His family moved to Brookline in the early 1870s and lived in the Village on Boylston St. He was married in 1895 at St. Mary’s Church, lived at 42 Walter Ave., and worked as a gas fitter for Cousens Bros. His father lived nearby in Roxbury and ran the “Home Bakery” store at 36 Washington St. in the Village from 1902 – 1917.

In April 1899, Lyons applied to the town for the position of Inspector of Gas Fitting. This application was presumably unsuccessful as he joined the Brookline Fire Department shortly after that, starting as a hose man at the new fire station in Washington Square. By 1901, he was working as an engineer for steam engine #1 at Station D at 827 Boylston St. by Reservoir Road. After living at several locations near the fire station, he, his wife, and four children settled at 771a Boylston St. He died from nephritis, at age 42.