Ira W. Lyon was born in 1819 in New York, the son of Connecticut native Aaron Lyon (1781-1858) and Eunice Studdwell (1796-1842).
Aaron moved his family to Wisconsin sometime in the 1840s and eventually they settled in west Michigan, in Ionia and Clinton Counties.
Ira married New York native Mary Jane Shoemaker (1834-1905?) in January of 1849, and they had at least three children: Nelson (1852-1905), Ella (1860-1945, Mrs. Packer), and Frank (1862-1919).
By 1860 Ira was living with his family and working as a farmer in Lyons, Ionia County, Michigan. Also living with Ira were Andrew Lyon (born 1845) and two young children named Shoemaker: John (born 1855) and Christina (born 1859), both born in Michigan. (They were probably related to the Shoemaker family living near Ira and Andrew in Pewamo in 1870.)
According to the Regimental Descriptive Rolls Ira was a 49-year-old farmer possibly living in Lyons when he enlisted in Company A on September 26, 1862, at Lansing (there is no service record found in the 3rd Michigan records at the National Archives). He was discharged on May 8, 1863, at Detroit on account of a disabled right arm.
By the summer of 1863 he was back in Lyons, Ionia County when he registered for the draft; no mention of his prior service, however.
In 1870 Ira was working as a farmer and living with his wife and children and Andrew Lyon on a farm in Lyons. By 1880 Ira was a widower (?) living in Pewamo, Ionia County with Andrew and his family.
No pension seems to be available.
According to one source, he died in 1881 and is buried along with his father, a son and a brother in East Plains Cemetery, Lebanon, Clinton County.
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