On Deacon Lyon

Rose, NY

Wayne County, NY



Walter Lyon Headstone

Two views of Deacon Lyon's headstone at White Schoolhouse Cemetery, Town of Galen


From: Alfred S. Roe's book "Rose Neighborhood Sketches," p. 292-3
Contributed by Frank Dennis

The house that covers George Klinck and wife was old long before they were born. George, a son of the late Henry C. Klinck, and a grandson of the late Artemas Osgood, has been married twice - William Matthews, of this village, preceded Klinck, and I have little doubt but the latter wishes that Matthews had retained possession till after the destructive tornado of 1888, which broke the windows of the house and destroyed valuable trees.

Deacon Walter Lyon came before Matthews, and he was the most noted of all the possessors here. He was born in Woodstock, Conn., and came to Rose from Holland, Mass. This township is one of the most sterile in the southern part of the Commonwealth, and the frugality necessary to make a living there followed him to this fertile locality. It was early in the forties that he came among us. His first wife was Lucretia ___, who died in 1846. Their children were Amos, who taught singing schools in Rose, and finally went east, and died; Lathrop, Winthrop, and Emerson; a daughter, Elmina, died in 1850, at the age of twenty-one years. He subsequently married Roxana, the widow of Deacon William Briggs. She survived till 1880, dying then at the age of eighty-five years. Deacon Lyon was long one of the most noteworthy figures in Rose. There are many who can still recall his tall, and, as the years came upon him, somewhat bowed form. He was a regular as clock-work in going to church, and every line in his face betokened devotion to what he considered right. His title was obtained before moving to Rose. He was extremely careful in his speech, determined to say only good of every man. But even deacons have troubles, and a line fence was a source of much bickering with a neighbor, and things didnt go to suit him at all. Even then he came no nearer a reproach than the following: Speaking of this neighbor's son, he was won't to say: "A fine boy, a very fine boy; very smart. He has an excellent mother, a beautiful woman; but his father well, we wont say anything about him." He lived to be very aged, and even then passed off the stage by his own hand. He was about eighty-four at this death, and it was the general opinion that he was not in his right mind at the time. The last home of himself, his first wife and daughter is in the neglected burying ground by the white school-house. He was a life-long member of the Baptist Church. John Wade built the house and lived here some years.

Note from contributor Frank Dennis, Town of Rose Section Editor:

    "I have a particular interest in Lyon, as he lived in my childhood home and hanged himself there in the front room." Deacon Walter Lyon died Sept. 8, 1871, aged 84 yrs & 19 d.




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Created: 3/21/03
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