Wellington County, Ontario GenWeb - Pioneer - LYON, James Walter

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Pioneer - LYON, James Walter

Biographical Sketches of
Early Settlers of Wellington County

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Information from: Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Ontario.
Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co., 1906

LYON, James Walter . For more than thirty years the publishers have been personally acquainted with the subject of this sketch, and the writer, therefore, feels qualified to write respecting his career. While Mr. Lyon can hardly be called a pioneer of Wellington Co., he has been a resident of Guelph since 1872, and ranks amongst its most successful business men. He dated his ancestry back to the founders of New England, some of them being men of national importance. His immediate branch were pioneers in Susquehanna Co., Pa., and were men of prominence both in that and other then western States.

Mr. Lyon was b. in Susquehanna Co., Pa., April 24 1848, and started in life as a school teacher at the early age of seventeen. He later entered the employ of a large publishing house, and at the age of twenty-four was admitted to partnership in this firm, and subsequently, in 1872, opened a branch in Canada at Guelph. He early saw that the opening for the manufacture and sale of first class books on a large scale in Canada was a feasible one, and the following year he sold out his interests in the United States and purchased his partner's interest in Canada, which he conducted with great energy and success for many years . While Mr. Lyons's office and home had been in Guelph since 1872, the manufacturing part of the business had been mainly conducted in Toronto, and in point of manufacture and distribution of his product to all parts of the world, he had been the largest individual publisher in Canada. As an instance, the Toronto Board of Trade returns for 1884 show that 40 per cent. of the total manufactured goods of any description, exported from Toronto during that year, were his publication. In 1878 he opened a branch of his business in Australia, and later opened branches in South Africa, East and West Indies, South America, etc., for the distribution of his publications, and to these branches he equipped and sent over five hundred men from Ontario, to exploit his work; he acting as manufacturer and wholesale dealer. Among these representatives were some of the brightest young men in the Province, and many of them returned, after a few years, to their native land, with well earned competences; while others remained and became useful citizens of the countries where they had located, and in some instances , have become prominent in commercial as well as political life.

In 1893 Mr. Lyon opened a wholesale furniture business in Buffalo, N. Y., which within two years thereafter, disposed of the output of eight large factories. While he had expert men in the Buffalo office, this business was largely carried on from Guelph.

From the start Mr. Lyon has always had unbounded faith in Canada, and in the early eighties he employed Prof. Macoun, Dominion Botanist, and explorer of the North-West, to write a book on that country, which he published, and, while the subject matter contained in it was considered "roseate" at the time, it has been more that verified, and this work is now acknowledged to be one to the most valuable exponents of our great North-West ever issued from the press.

So convinced was Mr. Lyon in the future of that country, that during the time, and when others were sceptical, he made large purchases of land in the then struggling city of Winnipeg and in Port Arthur and Fort William, as well as farm property in Man., much of which he sold for many hundred times the purchase price, and a large amount of which he has retained. The large competence that Mr. Lyon has acquired has been entirely by his own efforts. Possessed of great personal activity and untiring energy and faith in his own judgement, he has accomplished what a man lacking even in one of the above attributes would have failed to do. He has now practically retired from active business, and aside from looking after his real estate interests and investments, devotes much time to municipal and other public matters, being President of the Guelph Radial Railway Co., Director of the Guelph Junction Ry., President of the Board of Trade, Director of the Home Life Ins. Co. of Toronto, etc. He is also an Alderman of the city of Guelph.

Mr. Lyon m. Lucy Boult, dau. of Stephen Boult of Guelph, in 1873. They have two sons, and five daughters, viz: Percy, lawyer in Winnipeg; Edwin James, M.D.; Flora, Ida, Vera, Laura and Irene.

From: Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Ontario. Toronto:Historical Atlas Publishing Co., 1906





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