Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Amar Lyons and his sister Miss Pearl Lyons lived in the next block on the same street as my grandparents in Vinton, Louisiana. My mom tells a great story of how a teacher in town once tried to get this lifelong bachelor to take interest in her.

The Teacher Tries to Catch the Pitcher

Ted Lyons, White Sox, sitting in a dugout in a ballpark during spring training. SDN-067969, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

When my mother was young, my grandparents had several female  boarders living with them at one time or another. Many of them were teachers in Vinton.

One of the teachers had a friend, also a teacher, who decided that Ted Lyons was a “good catch.” Since Lyons lived with his older unmarried sister, the teacher decided that the best way to get to him was by becoming best friends with Miss Pearl. And that’s exactly what she did. The teacher would invite Miss Pearl to go to dinner with her every week, suggesting that she bring her brother Ted along. This went on for quite awhile, until one day Miss Pearl arrived alone. Ted Lyons never joined them again.

Discouraged, the teacher decided that she would not be able to “catch” Ted Lyons, so she quit going to dinner with Miss Pearl.

Obituary

VINTON — Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Ted Lyons, 85, died Friday after a lengthy illness.

Funeral services for the former manager of the Chicago White Sox of the American League will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 27, in the Vinton First Baptist Church.

The Revs. Lee Perkins and James Rivers will officiate and burial will be in Big Woods Cemetery under direction of Hixson Funeral Home.

Visitation at the funeral home here will be from 5-9 p.m. today, July 26.

Lyons died at 12:35 p.m. in a Sulphur nursing home.

Obituary - Ted Lyons

Elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Coopertown, N.Y. in 1955, Lyons was the first player to ever go straight from the college campus to the major leagues as he was signed by the White Sox in 1923 after receiving a B.A. degree from Baylor University.

He pitched for Chicago from 1923 to 1946, except for three years during World War II when he served as a Marine Corps major.

About one month into the 1946 season, Lyons ended his active pitching career as he was named to succeed Jimmy Dykes as Chicago’s manager. He served as manager through 1948. He served as a coach of the Detroit Tigers from 1949 to 1953.

Lyons was named to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1960. After leaving baseball, Lyons returned to his Vinton home and spent much of his time in his favorite hobbies, golfing and hunting.

The Baseball Writers of America elected him to the hall of fame in 1955. He compiled a pitching record of 260 wins against 230 losses while toiling for a club that was in the second division most of his carer. He pitched a no-hit game against the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 21, 1926. He was the winningest pitcher in the American League in 1925 with 21 victories and in 1927 with 22.

He also won 22 games in 1930. In 1929, Lyons pitched a 21-inning game against the Detroit Tigers. In his last full year as a pitcher in 1942 at the age of 39, Lyons compiled the best earned run average among American League pitchers and completed all f his 20 starting assignments.

A better than average hitter for a pitcher, Lyons tied a major league record by hitting two doubles in one inning in a July 28, 1935, game.

Lyons was a member of the American Legion Post 208 in Vinton, and an active member of the First Baptist Church.

He is survived by nieces and nephews.

Lake Charles American Press, Saturday, July 26, 1986.

Headstone - Ted Amar Lyons

Ted Lyons’ House in 2010

Ted Lyons house in 2010

Sadly, the home of Ted and Miss Pearl Lyons today sits empty and abandoned. The roof is covered with the blue tarps left over from Hurricane Rita in 2005. The furniture and household items were sold in a 1993 estate sale.

Estate Sale at Ted Lyons house, 1993

More Information about Ted Lyons

• Ted Lyons on Wikipedia
• Ted Lyons at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Ted Lyons at Baseball in Wartime

Sunday’s Obituary

Sunday’s Obituary is a daily blogging theme used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. Find out more about daily themes at Geneabloggers.com (opens in new window).

