William Dyer (bef. 1609 - 1677)

Born before 19 Sep 1609 in Kirkby la Thorpe, Lincolnshire, England

Husband of Marie (Barrett) Dyer — married 27 Oct 1633 in St Martin, London, England

Husband of Catherine (Unknown) Dyer — married after 1 Jun 1660 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 24 Oct 1677 after age 68 in Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island

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William Dyer migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 2, p. 379) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disputed Parents

Over a century ago, Professor Louis Dyer of Harvard University published a pamphlet advancing the supposition that PGM immigrant William Dyer was the son of George Dyer and Dorothy Shirley of Bratton St. Maur, Somerset. This has since been disproved. It is now known that William Dyer was baptized in 1609 at Kirby Lathrope, Lincolnshire, son of William Dyer. ^[1]

Biography

William Dyer is Notable.

William Dyer was a part of the Antinomian Movement.

He was baptized 19 Sep 1609 in Kirkby Laythorpe, Lincolnshire.^[2]

The Dyer family were above average in their circumstances, as William Dyer Sr. was a yeoman. In 1610, he served as Church Warden of the parish. The only three christening entries relating to them are for son Nicholas, chr. 19 February 1606/7; William Jr. (above); and daughter Margaret (21 September 1610).

At some point, William Dyer Jr. moved to the capital, because in 1624, at age 14, William Jr. was apprenticed for a term of nine years to Walter Blackborne, a member of the London Fishmongers Guild. ^[3] In that capacity, he likely worked much of the time at or near the fishmongers' wharves at Queenhithe and Billingsgate.

First Marriage

On or about Midsummer Day, 1633 William came out of his indentures and was free to marry. Four months later, on 27 Oct 1633, William married Mary Barrett at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, Middlesex, ^[4] Their first child (William Dyer III) was buried there exactly one year later, very young as she had only been baptized three days before.

Immigration

William and Mary emigrated to New England in 1635. They settled initially in Boston. He and Mary were admitted to the Boston church on 13 Dec 1635, and their second son (Samuel) was baptized there a week later. On the very next day, William Dyer was awarded an allotment of 42 acres at Rumney Marsh (set off from Boston to form Chelsea in 1739; North Chelsea in 1846; name changed to Revere in 1871), just below the mouth of Saugus River.

William Dyer was made a freeman of Boston 3 Mar 1635/6. The Boston leadership showed their confidence in him by appointing him Clerk of the project of "raysing a new Worke of fortification upon ye Fort Hill" on 23 January 1635/6.

Non-Conformism and Relocation to Rhode Island

Unfortunately, the Dyers came to differ from the Boston church establishment on points of doctrine, or at least they held that John Wheelwright should be allowed to maintain his unorthodox views on such matters (as part of the Antinomian controversy). William "Dyre" was among the signers of a petition dated 15 March 1637/8 objecting to the decision to banish Wheelwright. With three others deemed "the principal stirring men" in this matter, he was summoned to Court and disenfranchised on 15 Nov 1637. Five days later, he was disarmed, so fearful were the orthodox majority of the "dangerous ... opinions and revelations of Mr. Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchinson." Indeed, when Ann Hutchinson was cast our of the Church, "Mrs. Dyre walked out with her, in the presence of the whole congregation."^[5]

William Dyer and 16 other men so censured made plans to relocate. Within a couple of months thereafter, the Rumney Marsh land was transferred to Samuel Cole.

William "Dyre" was one of the founders of the "Island of Peace" or Acquidneck Island, afterwards called Rhode Island, as a signer of the "Portsmouth Compact," 7 First Month (March) 1637/8. The group soon split, with William Dyre appearing as one of the eight elders who signed the "Newport Compact" to found that key city of Rhode Island. William was the initial Clerk of the new settlement. He was living in Newport by 16 Mar 1640/1 when he was made freeman there.

Even though William Dyer was originally trained as a fishmonger, he evidently also learned millinery, as the Lay Subsidy Roll for the Fishmongers Guild in London for 1641 contains this entry: "August 19, 1641 -- William Dyer, Milliner, now in New England." ^[6]

He served in public office under many different roles, including town clerk, recorder and attorney general. In a record from 1648, he is referred to as "Lieutenant" and in 1653 he was a "Captain" assigned to "go against the Dutch by sea." ^[7] In the context, this was the high naval rank of ship captain; not that of an army captain (commander of a company).

William Coddington was a member of the Court that banished John Wheelwright, but nevertheless ended up in Rhode Island as the first Judge of Newport, per the Newport Compact, and eventually Governor of Rhode Island.

