LICKING COUNTY CHILDREN'S HOME.  This institution was established in 1886 and stands as a monument to the benevolent and philanthropic character of the people.  The Home was erected at the expense of the county and is supported by direct taxation.  Within its walls orphaned and deserted children are tenderly cared for, taught habits of industry and honesty and fitted for positions of usefulness in the world.  Many who otherwise might have led useless, or even vicious lives, are brought under Christian influence, and by contact with intelligent, thrifty people are elevated and ennobled.  The good thus accomplished it is impossible to estimate.
     The building is arranged for convenience and comfort, as well as with an eye to symmetry and beauty.  Surrounding the house is a farm consisting of one hundred and five acres, upon which are raised vegetables, fruits, grain and poultry.  Horses and cattle are also kept, sufficient grain being grown on the farm for their sustenance.  There is usually a surplus of grain and vegetables, which are sold and applied to the purchase of necessary articles not grown.  In this way the Home is in a measure self-supporting.
     In connection with the Home there is a school during ten months of the year, in which two teachers are employed.  The usual branches of the common schools are taught.  The children are expected to work when not in school, much as they would aid their parents if at home, and all gladly avail themselves of this opportunity.  Since the establishment of the institution of 1886, four hundred and thirty-four children have been cared for beneath its shelter.  Prior to that time there had been a Home in operation in the city of Newark for six years, but necessarily upon a small scale owing to lack of room and means.  Orphaned or abandoned children are taken at any age under sixteen, and cared for until they attain that age.  Parents who place their children in the Home are obliged to surrender all control of them.
     Children are placed in suitable homes at any age, it being necessary that the home shall be satisfaction to the Superintendent as well as the child satisfactory to the foster parents. The building is the three story structure of brick, finished in modern style, fire proof and arranged so as to secure ventilation in every room.  Exclusive of schoolrooms, laundry, furnace and boiler rooms, there are one hundred and forty-four rooms, all large and airy, and well adapted to the purposes designed.  The building is heated by steam and supplied with all the modern improvements.
Source:  Memorial Record of Licking Co., Ohio - Chicago - Record Publishing Co., 1894 - Page 511

D. E. LLOYD.   There is not a resident of Licking County living within a radius of ten miles of Wilkin's Run who is not familiar with the name of the subject of this biographical notice.  He is a genial, open-hearted gentleman, an interesting conversationalist and one with whom it is a pleasure to meet.  At the present time, and for some years past, he has con ducted a blacksmith and general repair shop in the village where he makes his home.
     A native of this county, our subject was born Aug. 7, 1853, and is the youngest son of David and Mary (Jones) Lloyd, natives of Montgomery shire, North Wales.  The paternal grandfather, Cadwalader Lloyd, engaged in farming pursuits throughout his entire active life and passed away in Wales in 1817; his wife, who survived him for many years, also died in her native country.  David Lloyd, Sr., married in Wales and thence with his young wife emigrated to America in, 1847, at the age of twenty-five years.  Prior to coming to this country he had served an apprenticeship at the trade of a blacksmith, which he has followed throughout his entire life.  Politically he is a Democrat and an ardent supporter of party principles.  In his social affiliations he was connected with the Ancient Order of Odd Fellows in Wales, but has not identified himself with the organization in the United States.  His home has been in Licking County ever since his emigration to this country.
     Nine children comprised the parental family, and of that number there now survive two sons and two daughters.  John, the eldest, is a black smith in Columbus, Ohio; he married Dove Durr and they have two children; Clara and Emma reside with their parents; Mary died at the age of twenty-five years; and Caddie passed away when five years old.  Three children died in infancy.  The father of this family operates a general black smith and repair shop three miles south of Newark, where he has made his home since about 1850.
     Under his father’s guidance and assistance our subject learned the blacksmith’s trade and established himself in business near the Orphans’ Home in East Newark, where he remained for twenty months.  Later he worked in Newark with his brother for one year, removing thence to Perry County and carrying on a shop near Thornville for two years.  In 1881 he came to Wilkin’s Run, where he has since owned and managed a general blacksmith and repair shop.  He now owns a beautiful home and several acres of land at Wilkin’s Run and is a prosperous and successful man.  In youth he “sowed his wild oats,” as is too often the  custom among young men, but with mature years have come better judgment and firmer principles, and consequently he has been enabled to lay by a snug sum for the proverbial “rainy day.” He has never married, but makes his home with the family of  Franklin Wilkin, with whom he has resided for the past twelve years.
