To start with, I am going to just throw out everything I have onto the table. I will also keep a page updated with all of this information and new info as I find it.
I. What I THINK I know:
1. Henry was allegedly born in 1750 in France. I cannot confirm either of these as fact with documentation.
2. Henry allegedly died ca. 1780. (evidently of smallpox)
II. What I KNOW and can document:
1. Henry lived near Goshen in Orange county, NY as of 1775. This is per the 1775 Tax Assessment Roll for Orange County (I will refer to this later as 1775-TAR).
2. Henry allegedly married Martha Drake on Sept 25, 1770. I cannot confirm this 100% with documentation, and found the date from here. Now, based on the Drake Genealogy that I have researched, I have located Martha’s family members (sibling names, etc) in Goshen on the 1775-TAR), where I have also located Henry Lyon (District 9). This makes the marriage of the two seem plausible. I would love to find documentation of the marriage, but have not yet found it.
Martha later remarried a man (Henry dies around 1780, we assume) named John Manhart, according to the Drake Genealogies (which do not even mention Henry, as Martha is one in a litany of other descendants in the genealogy that is just a name). in “The early records of the First Presbyterian Church in Goshen”, there record of John “Manhcart” (likely transcribed incorrectly from Manheart) marrying Martha LYON on October 17, 1781. (on pg 13) This is another clear piece of evidence that John Manhart’s Martha and Henry’s Martha are one and the same.
The marriage to Henry and remarriage to John are corroborated by the fact that in “The History of Barton, NY”, we find that Justus (see Number 2 below) and John Manhart both settled there. It seems the entire family must have moved to Barton. “Judge Avery, in his sketches of early life in the valley, says that the first settlers on Cayuta creek were Charles Bingham, Layton Newell, Lyon C. Hedges and Philip Crams; and on the upper waters of the stream Justus Lyons, John Manhart and a family named Reed were the first corners.” (http://history.rays-place.com/ny/barton-ny.htm)
furthermore, “Charles Bingham, Lay ton Newell, Lyon C. Hedges, Philip Crans, Justus Lyons, John Manhart and Eeed were pioneers upon Cayuta Creek ; and Silas Woolcott, upon Ellis Creek. Geo. W. Buttson settled at Barton City, on the creek which passes through that village and bears his name,and erected there the first saw mill in the town.” (http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/hamilton-child/gazette…)
2. Henry and his wife Martha had a son named Justus (b. 1776). He moved to Barton in Tioga County when he was 20, and married Anna Buchanan (Although not necessarily in that order). His biography references him returning to his former home in Goshen, which further connects him to Henry & Martha: “Justus Lyons came to Barton very early, when he was only twenty years old, and took up a lot of wild land. He built a log house, began a clearing, and created a fine farm. After locating his land he returned to Goshen, N. Y., his former home, and there married Anna Buchanan, a cousin of President Buchanan, and they came all the way to their new home on horseback. Mr. Lyons helped to build the turnpike through the town, was active in all local affairs, and became extensively known. This worthy couple had nine children. One son, Corey, born 1805, became a large landholder, owning 1,100 acres of land. He married Susan, daughter of Lewis Ilett, had eleven children, and died September 6, 1895. His wife died June 28, 1891. John Lyons, son of Corey and Susan (Ilett) Lyons, was born on the old homestead on February 4, 1838. Brought up a farmer and lumberman, he now resides on the same farm where he made his home upon his marriage in ls59,”and has been a successful agriculturist, owning now seven hundred acres of land. His wife was Adaline S., daughter of William and Jane Smith. He has two sons, Myron C, of Rochester, N. D., and Albert S. Lyons.” (From Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York – page 683 http://tcpl.org/local-history/documents/county-history-CNY/O…)
III. What I have serious doubts about:
1. Revolutionary War Service. While I don’t think it is safe to say that he did NOT serve in the war, there is a Henry Lyon (wife, Joanna) who fought in the revolutionary war under Bruen’s Artificers. Many people seem to think that this is the same Henry Lyon who married Martha Drake, and even if you look at the DAR website it has my Henry Lyon listed with the same service record information as the Henry Lyon from NJ. (see http://books.google.com/booksid=Jyg3AAAAMAAJ&printsec=fr… on page 130) Furthermore, if you look up revolutionary war records for Henry Lyon and look at the originals, it clearly shows that this Henry who served in the revolution was married to Joanna, and was from New Jersey, NOT New York, and NOT to Martha. This Henry is from the line of Henry Lyon of Newark – his genealogy can be found here in the Lyon memorial (link already posted above)
There is a Henry Lyon that fought as a part of the Suffolk County militia, but that seems odd that he would have been with them, as suffolk is not that close to orange county (https://archive.org/details/newyorkrevolution01statrich on page 170)
From that same document, there is a Samuel Lyons, who was a part of the Orange County Militia. (2nd regiment, page 159) Interestingly, Samuel does not appear on the 1775-TAR
2. I am beginning to wonder about the place of birth. Everything that I have seen listed by people in their genealogies has Henry having been born in France. However, I have not seen ANY documentation on where that information came from, other than the DAR records which I now do not trust based on item II.1 above. I have also not been able to find information on ay passenger lists that would corroborate that. Furthermore, New York was an English colony, so it seems odd that he would be coming from France to NY (see speculations below regarding this). I am not ready to say that he was not born in France, but I am more open to other possibilities as to his origins, which I will explain over the next couple points.
IV. Theories on Henry’s origins
1. Theory on Origins #1 – Henry just emigrated from France, and settled in Goshen. this seems odd for a few reasons. First of which is the colonial powers (came from France to settle in a British Colony). Secondly, he would have had to come and be settled long enough to have met & wooed Martha by the time he was 20. do-able, to be sure, but it just seems odd and not corroborated by any passenger lists to date.
2. Theory on Origins #2 – Henry & his family were Huguenots, and fled France when Henry was a boy, heading to the colonies and settling in Goshen.
3. Theory on Origins #3 – Henry’s family were Huegenots, BUT, rather than being born in France, his family came earlier than 1750. They could have settled in any of the Huegenot Communities in New York or surrounding states, and Henry could have struck out on his own for Goshen when he was of age (Note that there are no other Lyon’s listed on the 1775-TAR) This is the theory that is beginning to look more realistic in my mind currently. Any mention that he was “french” (if this is actually documented anywhere), could have been mistaken to mean born in france, when the actuality was that his family was of french origin.
4. Theory on Origins #4 – Henry was not actually French. There is a whole lineage of Lyon that comes from Scotland and Ireland, so the name itself is not necessarily French. I am not ready to concede this yet, but am open to the possibility.
V Unidentified Henry Lyons’
1. There is a Henry Lyon that fought as a part of the Suffolk County militia, but that seems odd that he would have been with them, as suffolk is not that close to orange countyhttps://archive.org/details/newyorkrevolution01statrich page 170
2. There is a Henry Lyon (and wife Jane) who joined the first Presbetyrian church in Albany in 1805.
3. There is a Henry Lyon in Hudson, Columbia, New York according to the 1790 Census
4. The 1790 Census also shows a Henry Lyon in German Flatts, Montgomery, New York.
In Search of Henry Lyon 