Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

This family traces its origin to Leoni, a Ro- man nobleman. A branch of the family settled in France, where the name was known as IDe- Lyon. One of the family went to England with the Conqueror, and some thirty years later ac- companied Edgar to Scotland, where he located. Glammis castle and lands came into the family through the marriage in the fourteenth century of one of the successors to Elizabeth, daughter of Robert II. But their good fortune only cre- ated jealousy, and De Lyon was assassinated soon thereafter. The castle and lands have ever since remained in the family, although they have been more than once in danger. The succession was unique, Thomas, the eighth Earl, being the last of six brothers who succeeded each other — the elder two as heirs presumptive, and the oth- ers as actual earls. Lemuel Lyon, father of Alanson Lyon, was born in the town of Redding, January 21, 17GS, and was educated in its comuion school. He learned the shoemaker's trade, although he al- ways followed farming as a means of livelihood. He became possessed of considerable property. He married Miss Hulda Sanford, who was born in 1767, and to them cauie the following chil- dren: Rebecca married Curtis Fanton; Susan married William Piatt; Eli married Esther A. Northrop; Aaron married Betsey Sanford; and Alanson married Marrietta Skidmore. Alanson Lyon, after his schooldays were over and he began life for himself, became engaged in the lumber business with a brother. They also manufactured hat boxes, and later our subject manufactured brick; during all of the time how- ever, he was carrying on extensively farming op- erations. He was a capable business man, full of energy and industry, and made a success of his undertakings. He served the people of the county as deputy sheriff, and was repeatedly elected constable of the town of Redding. His official acts met with the approval of the people, and he was popular with the masses. Politically he was a \\'hig, and on the organization of the Republican party, he espoused the principles of that party. A man of good information, and of considerable force, he was inHuential in social and public affairs. He was identified with the I. O. O. F. ; and also with the F. & A. M., be- ing prominenj: in both orders. He married Miss Marietta Skidmore, a daughter of Rufus and Jerusha (Ferris) Skidmore, he a prominent physician of Newtown, Conn. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Alanson Lyon were born the following children: (i) Mary Ella, born July 19, 1 85 1, and married Hobart Brinsmade, a native of Trumbull, Conn., who became principal of a Bridgeport public school, was subsequently European agent of the Wheeler & Wilson Co., but is now a wholesale merchant in St. Louis, Mo. ; they have two children — Robert B. and Lewis. (2) Rufus Alanson, born February 21, 1853, was reared and educated in his native town — Redding. He taught school some in that locality, and at the age of nineteen he went to Bridgeport, where he became connected with the Bridgeport Fanner. With that publication he remained for a number of j'ears, and became familiar with every branch of the newspaper business. From there he went to New Haven, and for several P . -..iiDnl ri.i 46 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. years was identified with the New Haven J^cjf- jsWr. He was then one year with the Bridge- port A^eivs as its editor, and of which he was part owner. Later he again became identified with the Farmer, serving on the editorial staff, being the city editor. For a year subsequent!}' he was the managing editor of the New Haven Union. Mr. Lyon is unmarried, and resides with his mother at Redding. (3) Elizabeth F., born May 9, 1855, died in 1861. (4) JennieA., born in the town of Redding, June 27, 1857, married John Reed, a farmer of that town, and they have three children — Herbert, Bessie, and Ferris. Peter Ferris, the great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Alanson Lyon, bought a farm in the town of Newtown as early as 171 i, and farmed throughout his lifetime. The deed to the farm was given to Danbury, there being no probate office at Newtown at the time the deed was made. He married Martha Northrop, of New- town. Joseph Ferris, one of their children, was a very conscientious and strict member of the Church of England, and during the Revolution- ary war refused to enter the service of the Continental army. At that time such a stand •was considered ne.xt to treason. His property was about to be confiscated, and but for the acts of his wife it would have been lost. He left, go- ing to Nova Scotia, where he remained eight years, then returned and passed his life in New- town, Fairfield count}-, engaged chiefly in agri- cultural pursuits. He married Abigail Sherman, of Newtown, daughter of Daniel Sherman, who belonged to the family which produced Roger Sherman, of Revolutionary fame. Abigail Sher- man's mother seemed to be by nature a doctor, and much of her time was spent in traveling on horseback through that localit}', visiting and ad- ministering to the sick. The