The two story “old Lyons house” at 1335 Horridge Street in Vinton—built in 1900 by Luvicy Jane and Samuel Richard Lyons—was the first home in Calcasieu Parish to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Lyons, a member of one of the oldest pioneer families in the parish, was a retired cattleman and prominent Vinton citizen.

About the “Old Lyons House”

The Old Lyons House, 2011

The house is painted blue today, but was originally painted white, with all trim and gingerbread painted “old Rose.”

The house has four upstairs bedrooms and three closets—an exception to the buildings of that era. Two fireplaces downstairs and one in the upstairs master bedroom share a central chimney. Downstairs, the Lyons built a lady’s parlor, gentleman’s parlor, dining room, kitchen, ariel bay window and a large foyer with an elaborate Eastlake staircase. Two bathrooms were added in the early 1940s.

The home was used as as bed and breakfast in the 1980s and is currently privately owned.

Sam Lyons and Electricity

About the year 1916, Sam Lyons and Dr. Ford together bought a Fairbanks-Morse generator, and installed a small electricity plant in the alley behind the house to produce electricity for Lyons, Dr. Ford and a couple of businesses in town. When they turned on the electricity, Lyons left his lights on for the first 24-36 hours so that people in the surrounding areas would have a chance to come into town and see for themselves what electric lights were like.

Obituary – Sam R. Lyons, Aged Citizen of Calcasieu, Dies

Sam R Lyons

Vinton, La. Aug 26, 1934. Sam R. Lyons , 82, member of one of the oldest pioneer families of Calcasieu parish, died at his home here Saturday night after a six month illness. Both his father and grandfather were residents of Calcasieu Parish. His father, the late David H. Lyons was sheriff of Imperial Calcasieu for 18 years.

Services will be held at the home Monday afternoon at 2:30, with the Rev. L.W. Rogers of the Baptist church and the Rev. A.D. George pf the Methodist church officiating. Burial will be in the family cemetery at Big Woods, with Burke and Trotti in charge.

Pallbearers wil be Arthur Simmons, D. J. Moreau, John Welsh, Foster Ford, E. J. Fairchild, J.E. Johnson, Joe Romero, and J.H. Wetheril.

Former Cattleman. Mr. Lyons was Born 2 April 1852 in Edgerly and had lived in Vinton the last 43 years. He owned an extensive amount of real estate in this parish and retired from the cattle business 15 years ago. He was a member of the W.O.W. and the Baptist church and was quite active in political life, but never ran for an office. He was one of the first school board members of this ward.

On Sept 29, 1870, he married Miss Tabitha E. Lyons, who died January 30, 1896. There were four children, all living except one. They are Mrs. Ona Ecker, of Vinton. Mrs. Jane Hampton of Carthage, Texas, and Dave C. Lyons of Lake Charles, and Mrs. Daisy Puckett, deceased.

On July 14, 1896 he married Miss Luvicy Jane Lyons, (who died in 1909), sister of his first wife. There were no children. He then married on July 8, 1910, Emma Garret, who survives.

He was a brother of the late Dr. Gus Lyons of Lake Charles and has one living sister, Mrs. Ella M. Carruthers, formerly of Lake Charles, now of Beaumont. Besides his wife and three children he is survived by 15 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Photos of the Lyons House

Lyons House

The Old Lyons House, 2005

Five men, covered in oil, stand on a drilling platform.  A moment frozen in time in Ged, Louisiana. Their names, as well as “3-11-Crew Vincent #10,” are written on the back of this photo taken on 5 July 1926. This photo is my entry for today’s Treasure Chest Thursday.

Bob Benoit, Jeff Alters, Ed Alters, Elmer Goodrich and Tom Fontenot

Back of Bob Benoit's Edgerly Petroleum Company Photo. July 5, 1926. 3-11-Crew Vincent #10.

