History of the Great Lakes, Vol. 2 by J.B. Mansfield Published Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co. 1899 http://www.linkstothepast.com/marine/captainsL.html "Captain John Lysaght, keeper of the life-saving station at Grand Haven, Mich., during the last ten years...is the son of Captain Richard and Catherine (Yore) Lysaght, and was born at St. Joseph, Mich., on January 7, 1854. His parents were natives of Ireland, the father of County Clare and the mother of County Meath. The title of Captain here applied to the father is a military one, and was earned during the Civil war. He had been a soldier in the BritishArmy for four years, stationed in the West Indies and Canada. When he dissolved his connections with that army in 1828, he came to the United States, locating in St. Joseph, where he opened a grocery store, which he conducted up to July 28, 1862, when he decidedto take part in the struggle then going on between the North and the South. He sold out his business, and enlisted in Company I, 19th Mich. Vol. Inf., and owing to his qualitiesas drill master, he received a commission from the Governor of Michigan as captain of his company. His regiment was assigned to the Army of Kentucky, afterwards being transferred to the Army of Cumberland. He was with his regiment in the battle of Thompsons Station where it captured the colors of the 4th Mississippi Regiment, and at Stone river and McMinnville. After remaining in the front about a year he resigned on account of illness, and returned home, where he died in August, 1872. Capt. John Lysaght, the subject of this sketch, acquired his education in the public schools of St. Joseph, and in 1872 shipped before the mast in the schooner Guide with Captain Whitney, transferring to the schooner Lizzie Doak, and closed the season on the Bessie Boalt, then engaged in the iron ore trade. During the next four years he sailed on...schooners...In 1877 he went to the Black Hills and gained some experience in a mining camp, but he is very reticent regarding the amount of his wealth obtained. On returning to the East he with some companions stopped at Fort Randall where they constructed a raft out of four slabs and an old door, with which they navigated the Missouri river. In the spring of 1882 he became mate and supercargo of the scow Libbie Carter. During the previous years the Captain had become an expert boat-man and in 1883 he joined the Muskegon life-saving station as surfman, transferring the next year to the station at Big Point Sauble, and it was in March 1885, that he was promoted to be keeper of that station...In 1866 Captain Lysaght was appointed keeper of the station at Racine, Wis., where he remained until July, 1888...It was July, 1888, that he was transferred to the station at Grand Haven, where he is keeper at this writing, and where he and his crew have made a most enviable record among life savers on the lakes... Capt. John Lysaght was wedded to Miss Mary, daughter of Rev. Ezekia (sic) and Elizabeth (Hammond) Harney, of Ludington, Mich., the ceremony being performed on April 6, 1885. The children born to this union are: Agnes L., Alice Elizabeth, John W., Kathleen Mary and Jane Margaret...Socially the Captain is a member of the Sons of Veterans."