One of my
favorite tenants of the Owen Block was the Michael Lyon family. About 15-20
years ago Ruth Lyon, wife of Michael, had been the focus of a research project involving
an autograph book belonging to Capt. John Strother Chapman during the Civil
War. Through that project I learned that Ruth David, daughter of William and
Barilla David of Uniontown, Kentucky, had married Michael Lyon in 1863. They
later moved to Evansville and lived on Chestnut Street in what I called the Blue Building, but is now known as the Owen Block.
Michael Lyon
was born in New York City in 1833 and moved to Ohio where he studied law before
moving to Evansville about 1856. Michael Lyon was a man of many talents.
Shortly after his marriage, he opened a private bank, known as "the
Continental Bank under the firm name of M. Lyon & Co., Mrs. Lyon being the
company."[1]
The latter part of 1865 he went to New York, where he engaged in gold
speculation. Unfortunately, this did not work out and he lost over $100,000.[2]
Lyon
returned to Evansville, where he went into the clothing business, becoming the
first ready- made clothier in the city. It was in the clothing and tailoring
business that he achieved his greatest financial success. At the time of his death, M. Lyon, Clothier was located at 228-230 Main
Street.
Before
moving to the Owen Block, the Lyon family lived at the St. George Hotel, where
the now-closed McCurdy Hotel is located. The family moved into 123 Chestnut
Street (Owen Block) by 1891, where they were living when Michael Lyon died of
"congestion of the brain"[3] 24 May
1893. The funeral took place at the home on Chestnut Street with the Rev. Charles Morris of the nearby St.
Paul's Episcopal Church officiating. Survivors of Michael Lyon included his widow,
Ruth, and two sons, William and Robert, the youngest son, Webb, having drowned in 1882 while
visiting relatives in Union County, Kentucky.
Ruth Lyon
continued to live at the Owen Block another year after her husband's death and
then moved to 816 Upper 1st Street. [4] A few
months later, Ruth Lyon entered into a partnership with Charles A. Habbe to
conduct a clothing business under the name of M. Lyon Clothing Store.[5] The
partnership was to remain in effect
until the 1st day of August 1903, but a Notice of Dissolution, effective
12 June 1900, appeared in the local newspaper.[6]
For the rest
of her life, Ruth Lyon divided her time between Citronelle, Mobile County, Alabama
and Evansville. In 1911, her son.
Robert, died in Citronelle and, on 9 February 1921, Ruth Lyon passed away in
Evansville from pneumonia and old age. She had been born in 1840 in Union
County, Kentucky. Her only survivors were a son, Will Lyon, and a younger
sister. Will Lyon would pass away just
two years later.
A beautiful
monument in Oak Hill Cemetery in
Evansville marks the burial places of the entire Lyon family. Only the names of
Michael and Webb Lyon are engraved on the monument, but cemetery records show
that Ruth and her sons, Robert and Will, are also buried there.
Michael Lyon Family Monument
Oak Hill Cemetery
Evansville, Indiana
[1] "A
Brief Illness," Evansville Journal,
25 May 1893, p. 2.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] 1894 Evansville City Directory, p. 401
[5]
"Certificate of Limited Partnership," Evansville Courier, 26 August 1893, p. 5.
[6]
"Notice of Dissolution," Evansville
Courier, 13 June 1900, p. 6
Published 28 March 2015, Rambling Thoughts ... Out of My Mind, http://brendasopinions.blogspot.com/
