from Mercer County, Kentucky – Biographies

Ezekiel William Lyen was born September 22, 1833, in the northwest portion of Mercer County, Kentucky, where he grew to manhood, and in 1873 located on the Lexington Pike, three miles east of Harrodsburg, where he has since resided.  In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, Second Kentucky Confederate Cavalry, and shortly after his enlistment he was promoted to lieutenant.  He was captured in Anderson County, and remained a prisoner of war until near the close of the contest.  His father, William Lyen, was born in Mercer County in 1809, where he was reared a farmer, and died in 1885.  He was the son of Ezekiel Lyen, Sr., a native of Virginia, who died in Mercer County in 1839, aged about eighty years.  His children were Stephen, John, David, William and Ezekiel (twins), Susan, Polly (Cawhorn) and Betsy (Conyer).  William married Nancy, daughter of Joel Bickers, of Mercer County, born in 1818, died in 1880, and from their union sprang Ezekiel W., James T., Martha J. (James), Almira (Birdwhistle), John A. T., Joel, Phillip B. and Annie (Kennedy).  Ezekiel W. Lyen was first married, in 1856, to Miss Susan F., daughter of Henry and Jane (Burrus) Bell, of Mercer County, born in 1836, died in 1861, and to them were born Cara B. and Mattie L.  He was next married, February 3, 1868, to Miss Sue N., daughter of John and Sallie Holman, of Mercer County, born in 1843, but from this union there has been no issue.  Mr. Lyen is a farmer, and owns 150 acres of very productive land, a part of the old Captain Chaplain homestead.  In politics Mr. Lyen is a Democrat.