William Dyre found himself in conflict with Gov. Coddington for years. William and Mary Dyre, with Roger Williams and Dr. John Clarke, went to England to remove William Coddington as Governor. While Mary was in England, she converted to the Society of Friends.

Upon the Dyres' return to New England, Mary refused to let the Puritan leadership in Boston continue in the error of their ways. She felt inspired to share her new principles with her former neighbors there. After a series of encounters with the Boston authorities, she was sentenced to hang. The sentence was carried out in Boston on 1 June 1660. Her executioners were unaware that King Charles II had entered London just three days earlier; if they had known, she surely would have been spared, as the King disfavored the Puritans' excess zeal.

Second Marriage

William Dyre married (second) a woman named Katherine ________ by about 1664 (approximated based on the apparent year of birth of their daughter Elizabeth).

In January 1669/70, Samuel and Henry Dyer bound themselves to pay Elizabeth the sum of forty pounds within three years of the death of their father William. Possibly William insisted on this step as a part of an agreed-upon estate plan in lieu of a will. The bond is dated just six months prior to the deeds whereby William transferred certain real estate to his sons. (See Research Notes.)

William died before 24 Oct 1677, when Katherine was referred to as widow. Katherine was still living as of 1687. (Anderson cites "Arnold 292, source not stated.")

No later than 1682, Katherine sued her step children for part of her husband's estate. The disposition of that action is unclear, but in the absence of a valid will, her rights to William's estate would have been a life estate only, in a third of William's real property. Thus Katherine's claim against her stepsons, if over her dower rights, would have been extinguished upon her death.

In 1693, their sister Elizabeth, by now Elizabeth (Dyer) Greenman, secured a judgment against Samuel Dyer (their father's prime heir) in the same amount of forty pounds. ^[8] Samuel was William Dyer's heir under primogeniture, then in effect in Rhode Island. ^[9]

Even if Samuel and Henry had paid the bond when due, Elizabeth might have had a separate claim against Samuel. However, but that part of William's personal estate held by the widow would have reverted to William's estate upon her death. This would have given rise to a right on the part of Elizabeth (through her husband, as a femme couverte), to a share in such property, so that claim could have been the basis for Greenman v. Dyer.

William had eight children by Mary (Barrett) Dyer:

1. William bp. St. Martin in the Fields 24 Oct 1634; bur. there 27 Oct 1634
2. Samuel, bp. Boston 20 Dec 1635; md. by 1663 Anne Hutchinson, daughter of Edward Hutchinson.
3. Daughter, premature, stillborn and deformed, 17 Oct 1637
4. William, b. abt 1639; md. Mary ____ (no supporting evidence has been found that she was the daughter of Richard Walker of Lynn).
5. Mahershalalhashbaz, b. about 1641; md. Martha Pearce, dau of Richard. (Anderson cites Austin 146, 290, no evidence given.) Along with brother Samuel, he was charged by the (RI) General Court of Trials for "larceny against the state," probably for refusing to serve in the military. (This is evidence that they practiced after the manner of Friends, as did their mother.)
6. Henry b. abt 1647 (age 43 at death in Feb. 1690/1); md. in about 1675

Elizabeth Sanford, dau of John Sanford.

1. Mary b abt 1649; md. by 1675 Henry Ward; emigrated to Cecil Co., Maryland.
2. Charles, b abt 1650; md. 1 Mary _____ (no documentation to support that she was dau of John Lippett); md, 2 after 1690 Mary (Brownell) Wait who survived him. He died by 1721.

Child by Katherine:

1. Elizabeth, b abt 1664; m by 1693 John Greenman.

Research Notes

Records of Fishmongers Guild, London

"Dier, William, son of William Dier, yoman of Kerkbie in the Co. of Lincoln, apprenticed 20.6.1625 for nine years (to date from Mids[summer] 1624) to Walter Blackborne, fishmonger."^[10]

NEGHR excerpts

About Midsummer's Day (June 24), 1624 Blackborne contracted fourteen year old William Dyer as an apprentice. Dyer, the son of an affluent Lincolnshire yeoman, was the future husband of Mary (Barrett) Dyer, the Quaker martyr. It was not until 20 August 1625 that his nine year indenture was enrolled with the Fishmongers, and it was made retroactive to the previous summer. In assuming responsibility for an apprentice, Blackborne obligated himself to serve as a surrogate father, teaching young Dyer his trade, providing him with bed, food, clothing, and behavioral supervision, and maintaining him in the religious life of the parish. In return, Dyer agreed to serve his master faithfully for the set term of years, to forgo marriage during his apprenticeship, to keep his master's secrets, and to adhere to strict behavioral standards both in his master's house and abroad in the town.

