When John William Lyon was born on 10 November 1878, in Patrick Parish, Henry, Virginia, United States, his father, Silas Taz Tilbert Lyon, was 41 and his mother, Caroline Griffith, was 31. He married Sarah Sallie Sannar on 1 September 1897, in Beckley, Raleigh, West Virginia, United States. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 3 daughters. He lived in Rural, Waupaca, Wisconsin, United States in 1935 and Wallowa Election Precinct 3, Wallowa, Oregon, United States in 1940. He died on 2 February 1950, in La Grande, Union, Oregon, United States, at the age of 71, and was buried in Wallowa, Wallowa, Oregon, United States.