Francis Strother LYON, Congress, AL (1800-1882)

LYON, Francis Strother, a Representative from Alabama; born near Danbury, Stokes County, N.C., February 25, 1800; attended the common schools; moved to St. Stephens (an Indian agency), Ala., in 1817; employed in the bank at St. Stephens and in the office of the clerk of the county court; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1821 and commenced practice in Demopolis; secretary of the State senate 1822-1830; member of the State senate in 1833; reelected to the State senate in 1834 and served as president of that body; elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress and reelected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1835-March 3, 1839); was not a candidate for renomination; resumed the practice of law and also engaged in agriculture; in 1845, when the State banks were placed in liquidation, he was selected as one of three commissioners to adjust all claims and was afterward chosen sole commissioner until the final settlement in 1853; chairman of the Democratic State convention in 1860; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Charleston in 1860, when the southern delegates withdrew, he among them; member of the State house of representatives in 1861; elected to the Provisional Confederate Congress but declined to serve; elected to the First and Second Confederate Congresses and served from 1862 until the close of the Civil War; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1875 and made the draft of the constitution adopted by the convention; again elected to the State senate in 1876; died in Demopolis, Ala., December 31, 1882; interment in the Old Glover Vault.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present