Cyrus Byington was born in Massachusetts March 11, 1793. He was educated and initially was trained as a lawyer, but decided to become a Christian missionary. He joined the Choctaw Nation, Mississippi in the spring of 1821. After he arrived, he realized that the Choctaw had no written language and encouraged other missionary leaders to teach the native language first before teaching English in the schools. Byington learned the language of the Choctaw and preached in their language. He developed the first Choctaw alphabet and later collaborated with other Choctaw to complete a grammar, dictionary, definer and speller for the language.

In 1835, the Choctaw mission was forced to move, and Byington followed them to Oklahoma. He remained their throughout the Civil War. After the War he returned to Ohio to live with his married daughter. While enroot, Byington contacted small pox and was quarantined for a month after his arrival in Ohio. While in Ohio he completed the translation of the first five books of the Christian into Choctaw. In 1867, this material was published under his guidance. He continued to perfect the manuscript; however, he was unable to complete the seventh revision. Byington died on December 31, 1868.