Matthew Lyon (14 July 1749 – 1 August 1822) was a member of the US House of Representatives (DR-VT 1) from 4 March 1797 to 3 March 1801 (interrupting Israel Smith's terms) and from KY-1 from 4 March 1803 to 3 March 1811 (succeeding Thomas Terry Davis and preceding Anthony New).
Biography[]
Matthew Lyon was born in County Wicklow, Ireland in 1749, the son of an Irish Catholic father who had been executed after the failed "White Boys" uprising against British rule. He emigrated to Connecticut in 1764 as a redemptioner, and he paid off his debts and became a free man in 1768. In 1774, he moved to Wallingford, Vermont, and he served in the Green Mountain Boys and then under Horatio Gates during the American Revolutionary War. He went on to serve in the State House from 1779 to 1796 and in the US House of Representatives from 1797 to 1801 and from 1803 to 1811, and he died in 1822.