My Irish Ancestor - John Lyons

According to my DNA results, I am 12% Irish…which essentially means to me that the my Irish heritage is several generations back in my lineage.  The only line that I am absolutely sure of that is of Irish heritage is my Lyons family.

John Nathan Lyons would have been my 4^th great grandfather and he was born in 1790 in Ireland.  He probably immigrated around 1810 and according to a later record, his parents were Timothy Lyons and Honora.  I got his name when I ordered my 3^rd great grandfather’s death record several years ago.  It listed on the record that his parents names were John N. Lyons and Mary W. French.  I found out later that they married on 4 Sep 1817 in Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA.  At that point, I was only sure of one of their children, my 3^rd great grandfather, John Nathan Lyons, Jr.  Howver, something remarkable has happened in the past few years.  More and more records have been published and are searchable and I was able to find under www.familysearch.org the New Hampshire birth records that listed  Mary French and John Lyons as parents as well as census records that gave me additional information.  So this is my working list of their children

• Sarah Ann Lyons b. 8 Aug 1818 d. 3 Nov 1910 m. George C. Leonard
• John Nathan Lyons, Jr b. 23 Apr 1820 d. 7 Apr 1911 m. Mary Elizabeth Reed m. Elizabeth Snow
• Bridget Lyons b. abt 1820
• Charles E. Lyons b. Mar 1831 d. aft 1800 m. Wate Holmes
• James D. Farnsworth Lyons b. 1834 d. 15 Mar 1887 m. Harriet M. Getchell
• Myra L. Lyons b. 17 Jun 1836 d. 8 Aug 1895 m. Edward Everett Lothrop
• Mary E. Lyons b. abt 1841

As you can see this is still a working list and one that I hope to make much more progress on.  I believe that John Lyons died 11 Dec 1880  which would have made around 90 years old.  There is a New Hampshire Death and Burial record that lists that date and his parents as Timothy Lyons and Honora.  I think that Mary French died sometime before 1860, because she disappears from the census records.

So while I know that I have several other Irish ancestors, this might be the only one that I have record that lists his place of birth as Ireland. 

Here is my lineage to him:

John Nathan Lyons m. Mary French

John Nathan Lyons m. Mary Elizabeth Reed

Nancy Ann Marie Lyons m. Winslow Lonsdale Pope

Shirlie Louisa Pope m. Ulpian Grey Johnson

Frank Stewart Johnson m. Helen Marian Gage

Eugene Johnson m. Betty Tannahill

Me!

 Happy St. Patrick's day 4th Great Grandpa!