children of Joseph Ferris and his wife were: Daniel, Martha, and Ruth. Daniel Ferris was born in Newtown, and by occupation was a farmer. He married Jerusha Glover, a daughter of Elias Glover, of Newtown, and had children: (ij Jerusha, was married to Dr. Rufus Skidmore, and had chil- dren— Jane A., born February 11, 1822, married B. T. Burr (now deceased), who was a merchant of Greenfield, and also engaged in farming; Marietta (Mrs. Alanson Lyon), born June 6, 1825; and Martha E., born January 29, 1827, married James T. Johnson (now deceased), who was a farmer, and later was in business at Bridge- port. (2) Glover was married to Mary Briscoe, and had one child that died in youth. Dr. Rufus Skidmore was graduated from the Vermont Medical Universitv, in 1817, under the presidency of Daniel Huntington. Early in his professional career he traveled through the South and to Cuba, in search of a suitable place to lo- cate in the practice. But owing to climatic con- ditions, his health would not permit of a location in the South, so he returned to New England and settled at Newtown, where he passed his life. He was a skillful surgeon and physician, and was frequently called in consultation. In one case there was a lady of the town who had presum- ably passed into the unknown; her case had been given up by the attending physicians, and she was supposed to be dead, but through some skill- full act of Dr. Skidmore's the patient rallied and recovered, and outlived the Doctor. pLLIAM ME AC HEN, a well-known V')^ prosperous citizen of Bridgeport, where for several years he was engaged in the business of market gardening on the spot where a portion of East Bridgeport now stands, but is now living retired, is a native of England, born in 18 19, in the County of Norfolk. Robert Meachen, father of our subject, was of the same nativity, and followed farming pur- suits in Norfolk all his days, dying there. He married Ann Bridges, and by her had a family of eleven children — si.x sons and five daughters. The sons were named, respectively, Charles, Robert, James, William, Edward and Henry. Of these, Charles was a farmer near Cleveland, Ohio, and died there; Robert was a market gardener at New Haven, Conn., and died there; James is^a retired market gardener, living in Stratford, Conn.; William (our subject) will be fully spoken of farther on; Edward was a market gardener in Indiana, where he was killed; and Henry is a market gardener at Michigan City, Ind. None of the sisters left their native land. William Meachen received his education in England, and there commenced to learn the trades of miller and baker, but did not finish them. .Afterward he worked on the home farm with his father. At about the age of twenty years he married Miss Ann Carr, who was born in the same neighborhood, a daughter of James Carr, and some eighteen months later (about sixty years ago) the young couple came to the United States, making their first New-World home in Paterson, N. J., where Mr. Meachen found employment as a coachman in a private family, a position he filled twelve years. From Paterson he moved to Jersey City, and for the ne.xt fourteen years conducted a lucrative market- gardening business; but selling out at the end of that time, in 1S62, he came to Connecticut, and COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 47 in the town of Stratford, Fairfield county, pur- chased a farm of forty acres of raw land, covered with wild brush, rocks, etc., now the scene of beautiful residences, fine streets and avenues, etc., in fact a portion of the site of East Hridge- port. When Mr. Meachen came here there were no more than si.x houses to be seen between his place and the city (proper) of Bridgeport. Here he was the first gardener, and followed his old vocation of market-gardening until in 1892 he sold his property, the forty acres above referred to, to Bradley Nichols & Son for $40,000, the same having originall)' cost him $4,000. To Mr. and Mrs. William Meachen were born nine children, seven of whom grew to ma- turity, as follows: Margaret is the wife of Charles Hulah, of Bridgeport; George lives in Stratford; Christianna married George Dew, formerly a merchant, now a farmer in the town of Fairfield; Sarah is the deceased wife of Will- iam Paddock, a jeweler in Bridgeport; William, Jr., is a market gardener in Stratford; Charles is a manufacturer of brooms in Bridgeport; and Elizabeth married Thomas Wyle, clothier, of New Haven. Mr. and Mrs. Meachen and all the family are members of the M. E. Church, in which denomination he has been an ofticer for the long period of nearly half a century, and he gave valuable assistance toward the erection of the M. E. Church building in East Bridgeport. In politics Mr. Meachen is a Republican; he served as one of the burgesses of East Bridge- port at the time it was a borough, and in earlier days was a member of the school committee sev- eral times. He at all times gives liberal support to those measures which he believes calculated to promote the general welfare. Wherever known he is held in high-regard, and his friends are legion throughout the county.