On 10 February 1632, William Dyer signed a lease to rent "The Globe" in the New Exchange, formerly occupied by Blackborne, for a term of two and a quarter years. About a year later 1632/33 William Dyer also assumed the lease for Blackborne's tenement on Mr. Greene's Lane. By the autumn of 1635 William Dyer had set sail for Boston and soon was prospering in his new home. He was one of fourteen owners of a wharf in Boston.^[11]

Proof of marriage date

The Marriage Record of Mary Dyre The Quaker Martyr - The Parish Registers of St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, London, Middlesex, contain the following marriage record:

October 27, 1633 Gulielmus Dyer and Maria Barret

There seems no doubt that this is the record of the marriage of William Dyre (as he consistently spelled his name) and wife Mary, the Quaker martyr. The date of their marriage was known to be between mid-summer 1633, when William Dyre's nine-year apprenticeship in London ended, and December 1635, when his son Samuel was baptized in Boston in New England.

It was through the professional services of Mr. Richard Holworthy of London that the record of William Dyre's apprenticeship was found. Through his efforts, also, the baptismal record of William Dyre was discovered. Therefore, when Mr. Holworthy wrote: "There seems to me to be no doubt as to the wife of William Dyre and I want to congratulate you on having this information," there need be no hesitation in offering the marriage record for publication.

Mary Dyre's maiden name of BARRETT explains why her son Samuel named a son of his, BARRETT Dyer. The Registers of St. Martin-in-the- Fields record the baptism, October 24, 1634 of "William Diar, son of William and Marie," These records show that William and Mary Dyre emigrated to America not earlier than very late in 1634.

The details of the baptismal and apprenticeship records of William Dyre and other facts of his life and that of his wife may be found in an article written by Mr. William Allan Dyer and published in the Rhode Island Historical Society's Collections for January 1937. His efforts, quite as much as those of the writer, made possible the discovery of the marriage record, and it was Mr. Dyer who conducted the correspondence with Mr. Holworthy. Acknowledgement is also due the Harleian Society of London, as it was from their publication for 1936 that the Parish Records of St. Martin-in-the-Fields were obtained.^[12]

Mary Barrett Dyer

Finally, we are able to prove who Mary Dyer was, thanks to Miss Theresa E. Dyer, of Brookline, Norfolk, Mass., who published in The Register for July 1940 (vol. 94, p.300) the marriage record of William and Mary from the parish register of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London (cf. also Harl. Soc., 1936).

On 27 Oct. 1633 William Dyer married Mary BARRET. In this connection it should be noted that Samuel Dyer, son of William and Mary, named his sixth son BARRETT, obviously for his mother's family (cf. Austin's Gen. Dic. of Rhode Island, p.291)^[13]

The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans

Captain William and Mary Dyre removed from England to Boston, Suffolk, Mass., and joined the First church there in December, 1635. Captain Dyre was disfranchised for "seditious writing" Nov. 15, 1637, removed to Rhode Island, and was one of the signers of the Portsmouth Compact of government for that province, January 7, 1638. He was secretary the same year, general recorder, 1648; attorney-general, 1650-53; member of the general court, 1661-62, 1664-66; general solicitor, 1665-66, and 1668, and secretary to the council, 1669. He was commissioned commander-in-chief upon the sea in 1653, and headed an expedition fitted out in Rhode Island against the Dutch. His wife, Mary Dyre, was the only woman to suffer capital punishment in all the oppression of the Friends the world over. She accompanied her husband on his mission to England with Roger Williams and Dr. John Clarke to obtain the revocation of Governor Coddington's power in Rhode Island and while there became a convert to Quakerism and a preacher in the Society [of Friends].

On arriving in Boston in 1657 she was imprisoned and on the petition of her husband was permitted to go with him to Rhode Island, but never to return to Massachusetts. She returned, however, and with William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson was tried and convicted for "their rebellion, sedition and presumptuous obtruding upon us notwithstanding their being sentenced to banishment on payne of death, as underminers of the government." Robinson and Stevenson were executed, but through the petition of her son, Mayor William Dyre, she was reprieved on the same conditions as before, but in May, 1660, again appeared on the public streets of Boston, and was brought before the court, May 31, and condemned to death. She was executed June 1, 1660.^[14]

Magazine of History references

William Dyre did receive a commission the English Council of State (about 1652) that appointed him admiral and, upon his return to Newport in 1653, received a commission from Rhode Island to operate as a privateer against the Dutch. ^[15]

RICR references

Three weeks later (2 October 1652) Coddington's authority in Rhode Island was effectively undercut by an official decree issued by the Council of State. The new document is explicit in appointing William Dyre to oversee measures against the Dutch at sea -- clear sanction for Dyre to act as a privateer. When war broke out between the English and Dutch in early 1653, William took quick advantage of the hostilities to advance his own position. On 18 March, he had himself appointed head of a committee of seven to oversee the fortification and arming of Newport. Dyres appointment was legitimized in part through his prior military experience, having been directed by the General Court a few years earlier to organize the Newport training band, which had apparently lapsed.