Source:  Memorial Record of Licking Co., Ohio - Chicago - Record Publishing Co., 1894 - Page 132

HON. WILLIAM COTTER LYON.  The proud distinction won by the Old Dominion during the early history of our country as the "mother" of presidents and the home of illustrious men, was afterward transferred to Ohio.  The Buckeye State has been the birthplace of many who have taken high rank in the councils of the nation.  It has given our country in recent years three of its chief executives, Grant, Hayes and Garfield, as well as many eminent statesmen, Sherman, McKinley, Foraker etc., whose names are household words throughout the land.   Among its illustrious sons is the gentleman whose name introduces this biographical review, and who has been the recipient of many offices of honor from the people of the commonwealth.  A man of ripe intellect, of a clear and vigorous mind, with a keen understanding of all subjects of public import, he has wielded an unmistakable influence on the civic life of the state.
     The life of this statesman will be of great interest to our readers, and especially to the people of Newark, among whom he has resided for many years.  He was born in Homer, Medina County, Ohio, July 7, 1841, and is a son of David Lyon, a native of Westchester County, N. Y., and a farmer by occupation.  The paternal grandfather, William Cotter Lyon, likewise a native of Westchester County, died in West Somerset, N. Y., in 1848.  The great-grandfather, David Lyon, was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1745, and with his father, Jonathan (likewise a native of Belfast), emigrated to America prior to the Revolutionary War, settling in New York.  The sympathies of David Lyon were enlisted on behalf of the struggling Colonies, and he was one of the heroes of the Revolution, serving as captain during 1775-76.  His death occurred in Homer, Medina County, Ohio, in 1851.
     At Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, David Lyon, Jr., and Miss Ann McGuire were united in marriage.  This lady was born in Ireland, and was well educated and held in high esteem for her many womanly qualities.  Her father, Henry McGuire, also a native of the Emerald Isle, brought his family to America during the early part of the present century and settled in Wayne County, Ohio, where he died in 1840.  After his marriage David Lyon sojouned for four years in Homer, Ohio, thence removed to Cass County, Mich., and there, after a residence of two years, the wife and mother passed away, in June, 1847.
     Soon after that bereavement, the family, consisting of the father and three children, returned to Ohio, and for a time resided in Wooster, Wayne County.  In 1853 he settled on an unimproved farm in Putnam County, Ohio, and in September of the same year he was brutally murdered by an intoxicated neighbor, simply for the reason that Mr. Lyon, who was a Christian, reproved him for using excessively profane language.  Therefore, when only twelve years of age, William C., of this sketch, found himself thrown entirely upon his own resources.  With a cheerful fortitude he endured the hardships and privations which were necessarily imposed upon him, not for his support alone, but for those who were dependent upon him.
     The annals of American biography are filled with records of heroic endeavors on the part of brave boys, who at the same time that they were burdened by poverty, cherished a burning ambition to excel in some branch of knowledge.  Many a noble boy has not only tenderly cared for the dear ones who have been left destitute by the father's death, but has also planned for the acquisition of a liberal education, that he might become fitted for the work to which he looked forward.  Such has been the experience of Mr. Lyon, and success has crowned his efforts, as it usually rewards the industrious and judicious.  Realizing that it was necessary to gain some means of livelihood, he learned the trade of a shoemaker in youth, and was thus employed until the opening of the Rebellion.
     Imbued with the zeal and patriotism that had inspired his forefathers, Mr. Lyon responded to the call for troops and was one of the first men to enlist in Medina County, his name being enrolled in the army in April, 1861.  For three months he was engaged in camp service at Cleveland and Columbus, after which he was attached to Company C, Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, a regiment to which belonged at different times many national characters, including General Hayes, Justice Stanley Matthews, Hon. William McKinley, and others of perhaps equal prominence in military and civil life.  He served as a private until 1863.  At the battle of South Mountain he was promoted to Second Lieutenant, later became First Lieutenant, and was commissioned Captain in the spring of 1865.
