Caleb Lyon was an American politician and art and literary connoisseur. He was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from New York's 23rd district. He served as the 2nd Governor of Idaho Territory from 1864 to 1866.
Background
Caleb Lyon, the son of Caleb and Mary (duPont) Lyon, was born on December 8, 1821 at Lyonsdale, New York, United States. His father's family had lived in New England for six generations. His mother was the daughter of Major Jean Pierre duPont, nephew and aide of General Montcalm.
Education
Caleb received an excellent education at the regular public school of Lyonsdale, a boys' school in Montreal, and Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, where he graduated in 1841.
Career
Lyon entered politics at an early age. On January 20, 1847, he was nominated and on February 15 confirmed, as United States consul at Shanghai, but he never reached China, and resigned his position within a year. He did get as far from home as California, however, and there served as an assistant secretary of the constitutional convention of 1849. He soon returned to New York, where he was elected to the state Assembly for the session of 1851, but he did not take an active part in its proceedings.
In November 1852, he was elected to the Thirty-third Congress as an independent supported by the Whigs. While there he showed a marked interest in the debates. His most important speeches were on naval and territorial questions, filled with literary quotations, historical and classical allusions, statistics, innumerable adjectives, and witty personal remarks that called forth frequent laughter.
At the close of this Congress, he retired to private life until he was appointed on February 26, 1864 second territorial governor of Idaho, which office he held until April 1866. As superintendent of Indian affairs in the Territory, he failed to account satisfactorily for about $50, 000 of an appropriation, but he died before the congressional investigation of the matter took place.
The last years of his life were spent in retirement at Rossville, Staten Island, and at the time of his death he was preparing a book on the ceramics of the Revolutionary period. His own collection of pottery contained many valuable pieces from Europe and Asia, and a good-sized group of American pieces of historical interest.
Achievements
Politics
At the beginning of his political career, Lyon was a member of the Whig Party. By 1864, Lyon had become a Republican supporter. He advocated an increase in the navy and urged larger subsidies for American shipping lines to enable them to compete with the British as carriers of the mails. He opposed the abrogating of the Missouri Compromise in 1854 and the sanctioning of polygamy in Utah.
Personality
Lyon amazed, amused, and antagonized the people of Idaho by his "weird and fantastic" official utterances, and by his insistence on cleanliness and formal dress