From April 1936 Alumni Magazine. Harriet Eliza Lyon, a transfer student from Vassar College was WVU's first woman graduate. The only woman in the fourteen member Class of 1891, she won the honor of being valedictorian. Born in Fedonia, New York, she moved to Morgantown with her family in 1867 when her father, Franklin Smith Lyon, accepted a position as one of WVU's first professors. After graduating from the University, Harriet Lyon returned to Fredonia and married Franklin Jewett, a professor of science at the Fredonia Normal school. She raised four children and was active as a musician, singer, composer, and community leader. Harriet Lyon was a grandniece of Mary Lyon, the founder of Mt. Holyoke College.
Portrait of Harriet Lyon, West Virginia University
Date:
1936
Description:
Harriet Lyon Jewett from a photo accompanying her April 1936 WVU Alumni reminiscence of life as one of WVU's first female students. Enlarged from Sallie Norris Showalter's copy of the WVU Alumni. Donor: Norris' grandaughter Sallie Showater Barnes.Harriet Eliza Lyon, a transfer student from Vassar College was WVU's first woman graduate. The only woman in the fourteen member Class of 1891, she won the honor of being valedictorian. Born in Fedonia, New York, she moved to Morgantown with her family in 1867 when her father, Franklin Smith Lyon, accepted a position as one of WVU's first professors. After graduating from the University, Harriet Lyon returned to Fredonia and married Franklin Jewett, a professor of science at the Fredonia Normal school. She raised four children and was active as a musician, singer, composer, and community leader. Harriet Lyon was a grandniece of Mary Lyon, the founder of Mt. Holyoke College.
