Robert Washington Fyan (March 11, 1835 – July 28, 1896) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

and soldier from

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Born in

Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania Bedford Springs is an unincorporated community in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, United States. Bedford Springs is located in Bedford Township, just south of the borough of Bedford, in the valley of Shobers Run. U.S. Route 220 Business passes al ...

, Fyan attended the common schools. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1858; commencing practice in

Marshfield, Missouri Marshfield is a city in Missouri and the county seat of Webster County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,633. As of the 2020 census, Marshfield had a population of 7,458. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri, Metro ...

. He became the County attorney in 1859. In June 1861 he entered the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

to fight in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. He served in Colonel Hampton's regiment, the Webster County Home Guards, the 24th Missouri Infantry and the 46th Missouri Infantry regiments. After the war in 1865 and 1866 he served as Circuit attorney and afterwards as Circuit judge of the 14th judicial circuit of Missouri from April 1866 to January 1883. In 1870 he lived in Lebanon, Missouri.Charlene S. Chambers-King, ''Hanging in Laclede County, Missouri, The Core and King Story'', 2013, https://sites.google.com/site/charlenechambersking/home He served as a member of the State constitutional convention in 1875. Fyan moved to Webster County, Missouri before 1880. Robert Fyan was married to Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ P. Hyer of Dent County, Missouri who died in the cyclone/tornado that struck Marshfield, Missouri on April 18, 1880. Robert Fyan was the Judge in Laclede County, Missouri who presided over the first legal hanging in Laclede County. The case was the 'State of Missouri' vs. Joseph Core. The trial started August 4, 1879. Robert Fyan sentenced Joseph Core as follows: 'he was to be taken to the place of execution and there be hanged by the neck until he be dead.'

Joseph Core Joseph Core was born April 25, 1843, in Virginia. In about 1853, he moved with his family to Edwards County, Illinois. In 1859, he moved with his family to Laclede County, Missouri. Joseph served in the American Civil War as a private in the Un ...

was convicted for murdering George E. King. Fyan was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885). He subsequently was elected to the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses (March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1895) and afterwards resumed the practice of law. He died in

, on July 28, 1896, and was interred in Lebanon Cemetery,

Lebanon, Missouri Lebanon is a city in and the county seat of Laclede County in Missouri. The population was 14,474 at the time of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Laclede County. The Lebanon Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Laclede County. Hi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fyan, Robert Washington 1835 births 1896 deaths Union Army officers People from Laclede County, Missouri Missouri state court judges Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri 19th-century American legislators People from Marshfield, Missouri 19th-century American judges