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WILLIAM LYONS FYAN, Chief Burgess of Bedford
borough and a prominent merchant,
was born here, March 18, 1839, son of Robert and Alice (Byrne)
Fyan.
Robert Fyan, Sr., grandfather of William Lyons, was a native
of Dublin,
Ireland, and a well-known resident there over a hundred years
ago. He was
engaged in the manufacture of linen, and he owned three vessels,
in which he
shipped his goods; but, owing to the prominent part which he
took in the
Rebellion of
[103]
1798, he was obliged to leave the country. He accordingly
emigrated to America,
here becoming a merchant in Dublin township, in what was then
Bedford County,
but is now Fulton County, Pennsylvania. He was one of the early
settlers of the
county.
Robert Fyan, Jr., was born in Dublin, Ireland, whence he came
to this country
with his parents when about seven years old. He grew to manhood
in Dublin
township, Pa., where he attended the sessions of the public
schools, and between
terms was employed as a clerk in his father's store, living at
home until he
reached his majority. He then started a store on his own
account at Dublin
Mills. About three years later he removed to Loretta, Cambria
County, where he
entered the hotel business and kept a store for three years. He
came from there
to Bedford about 1836, and opened a store, which he conducted as
long as he
lived. His wife, Alice, was a daughter of Lawrence Byrne, of
New York City,
whose wife was a resident of Bedford. Four children blessed
their union,
namely: John L., who was a prominent attorney and First
Lieutenant of the
Twelfth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry; Robert W.; William
Lyons; and Mary.
John L. Fyan died at the age of twenty-seven years. Mary, who
is the widow of
M. B. Doyle, lives in Toledo, Ohio.
The Hon. Robert W. Fyan (deceased) was a man of considerable
prominence in the
State of Missouri, where he made his home. He was Captain and
Major of the
Twenty-fourth Missouri Volunteer Infantry and Colonel of the
Forty-sixth
Volunteer Federal Infantry. He was Circuit Attorney of the
Fourteenth Judicial
Circuit, 1865-66. He was elected Judge of the district in 1866,
and re-elected
in 1868 and 1878-80. In 1882 he was elected to Congress from
the Thirteenth
District of Missouri. He was a member of the Constitutional
Convention that
framed the present constitution of Missouri. He was a member of
the Forty-
eighth, the Fifty-second, and the Fifty-third Congress.
William Lyons Fyan acquired a public-school education, and
supplemented in by
a course of study at Villanova College, Delaware County. He
then became a clerk
in his father's store. Upon his father's death he succeeded to
the business,
which is now the oldest established in Bedford County and
continues to hold its
place as one of the leading stores. Mr. Fyan is a Democrat in
politics, and has
filled nearly all the town offices. For twenty years he was a
member of the
Council, and he is now serving his second term as Chief Burgess.
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