Alexander Lyons 17xx-183?
Much of this info received from Annie Crenshaw- thanks
Richard Lyons Ancestry tree, with Henry~1806.
1810. William Lyons was born to Alexander Lyons & his unknown wife
Another son was James Lyons, 1821,who married Margaret Woods on 8/6/1869 at Castle Bellingham ( sub. reg. dist. Ardee) County Louth. His father Alexander Lyons, farmer, and a witness was Wm Lyons .
Other sons were probably Henry Lyons, ~1806-16/3/1870, who started the business "Henry Lyons & Company, Ltd " in Sligo in 1835, amd a . . . . . John Lyons, 1816-1866 . Henry Lyons married Margaret Monds ( 1807-1889) in 1837 . They had Alexander 1838-1900, Jane (married 1864 the Rev. Chorlton) 1842-1870, James Lyons, Rev,. 1844-1911, Margaret 1846, Henry 1848-1923, John 1848 & William Harper 1850
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4 Generations: . .Henry 1806-1870 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry 1848- 1923 . . . . . . Henry Cecil 1884-1945. . . John Warren 1913-1962
Alexander 1938, another son of Henry 1806
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p038f0m7 - this says Henry's family came from Scotland !( Annie not so sure!) . Richard Lyons, now chairman of the store, is the 5th generation Lyons in the business: on his Ancestry tree he has Henry born to Alaxander. The executor on his 1870 Will is an Alexander Lyons : appears to have left a sum < £17,000: he died at Lyons Terrace, Sligo
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Alexander Lyons was one of the 6 largest land holders at Drumbaragh in the Tithes of 1833, with 6 acres and 3 roods (of 22 total land holders in Drumbaragh), and quite naturally he had one of the 4 highest tithe assessments. In 1838, the "widow of Alexr. Lyons" was counted on that farm in the Valuations.
This was a well-to-do farming and merchant family, remaining in place and spreading out into nearby locations. They weren't poor agricultural workers, barely making a living.
Integrate the following info. - 1/3/2020
I think Alexander may have already had a business in Newbliss in the 1820s-1830s, but the Tithes (one of our sources for biographical data on Alexander) didn't count town-dwelling people. The Tithe was a tax on agricultural land and its produce. The larger your land holding and the more it produced, the more tax you paid.
Explanation from National Archives of Ireland:
The Tithe Books were compiled between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings over one acre should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland (the main Protestant church and the church established by the State until its dis-establishment in 1871).
I'd say that Alexander probably had a drapery/clothing shop, since he or his father was counted in the Spinning Wheel (Flax Growers) list of 1796. They grew flax. What did they do with that flax? You could sell it at market to a buyer. You could spin and weave it in your own household. Or, an enterprising man might establish a place to process it and make linen cloth from it, in a town. Alex. might have bought his neighbors' flax and gradually became a prosperous merchant.
Alexander's son William Lyons inherited the Drumbaragh farm and had extensive businesses in Newbliss (perhaps already established by his father Alexander). James Lyons was a son of Alexander, and William Lyons was a son of Alexander. Therefore, James and William were brothers.
As I've said, Alexander may already have had a shop or business enterprise in Newbliss at the time, but that won't be reflected in the Tithes. The fact that Alexander (or his father/uncle/other same-name relative) was growing flax in the 1790s indicates an investment in the linen industry. What else was popular in Ireland at the time? Sheep. Woolen goods. More commercial opportunities. Yes, I think it's likely that Alexander was a farmer AND a merchant of some type.
1833-1838. Alexander Lyons of Newbliss and Drumbaragh died between 1833 (he was counted in the Tithes) and 1838 (widow of Alex Lyons is counted in Valuations).
No Will found for him
William Lyons also was listed in Griffith's Valuation of 1860-1861 with a farm at Drumbaragh in Aghabog parish, under landlord Lord Rossmore. This would be the farm that his father Alexander Lyons held at the time of the Tithe Applotments in 1833, and that was occupied by the "Widow Of Alexr Lyons" in 1838.
When did his widow die?? If we could find a d.c for a female Lyons in Clones/Monaghan district 1864 onwards then we would get her Christian name!! : there is just an Isabella , 76, dying in 1865, who, born ~1789, fits the bill.( & d.c Image not given!) But, more likely than not she died 1838-1863! . & the name Isabella is not carried on by her descendants!
There's no doubt that the same family was in the same place for generations..
The ONLY "Alexander Lyons" in the Newbliss area at the time of James Lyons' birth in 1821 was the man counted at Drumbaragh in the Tithe Applotments of 1833.
Then William Lyons (born abt 1810-1811, son of Alexander) turns out to be a draper, among other mercantile interests. And, many men in this family have careers as drapers. It's almost as if they had the talents for it, and drew other men with those talents into the family (the Teele brothers, for instance). Drapers met drapers. One family had sons, the other family had daughters. Marriage. Business partnerships. And so on."
Circumstancial Evidence to say Alexander Lyons was the father of Henry~1807, William ~1811, John ~1816 & James 1821
Not only were the Lyons of Sligo in business with the Newbliss Lyons, but each man of this group (whom I believe to be brothers, born within a few years of each other) named his eldest/first son "Alexander Lyons."
1. Henry Lyons of Sligo, born abt 1805 = first son Alexander
2. William Lyons of Newbliss, born abt 1810-1811 = son Alexander (birth date not known)
3. John Lyons of Sligo, born abt 1816 = first son John Alexander
4. James Lyons of Brookfield, born 1821 Newbliss = first son Alexander
I hope we can find William's son Alexander who went to Australia. That Alexander was already in Australia in 1882 when his father William wrote his will, and still living in Australia in 1901 when his mother Jane wrote her will. He was born abt. 1835-1836 (if he was the eldest son), so he was about 65 in 1901. He can't have lived longer than about 1935. Surely we can find him! I just haven't had time to look hard enough in Australian records. Too many irons in the fire at one time.
Richard Lyons of Sligo said he's going to check with St. John's Church of Ireland in Sligo, to see if there are more Lyons entries in the church books than I found on-line with Sligo Roots web site. PERHAPS the 1837 marriage of Henry Lyons and Margaret Monds was recorded there.... with their fathers' names.