Matthew Lyon

Matthew Lyon (born July 14, 1749 near Dublin , Ireland , †  August 1, 1822 in Spadra Bluff , Arkansas Territory ) was an American politician . Between 1797 and 1801 he represented the first constituency of the state of Vermont and from 1803 to 1811 the first constituency of Kentucky in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Matthew Lyon attended public schools in his home country, Ireland, and began an apprenticeship in the printing trade in 1763. Two years later he emigrated to the United States where he initially on a farm near Woodbury ( Connecticut worked). There he also completed his schooling. In 1774 he moved to Wallingford , Vermont.

When the War of Independence broke out , he joined the American movement and set up his own militia unit in his new home. Until 1778, Lyon took an active part in the war. Then he turned to politics. From 1777 he was based in Arlington (Vermont). Between 1779 and 1796 he was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives on several occasions . In 1783 he founded the place Fair Haven in Vermont. At the same time he became a successful businessman who, among other things, ran a paper factory and founded a printing company in 1793. He also published two newspapers in his home country.

Depiction of a dispute between Roger Griswold (right) and Matthew Lyon during a congress session (contemporary caricature).

Lyon was a member of the Democratic Republican Party founded by the later US President Thomas Jefferson . In the years 1791 and 1793 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in Congress . An objection to the election of Congressman Israel Smith was also unsuccessful. In 1796, Lyon was elected to the US House of Representatives in the first district of Vermont, where he succeeded Smith on March 4, 1797. After a re-election in 1798, he was able to complete two terms in Congress until March 3, 1801. In 1800 he decided not to run again.

In 1801, Lyon moved to Lyon County in Kentucky, named after his son Chittenden . There he continued his political career. As early as 1802 he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives. In the congressional elections that year, Lyon was elected to the US House of Representatives in the first district of its new home state. There he replaced Thomas Terry Davis on March 4, 1803 . After he was confirmed in the three subsequent elections, Lyon was able to complete a total of four legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1811. Along with his time as a congressman from Vermont, he was a member of the House of Representatives for a total of six terms.

In the elections of 1810 he was defeated by Anthony New . In 1820, Lyon became the American government representative to the Cherokee Nation in the Arkansas Territory . That year he appealed unsuccessfully to the election of James Woodson Bates as congressional delegate for that territory. Matthew Lyon died on August 1, 1822 in Spadra Bluff. His son Chittenden was an MP and State Senator in Kentucky and represented Kentucky in Congress between 1827 and 1835. Matthew Lyon was also the grandfather of William Peters Hepburn , who served in the US House of Representatives for the State of Iowa .

Web links

• Matthew Lyon in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Matthew Lyon in the database of Find a Grave (English)