Chink in a Brick Wall - John Lyons

When you start looking at ancestors who lived in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s there are some special challenges involved.  One of these ancestors for me is John N. Lyons.  He was born in 1790 in Ireland and is probably the latest immigrant ancestor that I know of in my family.  His granddaughter, Nancy Ann Marie Lyons is my great great grandmother is and is the mother of Shirlie Louisa Pope.

I suspect that John arrived either before 1800 or shortly thereafter.  I haven’t as yet found out a listing on a ship with he or is family’s names.  However, I need to look at what I have found this year.  I live in Lewiston, ID and have no large genealogical library nearby nor do I have much time to do research during the day as I work a full time job.  So, I am very dependent on online resources – especially for famlies who lived across the country.  Thanks to some new databases that have been publisshed online – I have made some definite progress this past year.

John Lyons was married to Mary French on 4 Sep 1817 in Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA – I initially got their names from their son’s death record (John Nathan Lyons)  who would have been my 4^th great grandfather.  With as common a name as John, it is easy to confuse him with others in the same region.  Ancestry published the New Hampshire Death & Burial Records Index this past year, and I was able to find John Lyons mentioned as well as the names of his parents – Timothy and Honora.  As yet, I haven’t located his wife, Mary, but I hope to tackle her again soon.

I have also made progress using Family Search which is located at www.familysearch.org and is run by the LDS church.  Using their database of Massachusetts marriage records, I was able to piece together information on John and Mary’s children.  I am only descended from John Nathan Lyons – but I always like to get information on the sbilings.  You never know when you can locate a descendant and maybe get a little more information.

If you are a paid subscriber of Ancestry.com – pay attention to the new databases that are announced and spend the time every few months to hit some of these brick walls.  You never know when you will make a breakthrough.  Don’t forget to check www.familysearch .org as well.  My advice is to start a broad search and then narrow your parameters.  I look at John Lyons and see him as a success…for the past year I have created several chinks in that brick wall.  Here is the info that I have on him!

John N. Lyons b. 1790 Ireland d. 11 Dec 1880 Manchester, NH m. Mary W. French b. abt 1790 MA d. bef 1860

•  Sarah Ann Lyons b. 8 Aug 1818 Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA d. 3 Nov 1910 Billerica, Middlesex Co., MA m. George C. Leonard 14 Sept 1843 Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA
•  John Nathan Lyons b. 23 Apr 1820 Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA d. 7 Apr 1911 Bath, Grafton Co., NH m. Mary Elizabeth Reed  21 Dec 1845, Fairlee, Orange Co., VT m.  Elizabeth Snow 23 Mar 1893 Manchester, NH
•  Charles E. Lyons b. Mar 1831 Oxford, NH d. aft 1900 m. Wate Holmes 22 Nov 1855 Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA
• James D. Farnsworth Lyons b. 1834 Oxford, NY d. 15 Mar 1887 Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA m. Harriet M. Getchell  bef 1866
•  Myra L. Lyons b. 1836 Oxford, NH d. 8 Aug 1895 Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA m. Edward Evertt Lothrop 4 Jan 1857 Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA
• Mary E. Lyons b. abt 1840 Oxford, NH