Then in May, the island towns held their first General Assembly since the Coddington usurpation but this was an Assembly still without the representatives of Providence and Warwick. On 17 Mary Dyre was chosen, along with John Sanford and Nicholas Easton, to attend to the colony's part of all prizes secured in the war (RICR 1:265).^[16]

The next day the General Assembly was more explicit and forceful; it granted commissions to "Captain John Underhill, Commander-in-Chief upon ye lands and Captain William Dyer Commander-in-Chief at ye sea "to go against the Dutch. Captain Edward Hull of Braintree and Boston received a similar but more plainly stated commission (RICR 1:266 and Arnold, 1908). A meeting of the United Colonies noted with concern that Dyre had quickly gathered around him a band of "resolute fellowes" to fall on the Dutch farmes (United Colonies, 51). Some would hold with that old English proverb that Dyre had now put out a bigger sail than his boat could sustain.

The news of these preparations for war and Dyres commission were received with alarm by the more sober magistrates in Providence. On 25 May 1653 the town of Providence noted Dyres commission as one "to make war upon the Dutch." The Providence magistrates were still further disturbed because the commissions granted to Underhill, Dyre, and Hull were awarded also in the name of the mainland towns without their consent and Dyre, in particular, was regarded as an opportunist and provocateur. Where there already had been considerable ill-feeling between the mainland and island towns, this presumptuous appointment became a further wedge between the divided colony.

On the 3rd and 4th of June, the towns of Providence and Warwick addressed "A Brief Remonstrance" intended to disassociate themselves from what they perceived to be the "illegal and unjust proceedings" of Dyre and those who supported him. The commission was characterized as one "tending to war, which is like, for aught we see, to set all New England on fire, for the event of war is various and uncertaine (RICR 1:270).^[17]

In June, 1660, there is record of a challenge from William Dyre of Newport as to "ye proporiety of our lands and libarties of ye people."^[18]

Land transfer from William to Henry Dyre

Wm. Dyre to Henry Dyre

William Dyre of Newport, Gent, granted to my sonn Henry Dyre into that part of my farme lyinge at the northerly and thereof: to witt, from the Stone Ditch. as alsoe from the tree where my sonn Mahers Tobacco house stood, from the Cave to and by that tree upon an Equi distante line from the said Stone Ditch downe unto and through the swamp unto mr. Coddingtons line by the brooke. (the fence is equally devided) percell of Land so bounded with a free Egress ingress and regress to and through the land of my sonn Samuels, but in case my sonn Henry should have Isue only Femailes then my sonn Samuell after the death of the said Henry shall Give one hundred and fifty pounds starllinge the eldest to have a double portion the rest an equall dividend of the Residue, but if only one all to her &c besides the Valluation of the houssinge thereon built the Land to return to Samuell.7th day of July 1670. William Dyre

Wit

The X marke off.

Robert Spinke

John Furnell^[19]

Death

William died 18 Apr 1672 Newport, Newport, Rhode Island.^{[citation needed]}

Feb. 20, 1686/7, his son, William(2) mentions his deceased father and his Rhode Island in his will.^[20]

