Sacramento County
Biographies
JAMES L. LYONS
JAMES
L. LYONS.--An experienced member of the well disciplined and well equipped
fire department of Sacramento is
Capt. James L. Lyons. Born in Ireland,
he first saw the light on the 21st day of September, 1883, in Galway,
the son of James L. Lyons and his wife Sophia Griffith. They were excellent folks, of the
old-fashioned, but dependable school; and now that they have closed their
earthly labors, it is pleasant to record that only good may be said of them.
James Lyons, Jr., progressed through the
public schools and then put in two years pursuing collegiate work; and then, at
the age of sixteen, went to Australia. He returned to Ireland
for two or three years; and in 1904 crossed the Atlantic to the United
States, and for a year or two remained in the East, getting
accustomed to American ways. He was
wide-awake to profit by every experience, and in consequence he steadily came
forward.
In 1906, he came to Sacramento, where he
remained a year, then went to Oakland with the Santa Fe, checking freight,
until 1910, when he went East and was married in Pittsburgh, Pa. Returning to California
he settled in Sacramento, where he
was employed by the Southern Pacific shops for two years. He joined the fire department in 1915, and in
time took the captain’s examinations. In
December, 1920, he was appointed a substitute captain and in 1921 was appointed
captain. He belongs to the Fireman’s
Relief and Protective Association, and busies himself studying the many new
problems arising in the operation of the department, affecting the efficiency
of the service to the tax-payer, on the one hand, and the welfare of the
firemen, on the other. He is a
Republican in matters of national politics; but a non-partisan worker for the
community in which he lives and thrives, whenever local questions forge to the
fore. HE built a residence at 4429
Y Street, where he resides with his family.
In Pittsburgh, Pa.,
in 1910, Captain Lyons married Miss Margaret Reynolds, a gifted and
accomplished lady from the East; and their four promising children, James L.,
third, John Melvin, George f., and Marguerite Frances
attest to the happiness of their union. The second oldest, Sophia Florence,
died at the age of two and one-half years.
The Captain has filled all chairs of the Odd Fellows Lodge. He is fond of outdoor life, finding here in Sacramento,
close at home, all the appeal to nature he could desire.
Transcribed
by Priscilla Delventhal.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History
of Sacramento County, California With Biographical
Sketches, Page 1002. Historic Record
Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 P. J. Delventhal.