The Ancestors of Helen Pegg Home Page:Information about Henry Lyon
Henry Lyon (b. 1625, d. March 23, 1703)
Notes for Henry Lyon:
According to Deborah Schnoor:emigrated with brothers Thomas and Richard
"Henry Lyon, one of the Lyon brothers of Glen Lyon, Perthshire, Scotland, came to the colonies with his two brothers, Thomas and Richard, in 1648. These three Scottish soldiers in Cromwell's army were on guard before the banquet Hall in Whitehall, January 31, 1648 and witnessed the execution of Charles I. Immediately after the regicide they fled to America. Henry Lyon went to Milford, CT where he is first on record February 24, 1649 when he was admitted to the Milford Church (Congregational). He married in 1652 to Elizabeth Bateman, daughter of William Bateman of Fairfield, CT, and was granted a home lot there. On May 28, 1654 he was dismissed from Fairfield to Milford Church. In 1666, he came to Newark, NJ as one of the Milford Colonists. In 1673-4 he removed to Elizabethtown (NJ) where he was a large landowner and a merchant of extensive interests. In Newark he had been: the First Treasurer and First Keeper of the ordinary; on November 6, 1675, in Elizabethtown he was a member of the General Assembly; on August 11, 1671, he was appointed Justice of the Peace (in the colonial period, equivalent of a Judge of the Supreme Court); on February 4, 1681 he was Judge of the Small Causes, Representative in the Council of the Governor, etc. Among his lands was upland since known as Lyons Farms. He married a second wife, Mary about 1689-1690. He returned to Newark in 1696 and died there in 1703.
Signed the covenant 6/24/1667 - Only church members may vote and "We shall with Care and Diligence provide for the purity of Religion professed in the Congregational Churches. Where for unto subscribed the inhabitants of Branford {CT}.
Henry Lyon became a member of the Milford {CT} Church in 1649. After four or five years in Milford, he moved to Fairfield, CT. In 1666 he moved to Newark, NJ as one of the Milford Colonists; the founders of Newark.
Election : East New Jersey Assembly, Governor's Council
Co-Founder Newark In 1666
Known As "The Immigrant"
"Note: President George W. Bush and his mother First Lady Barbara Bush are descendants.
ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, 1681
REPRESENTATIVE IN THE COUNCIL OF THE GOVERNOR, 1684
Family tradition says that Henry Lyon of the Lyons of Glen Lyon in Perthshire, Scotland, was a soldier in Cromwell's army in the English Civil War. About the time King Charles I was executed in 1649, Henry and his two brothers Richard and Thomas, also soldiers of Cromwell, emigrated to America.
The family tradition, however, has little hard evidence to support it. We do know Henry Lyons settled in Milford, CT, and first appears on record Feb. 24, 1649 for being admitted to the Milford Church. In 1667, Henry became one of the founders of a town on the Passaic River in the Province of New Jersey, which was initially named New Milford, then changed shortly after to New Ark (now Newark). Henry was the first Treasurer of the city of Newark and became a well-respected leader of the community.
WARNING: The family tradition surrounding the heritage of Henry Lyon has been called into question. Though Henry's history in America is documented, his parentage has not been proven, nor has it been established that Richard and Thomas Lyon were, in fact, his brothers. Some show Henry as the son of Richard and Margaret Lyon, but there seems to be no documentation whatsoever to support it. On her website, researcher Diana Gale Matthiesen holds that the family tradition is bogus and goes into great detail on what evidence is and isn't available. It should be noted, however, that the surname of Lyon is a significant one. The Lyons were a prominent family in both England and Scotland. The Queen Mother of England is from the Bowes-Lyon line. It is indeed likely that Henry is a descendant of the ancient Scottish line, though the particulars of how he is related are certainly unknown at this time. Family tradition usually has some grains of truth, but the details often get mangled in the telling from generation to generation.
For more on the Lyons family heritage in Scotland, see:
"The Ancestry of Overmire, Tifft, Richardson, Bradford, Reed," by Larry Overmire, RootsWeb World Connect Project, c 2000-2003.
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=glencoe&id=I45
Notes on this website are authored by Larry Overmire"
More About Henry Lyon:
Burial: Unknown, old Burying Ground, Newark, Essex, NJ.
More About Henry Lyon and Elizabeth Barteman:
Marriage: May 04, 1652, Fairfield, CT.666
Children of Henry Lyon and Elizabeth Barteman are:
- +Benjamin Lyon, b. 1668, Newark, Essex, NJ666, d. April 07, 1720, Newark, Essex, NJ666.