Mary Dyer

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• Find a Grave: Mary Barrett Dyer
• Wikipedia: Mary Dyer

Her parents are unknown. Seymour was a royalty myth. Barrett was a name recorded in a parish register. Supposedly she had a brother Thomas. -Erica Howland, Geni Curator

___________________________ The Quaker Martyr

Mary Barrett Dyer (c. 1611[1] to 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.

Mary Dyer was an acquaintance of Anne Hutchinson(~• indeed, her son Samuel was married to Anne Hutchinson's grand daughter): 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 - 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

http://genealogytrails.com/ri/history_martyr_dyer.html

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

Mary DyerIn St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 27 October 1633, Mary married William Dyer, a milliner in the New Exchange, a member of the Fishmongers' Company, and a Puritan. Mary's maiden name was recorded as "Barrett" in the parish record (NEHGR Vol. 94, p. 300, July 1940). In late 1634 or early 1635, the Dyers emigrated to Massachusetts where, on December 13, 1635, they were admitted to the Boston church. They were numbered among the intelligent citizens, being above reproach and above the average in education and culture. Mary's detractors and defenders alike describe her as "fair" and "comely." William became a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on 3 March 1635/6 and he held many positions of public importance. In 1638 he was elected clerk, and on 14 Dec 1635 and 16 Jan 1637/8 William was granted land at Rumney Marsh (Chelsea, MA).

William and Mary were open supporters of Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson and the Rev. John Wheelwright during the Antinomian controversy. Mary and Anne were friends, and when Mary went into premature labor on October 17, 1637, Anne, an experienced midwife, was called to her side. After hours of agonizing labor, Mary's body gave forth a stillborn daughter. The child was badly deformed. Also present at the stillbirth were the midwife Jane Hawkins, and at least one other unnamed woman, who was reputed to be the source of the information later spread about the monstrous birth that, one observer later wrote, was "whispered by s[ome] women in private to some others (as many of that sex as[semble] in such a strang business)." William Dyer and Anne agreed that the birth must remain a secret, knowing that the unfortunate birth could play into the hands of the Boston magistrates. Mary herself could be personally blamed for the malformed baby.

While English law permitted a midwife to bury a child in private, a midwife could not lawfully deliver or bury a child in secret. Anne Hutchinson immediately sought the counsel of Rev. John Cotton about whether the stillbirth should be publicly recorded. Although he had betrayed her politically, Anne felt she could count on him in this crisis. Cotton, with a flash of nonconformity, dismissed the ancient folk wisdom that held that infant death was conspicuous punishment for the parents' sins and advised her to ignore the law and to bury the deformed fetus in secret.

Acting on this special dispensation, Jane Hawkins and Anne buried the stillborn child - exactly as they had always done in old England where custom-imbedded law dictated to the midwife: "If any child be dead born, you yourself shall see it buried in such secret place as neither hog nor dog, nor any other beast may come unto it, and in such sort done, as it may not be found or perceived, as much as you may." The birth and burial remained a secret for five months.

Gov. John Winthrop
In November, 1637, William was disenfranchised and disarmed along with dozens of other followers of Anne Hutchinson. On March 22, 1638, when Anne Hutchinson was excommunicated from the church and withdrew from the assemblage, Mary Dyer rose and accompanied her out of the church. As the two women left, there were several women hanging around outside the church and one was heard to ask, "Who is that woman accompanying Anne Hutchinson?" Another voice answered loud enough to be heard inside the church, "She is the mother of a monster!" Governor Winthrop heard this and was excitedly questioned Cotton, who broke down and confessed that "God, Cotton and Anne Hutchinson" had buried a deformed child five months ago. Although the child had been buried "too deep for dog or hog," it was not too deep for Winthrop who ordered it exhumed. Winthrop and the clergymen who examined it showed an inordinate interest in the physical characteristics of the "monster." According to John Winthrop's Journal, Mary Dyer, who was "notoriously infected with Mrs Hutchinson's errors," was divinely punished for this sinful heresy by being delivered of a stillborn "monster." Winthrop included gruesome, detailed descriptions in his journal and in letters sent to correspondents in England and New England:

It was a woman child, stillborn, about two months before the just time, having life a few hours before; it came hiplings [breach birth] till she turned it; it was of ordinary bigness; it had a face, but no head, and the ears stood upon the shoulders and were like an ape's; it had no forehead, but over the eyes four horns, hard and sharp, two of them were above one inch long, the other two shorter; the eyes standing out, and the mouth also; the nose hooked upward all over the breast and back, full of sharp pricks and scales, like a thornback; the navel and all the belly, with the distinction of the sex, were where the back should be; and the back and hips before, where the belly should have been; behind, between the shoulders, it had two mouths, and in each of them a piece of red flesh sticking out; it had arms and legs as other children; but, instead of toes, it had on each foot three claws, like a young fowl, with sharp talons.

