 Lyons is also the grandson of Captain Ulysses Grant Lyons, who ran and was briefly pronounced winner of a U.S. house of Representatives seat, before Earl Beshlin was eventually named the winner.Lyons published primarily children's nonfiction books, most of which focused on North American Indian tribes and all of which were published by the now defunct publisher Julian Messener.His earliest book was "Tales That People Tell In Mexico" (1972), and later ones include "Andy Jackson and the battles for New Orleans" (1976), "The Creek Indians" (1978), "Mustangs, Six Shooters, and Barbed Wire