HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY. 
 
the head of a family. But rent, fuel and pro- 
visions were cheaper in those days than they 
now are, and his income proved quite ample for 
their support. 
In 1850 he formed a partnership with the late 
C. P. Barnes, of Burlington, in Racine county, 
and removed to that place where he remained un- 
til the spring of 1855, when he removed to the 
city of Racine, where he continued in the active 
practice of his profession until the breaking 
out of the war in 1861. He was district attor- 
ney of Racine county from 1855 to 1858 inclu- 
sive. He was chosen a member of the Lower 
House of the Wisconsin legislature of 1859, and 
was made speaker. It is a very unusual pro- 
ceeding for one who has never been a member 
of a legislative body to be thus called to the 
delicate duties of presiding officer, but in this 
case the choice was abundantly justified by the 
conspicuously capable manner in which the du- 
ties were discharged.  He was re-elected a 
member of the assembly the following year. 
and was again chosen speaker without a con- 
test in the caucus of republican members. H( 
retired from his second term in that position al 
the age of thirty-eight, with the warm friend- 
ship of the members without distinction of 
ptrrty, with an enviable reputation throughout 
the State, and with the promise, which has been 
fully realized of a useful and honorable public 
career. 
Judge Lyon is peculiarly one for whom the 
"pomp, pride and circumstances of glorious war" 
could have had no seductions; but when the 
call of patriotic duty reached him, it fell upon 
no dull ear.  One hundred splendid citizen 
soldiers enlisted under him, and he was com- 
missioned captain of company K, of the 8th 
Wisconsin Infantry.   Entering the military 
service in September, 1861, he remained therein 
four years, having been, at the close of the war, 
mustered out in Texas in September, 1865. He 
had served one year as captain of company K, 
8th Wisconsin, and the remainder of the time 
aS colonel of the 13th Wiseconsin, and at the 
 
close of the war was breveted a brigadier- 
general. His military career, lie thinks, was 
not particularly brilliant, but he dlaims to have 
discharged his duty with reasonable fidelity. 
In the summer following the close of the war 
there was a splendid pageant at Madison, on the 
occasion of the formal presentation to the State 
of the battle flags of the several regiments that 
Wisconsin had sent into the field. Gen. Lyon 
was chosen to deliver the address, and pro- 
nounced an oration of impressive eloquence. 
Before Gen. Lyon had been mustered out of 
the military service he was chosen judge of the 
first judicial circuit, comprising the counties of 
Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, Rock and Green. 
He entered upon the duties of that position on 
Dec. 5, 1865, and served for five years with a 
degree of ability that won unqualified com- 
niendation from all. In 1870 he was made the 
repuilican candidate for Congress in the fourth 
di.strict of Wisconsin, but was defeated at the 
)olls by Alexander Mitchell. 
The death of Byron Paine having created a 
v:. cancy on the bench of the Supreme Court of 
Wisconsin in January, 1871, Judge Lyon was 
appointed by Gov. Fairchild associate justice, 
lie having continued to exercise jurisdiction 
over the first circuit after its Territorial limits 
had been changed until this time. In the April 
following he was elected for the unexpired 
term, and for the full term  succeeding.  In 
1877 he was re-elected, without opposition, for 
a term which expired in 1884, and is now serv- 
ing on his third full term. The people of Wis- 
consin have been almost uniformly happy in the 
constitution of their .highest judicial tribunal. 
And there have been none more deserving of 
confidence than he who now sits as senior asso- 
ciate justice. His knowledge of law is thorough 
an-d his instinct of equity perfect, his mind has 
an equipoise that the scales of the blindfolded 
goddess cannot surpass, and his integrity is such 
as to class him with those into whose presence 
corruptionists dare not yenture, 
 
21 
 
345