Following his cousin, Sir William Berkely, who was appointed by Charles I as the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lygon emigrated to the Virginia Colony in the early 1640s, at the age of sixteen, arriving in Jamestown in 1641.[8][9] On 18 April 1644, while Lygon was living at the home of John and Sarah Woodson, their settlement was attacked by Native Americans.[3] During the battle, Lygon shot and killed seven people.[3] The gun he used is now owned by the Virginia Historical Society.[3]
Lygon patented several large parcels of land north of the Appomattox River in The Cowpens, then part of Henrico County.[8][10] In 1668, three hundred acres of land on the south side of the James River were granted to Lygon and Major William Farrar.[11] On 7 April 1671, Lygon was granted 387 acres of land on the north side of the Appomattox.[11] On 20 September 1672, he was granted 1,468 acres along the James River.[11]
He married Mary Harris, daughter of the planter Captain Thomas Harris, and had at least five children with her.[8][4][12]
Lygon was active in government in the colony, and was appointed to represent his cousin on various occasions. He served in the House of Burgesses, representing Henrico County, and was a member of the Committee for Private Causes.[13] His brother-in-law, Major William Harris, held the other Henrico County seat. Lygon was active in the county militia, serving as a lieutenant colonel and later as a colonel.[8][14] On 1 August 1657, he was appointed as a justice of the peace for Charles City County, Virginia. He worked as a surveyor until his death in 1675.[8]
He died in Henrico County on 16 March 1675.
