In 1847, he arrived in San Diego. In the 1850 Census, he reported his occupation as Trader. In the same year he was one of a committee of Masons hosting a Masonic event at the Gila house for Ephraim W. Morse (famous for attracting the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to San Diego and proposing Balboa Park).
In 1850, he married Bernarda de Billar in the Mission de Alcala in Old Town. Bernarda was the daughter of Lieutenant Billar, one time commandant of the San Diego Presidio.
In 1853 he was elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and became Treasurer, Board of Trustees in Old Town.
In 1856 he became a member of the San Diego Guard, a militia unit that operated in San Diego County from 1856 to 1863, operating against gangs of robbers or raiding bands of Indians.
In 1857 he became a naturalized Citizen of the U.S., allowing him to serve as Sheriff (although he felt the need to publish a notice in the San Diego Herald on 28 August declaiming people who were spreading rumors that he wasn’t a citizen). He then served as San Diego County Sheriff and Tax Collector in 1858-1861.
In the 1860 Census, he reported a personal estate of $1000 and a gardener and two servants, with 2 acres of property, 4 horses, a “milch” cow, and 2 working oxen.
By 1866 and 1867, he gave his occupation as Mechanic and Blacksmith & Wheelwright. He and Bernarda had ten children (seven sons and three daughters). He gave some of his sons notable names – “Alexander Hamilton Lyons”, “Andrew Jackson Lyons”, “Benjamin Hayes Lyons”, “Daniel Webster Lyons”.
George Lyons died 10 March 1908 at the age of 84.
