John Lyon (poet)
| John Lyon | |
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| Born |
4 March 1803 Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland present-day Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Died | 28 November 1889 (aged 86) Salt Lake City, Utah Territory present-day Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
| Occupation | Poet, hymn writer, journalist, weaver |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Ethnicity | Scottish |
| Notable works | "The Apostate", "The Prophet" |
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John J. Lyon (4 March 1803, Glasgow – 28 November 1889) was a 19th-century Scottish Latter Day Saint poet and hymn writer.
John J. Lyon was born to Thomas Lyon and Janet McArthur, a poor and illiterate family in the slums of Glasgow. He was the only child of Thomas and Janet's four children to live to adulthood. Thomas' sister Margaret, who had lost all of her children, adopted five-year-old John in order to alleviate some of her brother's monetary expenses. After less than a year, young Lyon returned to Glasgow after the passing of Margaret's wealthy husband. A year or so later, his father died.
At age eight, Lyon began attending school and did so for only a year and a half. That was the extent of his formal childhood schooling. Young Lyon became an apprentice to an accomplished weaver at age nine (1812). That same year the weaving industry struggled immensely, but Lyon kept at his seven-year apprenticeship. By the time he was twelve, the industry had plummeted enough that young Lyon's shop master quit his trade and granted freedom to Lyon and the rest of his apprentices. Lyon then began pursuing a career in spinning, but after three years in his new apprenticeship, his new shop master released all of his apprentices as had occurred previously.
Lyon continued to pursue a career in weaving and set-out (at age seventeen) to live on his own because his mother was remarried and he did not want to be a part of their new life. In 1824 he moved to Kilmarnock where he had great success in the weaving industry. It is there that he met sixteen year old Janet Thomson. They were married in the Presbyterian church on 23 February 1826 and in September their first child, Thomas, was born. The couple had a total of twelve children, seven of which lived to adulthood. Lyon's lack of schooling as a child pushed him to make sure that his children were well-educated. His children were weavers as he was, but they learned to read and write at an early age.
As a child, Lyon was familiarized with the Bible and in turn introduced the Bible to his own children while they were young. He and his wife had no real affiliations with a specific church or congregation during the early years of their marriage.
Many religious reforms occurred in Scotland during the 1830s and 1840s. The Church of Scotland, which was Presbyterian, was challenged and many new religious freedoms were granted during this time. In 1837, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) arrived in England and soon after made their way to Scotland. The missionary William Gibson, went to preach in Kilmarnock where he became good friends with Lyon. After reading The Book of Mormon, attending religious sermons, and pondering what he had learned, Lyon was baptized on 30 May 1844. Janet was baptized five weeks later along with their eldest son Thomas. Some of their other children would also be baptized by Gibson in the following months.
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