Edgerly Petroleum Company

With the discovery of oil in Beaumont in 1901, the oil boom was in full swing in this section of the country by the time the Edgerly Petroleum Company filed their Charter on 22 March 1915. Organized with $10,000 in capital stock, the original stockholders were Sloan A. Emerson (President), Lastie Vincent (Vice-President), and J.G. Sutton (Secretary-Treasurer), all of Vinton in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.

The company was one of several companies drilling in the Ged fields, located a few miles west of Vinton. Other companies drilling there were Gulf, the Texas Company, Vinton Petroleum Company, the Siess Oil Syndicate, Wilson and Broach, G.B. & F. and Marrs McLean.

On 09 July 1925, the Lake Charles newspaper wrote, “The growth of the Edgerly Oil Company has been phenomenal under the management of Mr. [Sloan] Emerson. It has climbed from a very small concern up to a most influential position in the oil world as an independent operator. It now has wells in both Louisiana and Texas and is believed to have a very successful future before it.”

Sloan A. Emerson

Sloan Emerson was no stranger to the oil business when he and the others started the Edgerly Petroleum Company. In May of 1910, Emerson was responsible for the first gusher in Calcasieu Parish — the Sabine 99, Sam Johnson No. 1, of the Texas Company,  known then as the “Producer’s Oil Company.” Emerson and the Edgerly Petroleum Company would continue to bring in gushers in the Ged fields in the 1920s.

The Crew of Vincent #10

Countless hours were spent repairing the brittle and badly damaged photo. As the hours passed, I found myself wanting to know more about the five men frozen in time.  Finding that information, however, proved to be a challenge. Following is what little information I did find:

Bob Benoit

Bob Benoit’s father Murphy Benoit was my maternal grandfather Willie Benoit’s older brother. Even though I have in my treasure chest of photos several photo albums that originally belonged to Bob, I know little about him.

Jeff Alters and Ed Alters

What was their relationship? Were they brothers? I was able to find some information about Ed Alters in the Lake Charles American Press. An article about Ged dated  04 January 1918, states, “The Lyons Gulf Coast Co. is drilling deeper in its Vincent No. 6, with Red Bolton and Ed Alters, drillers.” Other similar articles demonstrate that Ed was an experienced driller by the time he posed for this photo on Vincent No. 10.

Elmer Goodrich

In the Lake Charles American Press, I found several mentions of an Elmer Goodrich in the Vinton-Ged area. I will assume it is the same man as in the photo. The first reference was written on 9 October 1917. Elmer Goodrich was one of 13 people “baptized and received into the fellowship of the Ged Baptist Church.” I was then saddened to find that Elmer died a tragic death after being stabbed by two men on 28 February 1937, in a roadhouse on the Old Spanish Trail near Orange, Texas, where he worked as a bartender.

Tom Fontenot

A 53-year-old Hackberry merchant named Tom Fontenot died of a heart attack in March of 1938. Was this the same Tom Fontenot as in the photo?

Treasure Chest Thursday

Treasure Chest Thursday is a daily blogging theme used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. Find out more about daily themes at Geneabloggers.com.

Links

• History of Vinton, Louisiana
• Wikipedia article on Vinton

Please leave a comment if you have information to share!

Bill and Lucy Benoit (c. 1926)

This photo is of my grandparents in front of their new car. My grandfather is holding my mother, who was born in 1926, so this photo was probably taken in 1926 or 1927. They must have been going someplace special because they are all dressed up.

Willie “Bill” Benoit (1894-1985) was born in Vinton, Louisiana, to Michel Maran and Marie Domathile Duhon. Domathile was the second of three wives of Michel. As a soldier in WWI, he served in France as a guard at a German prison camp.

Lucy Pauline Courrege (1899-1990) was born in New Iberia, Louisiana, to Jean Courrege and Emerantia Rodrigue.

My grandmother was working in a mercantile store in Vinton and staying with her cousin Gus Courrege’s family when she met my grandfather. They married on 30 Apr 1923 and were married for over 50 years. They owned Benoit’s Variety in Vinton for 22 years.