Cemeteries: Lyon-Pearre Cemetery, 1951, Winn Parish, LA
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: June 28, 1951 Winn Parish Enterprise

Tomb, 99 Years Old, Is Landmark In Winn

One of Winn Parish's oldest historical landmarks lies on a beautiful grassy,
wooded spot about five miles off Highway 84, near the old Couley Church.  The
landmark is a tomb, which has been at this location since 1852, the year Winn
Parish and the town of Winnfield were founded.  (Winnfield proper was
officially founded in 1852.)

The tomb bears the inscription "Major Lyon, born Columbus County, Georgia,
November 3, 1808, died May, 1852."

Standing near the Major Lyon tomb, which has an impressive looking monument
about nine feet high is a smaller tomb marker bearing the inscription " A. W.
Pearre, born October 14, 1835, died Jan. 14, 1902."

Both monuments have recently been restored and cleaned up by Henry Kieffer,
Montgomery businessman and Winn Police Jury member from Ward Five.  The graves
were mounded up and stones placed over the mounds.  The markers, which had
been on the ground for many years, were raised and cemented back into place.

The landmarks stand on what is known as the old Phillips place, near the
present home of Will Gilcrease, and the old P. L. Orendorf home.  According
to information from George Evans of Montgomery, the place was owned by Uncle
Charlie Phillips, who had a grist mill and store there as far back as 1860. 
The place, according to Mr. Evans' information, was settled by Major Lyons, in
slave time.  He believes the other grave to be that of Major Lyon's slave. 
(The original Pearre, also found as Pearrie, Perry, etc., was white.  He had
several descendants of mixed blood, many who reside in Winn, Jackson
Parishes.)

Charlie Phillips lived and died on this old place and reared his family there.

Although located in a now deserted part of the parish, the old home place is
still beautifully preserved, with the exception of the house, which no longer
standing.  About eight large pecan trees, a cherry tree, mulberry tree, walnut
tree, and several large oaks still stand as if inviting a home to be built
around them.

The graves lie under a spreading pecan tree, standing at the edge of an acre
or larger opening which is covered with a turf of St. Augustine grass and
bounded on the east side by two ancient oaks, which must have been standing
when the Major was alive.  (Many have assumed that "Major" was a military
title of this man but it is believed that his first name was Major.)  A large
branch has been broken off the larger of the two, probably by ice.

If the place were made accessible, it would be an ideal recreation and picnic
spot.

A check of old land records in that area show that Major Lyon was a large
landowner, having filed several tracts between 1838 and 1851, the year before
he died.  The Major is listed in old records at the Winn Parish Library as one
of the first to buy land in Township 9, Range 4W, in 1838.  He later filed the
following tract: two eighties in Sec. 20-10-5W, a forty each in sections 14,
13, and 12, twp. 10-5W, and 120 acres from a military warrant (Number 69935). 
All this land was filed in 1851, a total of 520 acres.

The old toms of Major Lyon and A. W. Pearre were reported recently by Lon
Anderson and Bryant McBride, who found them while squirrel hunting in that
area.