Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 901
THOMAS J. LANYON

Thomas J. LANYON, proprietor of a general store at Little Sioux, Iowa, has been a resident of Harrison County, since 1858, and consequently would very naturally find a place among the representative men of this county as forming a part of this history.

Our subject was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1848. He is a son of Thomas and Sophia (CAMPION) LANYON, who were natives of England, but emigrated to America in 1832. The father was born in Cornwall, and the mother in Leicestershire. Both parents are deceased; the father dying in 1854, and the mother in July, 1887, aged seventy-eight years.

The early life of our subject was spent in the city of Pittsburg; he received his education there and at Preparation, Iowa. In his parents' family there were seven children, our subject being the fifth. In 1859 our subject went to Magnolia and entered the newspaper office of George BRAINARD, who was then publishing the Republican. One year later we find him at Onawa, Iowa, with D. W. BUTTS, on the Cordon, and in 1862 he came to Little Sioux and hired out to Isaac GAMET, on a farm and there remained until 1865, following farming for the next two years. He was with the surveyors, who established the line of the Sioux City & Pacific Railway, with whom he was associated about six months; was then employed in a drug store for about eight months. We next find him clerking in the store of D. M. GAMET, from some time in 1869, to July 7, 1870, when President U.S. GRANT appointed him Postmaster, which position he held for seventeen years, ending January, 1886.

On March 22, 1877 (although the 1905 Directory shows the the date as 4/21/1877) he was united in marriage at Little Sioux, to Miss Ella M. PETERS, the daughter of Richard L. and Lydia Ann (BUTTS) PETERS. By this union five children were born, four of whom still survive -- Marion T., Ralph H., Clement Earl, Leon (deceased), and Teressa. (Note: There is an F. M. LANYON marrying an Ida TARLTON on 3/19/1879 in the 1905 Directory).

Politically our subject is a Republican, and he is numbered among the honored members of Frontier Lodge, No. 382, of the Masonic order at Little Sioux. He has been Secretary of the School Board since 1883, and Township Trustee for several years. He started his present business in 1871, with a very small beginning, but has gradually worked up the scale, and now has a paying business established. In 1877 he erected his present business house, and in 1884 built his residence which adjoins his store.

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