Sources

1. ↑ William Allen Dyer, "William Dyer, a Rhode Island Dissenter -- From Lincoln or Somerset?" in Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, vol. 30, no. 1 (Jan. 1937), pp. 8-26, especially pp. 22-23.
2. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles; Sanborn, George F. Jr.; Sanborn, Melinde L. (2001). The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England 1634–1635. Vol. II C-F. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. ISBN 0-88082-120-5. pp 379-___ (membership required), esp. p. 381, citing (among other things) William Allan Dyer's, "William Dyer, a Rhode Island Dissenter - From Lincoln or Somerset?" in RIHSC 30(1930):9-26
3. ↑ Dyer, supra n. 1, at 22, citing an unspecified record of the Guild.
4. ↑ Theresa A. Dyer, NEHGR 94(1940):300-1
5. ↑ Dyer, supra, at 16, quoting Gov. Winthrop.
6. ↑ Dyer, supra, https://archive.org/details/rhodeislandhisto14rhod/page/n173/mode/2up?view=theater, at 22.
7. ↑ Dyer at 18
8. ↑ See the profile on Elizabeth (Dyer-421).
9. ↑ George L. Haskins, "The Beginnings of Partible Inheritance in the American Colonies," 51 Yale Law Journal 1280 (1942), https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/143656888.pdf
10. ↑ Dyer, supra, https://archive.org/details/rhodeislandhisto14rhod/page/n173/mode/2up?view=theater, at 22,
11. ↑ Johan Winsser, "Walter Blackborne, London Milliner, NEHGR, Vol 151, pages 408-416
12. ↑ Author?, "Article title?," in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 94, July 1940, Page 300
13. ↑ G. Andrews Moriarty, A.M., LLB., F.A.S.G., F.S.A., "Article title?," in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 104, January 1950, Page 42
14. ↑ (e-mail from Aurie Morrison), The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Vol. 3, p.366
15. ↑ Some of the details are found in: Arnold, James N. "The First Commission at Sea from Rhode Island," in The Magazine of History, Vol. VII, No. 4, April 1908, 197-207; Vol. VII, No. 5, May 1908, 262.
16. ↑ (RICR = Rhode Island Colonial records, and United Colonies = Records of the United Colonies.)
17. ↑ (RICR = Rhode Island Colonial records, and United Colonies = Records of the United Colonies.)
18. ↑ Publications of the Rhode Island Historical Society, New Series Vol. V, January 1898 No. 4, Whole Number, 20
19. ↑ Rhode Island Land Evidences 1648 -1696, Baltimore Publishing Co. 1970 (Collections were made of these land evidences by the Rhode Island Historical Society. Some are viewable on line, like THIS ONE
20. ↑ will of William Dyre 1687/88 in Delaware Wills: Sussex: General index, 1682-1948; Wills, book A, 1682-1781. Image 348-349

• Leach, J. Granville. "Major William Dyre, of New York", The American Historical Register (The Historical Register Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Sept. 1894) Vol. 1, Page 37
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Boston, Massachusetts; Year: 1635; Page Number: 96.

Boston, Massachusetts; Year: 1637; Page Number: 191

• Delaware, Wills and Probate Records, , 1676-1971: Sussex: General index, 1682-1948; Wills, book A, 1682-1781. Image 348-349. Images available at FamilySearch.org: [1], accessed 13 Oct 2019

Will of WILLIAM DYRE of Sussex County

Signed: 20 February 1687/88

Heirs: wife, Mary Dyre; children: eldest son William Dyre ; second son Edmund Dyre; youngest son James Dyre); youngest daughter Mary Dyre

wishes friends John Hill and Mr Samuel Gray to assist my wife and children also “I humbly request his Excellency Sir Edmond Andross Govr Gen’l of New England to be assistant to my said wife and children in their affairs.”

Executors: wife Mary Dyre and son William Dyre

“Also all my land and horses in the Pequot in Narraganset County in New England with all my right and title of inheritance to the estate of my late father William Dyre deceased, upon Roade Island within the province of Providence Plantation and also an Island called Dyres Island lying and being between Providence and Roade Island

• AGBI: American Genealogical-Biographical Index, Godfrey Memorial Library, Middletown, CT, USA. Birth: 1610 Eng, Massachusetts
• A complete record of the John Olin family : the first of that name who came to America in the year A.D. 1678: containing an account of their settlement and genealogy up to the present time--1893 (1893) by C. C. Olin
• William Allan Dyer, The Name of Dyer, A Genealogical Record, 1940
• John Osborne Austin, Ancestry of Thirty-Three Rhode Islanders Born in the 18th Century, Albany, N.Y.: Published by Joel Munsell's Sons: 1889
• William Allan Dyer, "William Dyer, a Rhode Island Dissenter - From Lincoln or Somerset?," in Genealogies of R.I. Families, Vol.1, Gen Pub. Co. Inc. 1983
• William Dyer (Wikipedia)
• Review of Dyer children
• Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 04 December 2019), memorial page for William Dyer (1609–18 Apr 1672), Find A Grave: Memorial #37682815, ; Maintained by Linda Mac (contributor 47062703) Unknown.
• Joy-Dyer, Cornelia C., compiler. Some Records of the Dyer Family, New York, New York: Thomas Whittaker, 1884; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/somerecordsofdye00dyer : accessed 7 October 2021);