Asa Lyon


Asa Lyon was an American politician. He served as a United States Representative from Vermont.

Biography

Lyon was born in Pomfret, Connecticut to Jonathan Lyon and Rebecca Maxley Lyon. He attended the common schools. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1790. He was a divinity student with the Reverend Charles Backus in Somers, Connecticut. Lyon was ordained the pastor of the Congregational Church in Sunderland, Massachusetts in 1792. He moved to South Hero, Vermont in 1794 where he studied law. Lyon was also a tutor, and among his students was Herman R. Beardsley, who later served as a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
Lyon was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1799 until 1802, 1804 until 1806 and 1808. He was a member of the Vermont Executive Council in 1808. Lyon was a town representative in Grande Isle from 1810 until 1813. He organized the church in South Hero and served as its first pastor from 1802 until 1840, and as chief judge of Grand Isle County Courts from 1805 until 1809, 1813 and 1814.
He was elected as a Federalist candidate to the Fourteenth United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1815 until March 3, 1817.

Family life

Lyon married Esther Newell Lyon. They had three children, Esther Lyon, Abigail Lyon and Newell Lyon. Lyon was thought to be the second-cousin of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet and lyricist.

Death

Lyon died in South Hero on April 4, 1841. He is interred at the Grand Isle Cemetery in Grand Isle, Vermont.