Simon Lyon

1835 – 1881

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Click here to view a PDF version of Simon Lyon’s biography.

Simon Lyon was born near Metz, France, a region in northeastern France bordering Germany, on May 17, 1835. It is unknown when he immigrated to the U.S. He married Lena Weil, originally from Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, in the early 1860s. They had nine children together: Jacob Lyon, Maurice Lyon, Tillie Lyon, Henry Lyon, Abram Lyon (click to view his biography here), Moyer Lyon, Gustie Lyon (click to view her biography here), Minnie Lyon Oettinger, and Miriam Lyon Knight.

According to Simon’s obituary in the Centre Democrat, he was a longtime resident of Bellefonte, where he worked as a butcher. He resided in Bellefonte as early as June of 1863, when he was listed as a single man engaged in the profession of butchering in the U.S. Civil War Draft registration. In a bill of sale from July 26, 1865, Martin Fauble (click here to view his biography) of Bellefonte paid Simon Lyon of Bellefonte $396.45 for several items, including three butcher blocks, one horse and wagon, one horse wagon, 300 pounds of fallow, 40 beef hides, one lamp, one scale, and one sausage machine. The bill of sale also noted, “All of the above now remaining and being in the shop and premises now occupied by us [belongs to us] as partners.” According to Martin Fauble’s obituary in the Centre Democrat, Simon Lyon and Martin Fauble were partners in a butchering business on Bishop Street until, at an undisclosed time, their partnership was dissolved, and Martin began working as a clerk at S. & A. Loeb’s store.

On November 17, 1865, the Democratic Watchman praised the butchering establishments of both Simon Lyon and Edward Brown, who gave Bellefonte community members cheaper meat prices compared to their competitor, the Loebs, who “…have been so long sustained and patronized by the Bellefonte public that they have come to consider themselves the autocrats of the meat market. As such, with grasping meanness, they put on the highest cent, and though the public groan, they are fools enough to pay the price.”

In a deed poll from December 7, 1878, the location of Simon Lyon’s butchering business on Bishop Street was described as, “Bounded on the North by Bishop St. East by lot of N. J. Stricklaud, fronting on Bishop St….and extending back 200 feet to Logan St. Thereon executed a one storied frame dwelling house, meat shop: frame barn and other out buildings.” The general location of his business on Bishop Street is marked below.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania. Sanborn Map Company, Aug. 1887. Map. Click here to view the full map.

On September 4, 1879, the Centre Democrat reported on improvements Simon made to his storefront on East Allegheny Street. Supposedly, “…a coat of tasteful drab paint renders the structure particularly noticeable among the adjoining red brick buildings.”

On January 27, 1881, the Centre Democrat reported Simon Lyon and his family planned to move to Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, by the end of the week. In Philipsburg, he was expected to continue butchering. A few months later, on May 12, 1881, the Centre Democrat reported Simon was very ill with dropsy, or edema, and was “…not expected to live beyond a day or two.” Simon Lyon died on May 15, 1881, of dropsy. According to his headstone inscription, he died at the age of 45 years, 11 months, and 28 days.

According to his obituary in the Centre Democrat, “He was of a kind and obliging disposition and had a great many friends who will sincerely regret his early death.” Simon’s body was brought from Philipsburg to Bellefonte for burial at the Rodef Shalom Cemetery. He was buried in the cemetery alongside two of his children, Abram and Gustie, who preceded him in death, and his mother-in-law, Mariam Weil (click here to view her biography) and his father-in-law, Veit Hirsh Weil (click here to view his biography).