John Lyon

John J. Lyon (4 March 1803, Glasgow – 28 November 1889) was a Scottish Latter Day Saint poet and hymn writer. Biography Early Years 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.