Early Life
Tyson was born on the farm of his parents, Richard Lawrence Tyson and Margaret Turnage, near Greenville in Pitt County, North Carolina. He graduated from the Greenville Academy, and initially worked as a clerk in Salisbury. In 1878, he scored the highest in his region on a competitive entrance exam for the United States Military Academy at West Point, and was admitted to the school the following year. Upon graduation in 1883, Tyson was commissioned as a second lieutenant, and took part in the Apache Wars against a Geronimo-led faction of Apaches in the West.
In 1886, Tyson married Bettie Humes McGhee, the daughter of wealthy Knoxville railroad baron Charles McClung McGhee (1828–1907). With his father-in-law's help, Tyson was appointed professor of military science at the University of Tennessee in 1891. He also enrolled in the university's law school, from which he graduated in 1894. After his admission to the Tennessee Bar, he resigned his military commission, and began practicing law. At one point, he worked for the law firm of future Supreme Court justice, Edward Terry Sanford (1865–1930).
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