Clark and Hogg Family History

Charles H Lyon 1856-1946

Charles H Lyon as a young boy

Charles Harold "Charley" Lyon

Charles H. Lyon was born in Richmond, Ontario in 1856, the second child of Robinson E. Lyon and his wife Sarah Maxwell Lyon. For the first years of his life, Charles farmed in the Richmond area, most likely on land sub-divided from that originally granted to his grandfather, Captain George Lyon, following the War of 1812.

In 1875, Charles married Hannah Green of Ottawa. They continued to live and farm in the Richmond area where their children Gertrude (1876), Rockliffe (1878) and George (1880) were born. Charles left the farm around 1880 and lived in Burritts Rapids where Albert was born in 1882, Oxford Mills in 1883, Kemptville where Dolly was born in 1884 and Snow Road where Catherine was born in 1886. He settled in Perth in 1888 where Mabel was born in 1890. All of these locations are in the Ottawa valley. The 1879 Atlas shows Charles still living on his farm in the Richmond area. (See map in the preceding Robinson E. Lyon section.)

Standing L to R - Gertrude Lyon, George Lyon, Rockliffe Lyon, Bert Lyon.
Front L to R - Catherine Lyon, Charles H. Lyon, Mabel Lyon, Hannah Green Lyon, and E. P. Dolly Lyon.

Charles H Lyon with his mother, and a child

The following excerpt is taken from the 1881 census showing "Charles Lion", his wife and family of 3 children living in Oxford township in the District of North Leeds & Grenville and listing his occupation as "butcher". This is interesting in that he returned to this occupation for a time later when he was living in Perth. It should also be noted that Hannah is listed as a Baptist and of English origin whereas Charles is listed as Church of England and of "Scotch" origin. The new Baptist Church in Perth, Ontario opened on May 31, 1889. The church history shows that "On June 9' the baptistry was used for the first time, the following persons being baptized on profession of faith: C.H, Lyon, Gertrude Lyon and Rockliffe Lyon."

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It is interesting to note that Charles and his family moved from Richmond at just about the same time that his parents, Robinson E. Lyon and his wife Sarah, moved from Richmond to Flower Station. The Kingston-Pembroke Railway was pushing through that area and logging was a very vibrant industry. It is known that Charles used to work on the log drives down the rivers such as the Mississippi, a tributary of the Ottawa River. This explained some of his moves to various locations such as the move to Snow Road which is on this river. At this location, there was a large Allan's Sawmill and it is likely that he worked there too. When he moved to Perth, he became employed for several years by the Wm. Allan Lumber Company, most likely a branch of the Snow Road mill.

In Perth, he also worked as a cattle drover and at one point, as mentioned earlier, operated a butcher shop from his residence on Alma Street. (An invoice from the butcher shop "Lyon, The Alma St., Butcher" may be seen among the following pages. Invoices show that people ran tabs for charges over several years. in this case 1901 through 1904). His son George's letters of 1904 - OS request that his father send him some nice steaks. In receipts for payment given at the time of settling his estate in 1946, it is shown that even at the time of his death, Charles rented land in the area to graze a herd of cattle. It was always believed that Charles and his family had rented the house on Alma St. from the Allan Lumber Company, however an advertisement in the Perth Courier of 1915 shows that Charles had listed the Alma Street house for sale. He did own a large brick house on Harvey St. though and on a vacant lot next door, built another house with the assistance of his son-in-law Nelson Brown. These houses were rented out. It is amazing to note that on the day of his death. May 15, 1946, Charles walked across town. sold the house and deposited the money in the bank before returning home. (The page from his bank book notes the deposit of this money that day. Note this page among those to follow)

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In 1914, his son Albert had a new brick borne built at 35 D'Arcy Street where the family then took up residence. His grand-daughter, Gerrie McEwen Gibson who still owns this house- recalls that in 1983. when shipping off layers of wallpaper while renovating, she saw that her grandfather had kept records oil the wall of the cellar way such as " 3 heifers sold" etc. with the date written on the old wallpaper underneath. The same Perth Courier as mentioned above, shows a listing, for the sale of a considerable number of farm animals.

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Charles travelled around the area with his horse and buggy long after motor cars had become popular and was known to have rented a barn where he kept his horse probably near where the present Perth Fair Grounds is located. He always conducted his own personal business over the years. Evidently he liked to wheel and deal, often to the chagrin of his refined, professional and politically ambitious son Albert. At the time of his death_ he still owned a horse which he boarded at the farm of his sun-in-law Nelson Brown. ( \ receipt for the sale of this horse at the time of his death is included) Fur many years. his daughter Gertrude ran a dress making business from the family homes and later looked after the running of the house for her brother Bert and father following the death of Hannah, Charley's wife, in 192 I upon Gertrude's death in (941- his daughter Dully came to Perth to look after the house.

Charles played the fiddle although with a rather limited repertoire. He enjoyed playing the likes of "Pop Goes the Weasel'" and -'Darling Nelly Gray-- according to his grand-daughter Gerrie McEwen Gibson. On the evening that he died, he had his son Bert play familiar tunes fur him on the piano. The life of Charles L\ oil had obviously been a very full one in many dimensions.

Information provided and based upon research by
Jim McTavish, Barbara Gibson, Reg Lyon, George Mackenzie and Cynthia Milligan.