[2] 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.

[3] 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.

[3] Thirteen months before the end of the war, he was captured and imprisoned in a POW camp.