Richard F. Lyon

Richard Francis Lyon (1819–1894) was a Georgia attorney and jurist before and during the Confederacy.

Family

The oldest son of Thomas Pickett Lyon and Mary Winn Lyon (1823–1895), born September 9, 1819, in Lincoln County, Georgia, Lyon married Ruth Esther Knowles on June 17, 1841; they had eight children: Emily, Julia, Kitty, Richard, Lafayette, Roland, John, and William."History and Reminiscences of Doughterty County Georgia", compiled by members of the Thronateeska Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Albany, Georgia: Herald Publishing Company, 1924.] He is sometimes called Richard F. Lyon Sr., since he had a son Richard F. Lyon Jr. (1850–1906), and a grandson Richard F. Lyon III (1884–1964).

Richard Lyon and his brother John were both talented attorneys in Dougherty County, Georgia. [Herbert Fielder, "A Sketch of the Life and Times and Speeches of Joseph E. Brown", pp. 51–52, Press of Springfield printing company, 1883 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC00656802&id=yL4BAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA51&lpg=RA2-PA51&dq=richard-f-lyon++georgia&as_brr=1 online] ]

Lyon owned the house that Gen. Sherman took as his headquarters during his occupation of Atlanta, Fulton County, between his Atlanta Campaign and his March to the Sea in 1864. The current Atlanta City Hall stands on the site of this house. [ [http://www.atlantaga.gov/government/urbandesign_atlantacityhall.aspx Atlanta City Hall] , City of Atlanta Online]

After the Civil War, Lyon moved his family to Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, where he lived until his death. His nephew, Thomas R. Lyon, was also a prominent resident of Albany, Georgia, being active in politial and social life.

Political and professional

As the Whig party candidate, Lyon narrowly lost a bitter race against the Democratic party candidate Nelson Tift for the house seat from Baker County, Georgia in 1847. [Anthony Gene Carey, "Parties, Slavery, and the Union in Antebellum Georgia", University of Georgia Press, 1997 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0820318981&id=0uABGRTqNvIC&pg=RA2-PA130&lpg=RA2-PA130&ots=TLRkRBoXjl&dq=richard+lyon+albany+georgia&sig=lYX2kwH30xs2vJkazuRzS5KPk3Q#PRA2-PA130,M1 online] .]

In 1856 Lyon was living in Albany, Dougherty County, Georgia, where he joined the Albany Guards. He was Albany's mayor from 1858 to 1859. From 1872 to 1874 he represented Dougherty County in the state legislature. He served as attorney for the city of Albany, and for the Central of Georgia Railroad. [Obituary of Richard F. Lyon, "Macon Telegraph", 27 May, 1894.]

He was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia from 1859 to 1865.

Lyon served under Georgia's first chief justice, Joseph Henry Lumpkin, due to a Georgia law that said "The oldest Judge in commission is the Chief Justice, or President thereof, but without greater powers than his associates." [cite book | author = Paul DeForest Hicks | title = Joseph Henry Lumpkin: Georgia's First Chief Justice | | publisher = Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press | year = 2002] He lost the election for a second six-year term to Dawson A. Walker.

In an 1860 opinion:

:Justice Richard F. Lyon ruled that the duties of the railroad to safeguard slaves were its duties toward passengers rather than freight: "The carrier has not, and can not have, the same absolute control over [a slave] that he has over inanimate matter. ... He is, in fact, a passenger, paid for as a passenger and so treated and held, not only by defendant but by plaitiff." [Howard Schweber, "The Creation of American Common Law, 1850-1880: Technology, Politics, and the Construction of Citizenship", Cambridge University Press, 2004 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521824621&id=zh5JKJIn6N4C&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230&dq=richard-f-lyon+georgia&sig=YS1fzs_Nn1wlpWoCuhm193pvVdU online] .]

His local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter called Lyon "one of the most brilliant lawyers the state has ever produced."

References