The Quaker Martyr

Mary Barrett Dyer (c. 1611[1] — June 1, 1660) was an English Puritan turned Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony (now in present-day Massachusetts), for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony.[2] She is one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs.

The myth surrounding Mary Barrett Dyer's parents being the unknown daughter of Arabella Stewart and William Seymore has not been substantiated. Instead, it was found she had a brother named William and no other facts about her life before moving to Massachusetts is known.

Sources:

• http://dyerfarm.com/page4/page6/page6.html
• http://dyerfarm.com/page4/page5/page5.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Dyer
• http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v10/v10p453_Leuchter.html

 http://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall/details/2/51-Dyer

-------------------- Mary Dyer was an acquaintance of Anne Hutchinson. Was a Quaker and banished from Massachusetts. She disobeyed and went back to Massachusetts where she was hanged on the Boston Commons. There is a statue of her on next to the court house in the Boston Commons.

She married William Dyer on 27 Oct 1633 in St. Martin in the Fields, London, England -http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/y/e/Leo-Joseph-Dyer-Maine/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0270.html -------------------- http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/v/i/n/Linda-J-Vindick/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0137.html

Born and raised in secrecy, little is known about her life until her marriage to William Dyer. Mary's maiden name was recorded as "Barrett" in the parish record (NEHGR Vol. 94, p. 300, July 1940). The Dyers emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635 and were admitted to the Boston church. They were treated with great respect as they both had above average educations and culture. Mary was known to be attractive.

William and Mary were open supporters of Anne Hutchinson and Reverend John Wheelwright during the controversy over religion. They followed Anne Hutchinson when she was banished and excommunicated from the church for disagreements she had with religious convictions. In November 1637, William was disenfranchised with many others of their kind and the Dyers followed Anne Hutchinson to Rhode Island and settled in Portsmouth, of which William became one of the founders.

In 1652, William and Mary Dyer accompanied Roger Williams and John Clarke on a political mission to England. Mary stayed in England for five years, becoming a follower of George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers) whose doctrine of the Inner Light was similar to Anne's "Antinomianism."

Returning to England in 1657, Mary Dyer met with intolerance of religious dissension. Quakers were not permitted to express their views in Massachusetts Bay Colony, since John Endicott succeeded John Winthrop as Governor in 1649. She and others were arrested, not knowing of the new laws. She sat in jail until she was able to get a letter to her husband in Newport. Still highly respected by the Boston authorities and in spite of his disenfranchisement, he stormed into the jail and demanded that his wife be allowed to return home.

Mary became a prominent Quaker minister, and traveled to spread her word. In 1658 she was expelled from New Haven for preaching. Most banished Quakers were returning to England, but Mary and friends, Christopher Holder, Nicholas Davis, and the Scott sisters continued their preaching. In continued defiance of the law, Mary Dyer was sentenced to death in spite of many petitions by her son and others to have her freed. On June 1, 1660, Mary was hanged. She was stoic and brave to the end and unshaken in her faith. Her death gradually became thought of as martyrdom, even in Massachusetts. A bronze statue was erected in her memory on the grounds of the State House in Boston. A statue of her friend, Anne Hutchinson stands in front at the other side.

Other excellent biographical data can be found here: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sam/dyer/mary.html

and here: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nwa/dyer.html

and on Wikipedia, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Dyer