Patrick Lyons Taos County, New Mexico

Patrick Lyons, one of the prosperous and prominent ranchers of Taos County, New Mexico, was born in Kilriney, County Kildare, Ireland, in February, 1831, and was educated in the national schools of his native land. In 1854 he was drafted into the English army for the war between England and Russia, and to avoid military service there he came to America, landing in New York, where, strange to say, he immediately enlisted in the First Regiment of Mounted Rifles. This command came west, had headquarters for a time at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; came to Fort Union, New Mexico, and took part in the Navajo war. Mr. Lyons remained in the army five years, years of almost constant Indian fighting and during that time had the good fortune never to be ill or in the hospital. He was present at the "cleaning up" of the southern army under General Sibley. In the battle of Pigeon's Ranch he was in the detail that attacked the rear of the Texan army under Colonel Chavez. In 1862 he left the army and entered the service of the United States commissary department, herding cattle for the government, which he continued for a year and a half. After this he went to Virginia City, Montana, on a prospecting tour, and spent two years in mining at Summit City Gulch, at first working for wages, at fourteen dollars per day. Later he made a trip north, almost to the Canadian line, and was prevented from going further on account of the hostility of the Indians. From Virginia City, in 1865, he went down on the Laramie River, trapping and hunting near Fort Laramie. While there that winter he had charge of a herd of cattle for a man by the name of Ward.

Next we find him at Leavenworth. Kansas, and for two years he worked in the quartermaster's department at old Fort Riley. From Kansas he came to Elizabethtown, New Mexico, and was among the first to begin mining operations in Grouse Gulch. Also, he opened Michigan Gulch, at first working by the day for a company. Afterward he bought out the company, with the exception of one man, John Moore, and continued mining successfully for three or four years. Then he went into the cattle business. First he bought about 200 head of milch cows, to this herd added some fine Kentucky bulls, and took his stock into the Moreno valley and Comanche gulch. He had four ranches in Van Bimmer canyon, with twenty-two miles of grazing land. These claims he subsequently sold to the Maxwell Land Grant Company.

Previously he bought a place in Taos county, and in the '80s came and located here permanently, afterward buying an adjoining place, and here he has since continued to make his home and devote his time to farming. Mr. and Mrs. Lyons, formerly Miss Lucy Pew, are the parents of two daughters, Mary and Lulu, the former the wife of Frank Staplin. Lulu is the wife of Alphonso Hoy. Politically Mr. Lyons is a Republican.

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Source: History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People, Volume II, Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907.