Rev. Dr. James Adair Lyon Papers

James A Lyon was born in Jonesboro, TN, in 1814. He graduated from Washington College in Tennessee in 1832, and then from the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey in 1836. He was licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1836, and married Adelaide E. Dedrick of Knoxville, TN in 1837. Following his ordination as an evangelist by the Old School Presbytery of Holston in 1837, Lyon’s ministry took him all over the South, with extended stays in Tennessee, and then in Columbus, MS, from 1841-1847.

He spent 1848 abroad, and afterwards moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he served as both minister and founder of a school for young women. In 1854 Washington College awarded him an honorable Doctor of Divinity decree, and in 1855 he returned to Columbus, MS, and served as a pastor there until 1871.

Lyon was vocal critic of slavery as then practiced in the South on the grounds that it was not up to “Biblical standards.” He advocated for laws preventing cruelty to enslaved persons and envisioned religious and other instruction as a path to the abolition of slavery. He also opposed secession.

In 1863 Lyon became moderator of the Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States of America. In 1870 he was named professor of mental and moral science at the University of Mississippi, where he worked until retiring in 1881 due to poor health. Lyon died in 1882 in Holly Springs, MS, and was survived by his wife and children.

Lyon was a prolific writer, the author of numerous works on religion, politics and education including include The Missionary Aspect of African Colonization (1850), Religion and Politics (1863) and The Southern Presbyterian University (1869).

Sources: https://www.presbyteriansofthepast.com/2019/06/22/james-a-lyon/, https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/L/lyon-james-adair-dd.html, and Winter, R. Milton, “James A. Lyon: Southern Presbyterian Apostle of Progress,” Journal of Presbyterian History (1962-1985), Vol. 60, No. 4 (WINTER 1982), pp.314-335