==Writing career==

In 1827, Lyon joined an intellectual fraternity where each member would compose a topic to be discussed. At this point in time, Lyon knew very little about reading and writing. Even with such disadvantages, the other members were so intrigued by Lyon's contributions that he was inspired to better his literary skills. After years of study, practice, and drafts, he eventually began publishing his written works in local newspapers and would continue to do so for the next eighteen years. As was customary during this time period, many of Lyon's first works were written and published anonymously in order to protect the author from any form of harassment or blame. All of these works were written between 1854 and 1885. ==See also==