     Until within thirteen months of the close of the war, Captain Lyon took part in all the important engagements with his regiment.  Shortly after his promotion to First Lieutenant, he was assigned to duty on the staff of General Scamman and Feb. 3, 1864, was taken prisoner and held until the war closed, being confined in Libby, Danville, Charleston, Raleigh, Macon and Columbia.  During his confinement at Charleston, S. C., he was stricken down with Yellow fever, but being a young man of a strong and robust constitution, he was enabled to ward off the perilous attack only to endure still greater suffering and hardships.  While confined there, in October, 1864, an order was issued by the rebel war department that two Union officers must be shot in retaliation for two rebel bushwhackers who had been executed by order of General Burnside.  An order was issued by the rebel commander for sixty officers to fall into line.  Among that number was Captain Lyon.
     The rebel captain announced to them the order of the rebel war department and said: "In this box are sixty beans, fifty-eight white and two black.  Whoever draws the black beans will be shot."  Captain Lyon drew the first one and the late Colonel Case, of Bellefontaine, Ohio, a stanch friend of his, drew the other.  They were at once taken away and expected to be executed.  They were conveyed to Raleigh, N. C., and there placed in different cells underneath the state prison, where the light could not penetrate, and their cells were overgrown with moss and reeking with filth.  There, in that horrible place, they were confined for three months, gradually wasting away and dying by inches.  They were then sent to Columbia, S. C., where the Captain was offered the freedom of the city if he would work at his trade (shoemaking), but he indignantly declined the offer, declaring he would rot in prison before he would in any way lend a hand to the cause of the Confederacy.  Through his long confinement and great sufferings he became greatly emaciated, and when released, Mar. 1, 1865, weighed but ninety-seven pounds.
     Arriving in Columbus, Apr. 15, 1865, Captain Lyon soon afterward returned to Medina County, where he engaged in the shoe business until 1870.  He then removed to Newark, where he has since resided.  In 1877 he was appointed Postmaster at Newark by President Hayes, and re-appointed by President Arthur, holding the position until January 1, 1886.  In September, 1884, he purchased the Newark American, and since his retirement from the postoffice has devoted himself largely to the publication of that paper.  This, as may be inferred, is a stanch and influential Republican organ.
     In 1886 Governor Foraker appointed Captain Lyon a Trustee of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan's Home at Xenia, Ohio, which position he filled with acceptance for some years.  At the republican State Convention of 1887 he received the nomination for Lieutenant Governor on the ticket with J. B. Foraker, and was elected by a handsome majority.  It is needless to add that the duties of the office were discharged with ability and satisfaction to his constituents and the people of the state.  He was chosen delegate to the well remembered National Convention at Minneapolis in 1892, and cast his vote for the Napoleon of protection, Governor McKinley.
     Socially, Captain Lyon is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is Past Grand Regent of the Royal Arcanum of Ohio, also a member of the Supreme Council of the United States and Canada of that body.  He is identified with Lemert Post No. 71, G. A. R., of Newark.  Since 1866 he has been an active and consistent member of the Baptist Church.  June 17, 1868, he was united in marriage with Miss Eva M. Spitzer, daughter of Garret Spitzer, of Medina County, Ohio.  They have one daughter, Maud E., who is the wife of William A. Galloway, M. D. of Xenia, Ohio.
     The foregoing is but a brief and imperfect outline of the life and deeds of one of Newark's representative and esteemed citizens.  His life has been an active one.  Thrown when quite young upon his own resources, he has displayed those characteristics which have shown out with increasing lustre all through his life, and when the sun begins to set and the shadows begin to fall, when day is swallowed up in night, and the curtain falls upon the last scene, it may truthfully be said of William Cotter Lyon, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Source:  Memorial Record of Licking Co., Ohio - Chicago - Record Publishing Co., 1894 - Page 117

Source:  Memorial Record of Licking Co., Ohio - Chicago - Record Publishing Co., 1894 - Page 132