Excommunicated and banished in their turn, the Dyers followed Anne Hutchinson to Rhode Island where William became one of the founders of Portsmouth. On 7 March 1638 he was one of the eighteen who signed the companct and he was elected Clerk. The Dyers ultimately settled in Newport where by 19 March 1640 William had acquired 87 acres of land. He served as Secretary for the towns of Portsmouth and Newport from 1640-47; General Recorder 1647; Attorney General 1650-1653.

In 1652 William and Mary Dyer accompanied Roger Williams and John Clarke on a political mission to England. Mary remained for five years, becoming a follower of George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, whose doctrine of the Inner Light was not unlike Mrs. Hutchinson's "Antinomianism."

Mary's return to New England in 1657 was ill-timed. John Endicott had succeeded John Winthrop as Governor in 1649 and he was far more intolerant of religious dissention. He feared that if he permitted the Quakers to express their views in Massachusetts Bay Colony, the whole structure of the Church-State partnership might collapse.

Mary Fisher and Ann Austin were the first Quakers to arrive in Boston. No sooner did they disembark than they were led to the Boston jail for three weeks before being sent back to England. On August 9, 1656, the port authorities were alerted to search the Speedwell as it entered Boston Harbor before anyone landed. The passenger list had "Q's" beside the names of four men and four women, and Endicott ordered these eight brought directly to Boston court. Christopher Holder and John Copeland led the group and they dumbfounded Endicott and the local ministers with their familiarity with the Bible. More irritating to Endicott was Christopher Holder's knowledge of the law. When they were marched off to jail, Holder and Copeland made immediate demands for their release, stating that there was no law that justified their imprisonment.

Governor Endicott knew this was true. There was nothing in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Charter which permitted the imprisonment of anyone merely on grounds of their religious beliefs, and so he devised a tactic to get rid of the Quakers. The Massachusetts General Court met in mid-October of 1656 and 1657 and succeeded in passing several laws against "the cursed sect of heretics ... commonly called Quakers" which permitted banishing, whipping, and using corporal punishment (cutting off ears, boring holes in tongues). On October 14, 1656 the Court ordered:

That what master or commander of any ship, barke, pinnace, catch, or any other vessel that shall henceforth bring into any harbor, creeks, or cove without jurisdiction any known Quaker or Quakers, or any other blasphemous heretics shall pay ... the fine of 100 pounds ... [and] they must be brought back from where they came or go to prison.

Gov. John Endicott
After trying to cover all the loopholes in any possible entry to Boston, the Court addressed what it would do with anyone who persisted successfully. It was decided that such a person should go to the House of Correction and be severly whipped, kept constantly at work, and not allowed to speak to anyone. They set up certain fines: 54 pounds for having any Quaker books or writing "concerning their devilish opinions," 40 pounds for defending any Quaker of their books, 44 pounds for a second offence, and the "House of Corection for a third offence ... until there be a convenient passage for them to be sent out of this land." These laws were read on the street corners of Boston with the beat of drums for emphasis.

Christopher Holder and John Copeland sat in their cells where they could hear the rattling of the drums and realized they were going to have to leave on the next available ship departing for England.

Mary Dyer and Anne Burden, unaware of the new laws, arrived on the third ship and were at once arrested. Despite their protests, they were kept in jail incommunicado in darkened cells with boarded up windows. Mary's books and Quaker papers were confiscated and burned. Mary finally was able to slip a letter out through a crack to someone outside the jail, but it took a long time to reach William Dyer in Newport.

Two and a half months later, Governor Endicott was startled when William Dyer barged into his home, demanding that his wife should be freed immediately. While Endicott knew that William had been disenfranchised by Boston, he was still highly respected by the Boston authorities for his prominent position in Rhode Island. They would have to free Mary Dyer because of William's prestige, but only on a condition. William was put under a heavy bond and made to "give his honor" that if his wife was allowed to return home, he was "not to lodge her in any town of the colony nor to permit any to have speech with her on the journey." Under no condition should Mary ever return to Massachusetts.

How galling for Mary to be silenced like a misbehaving child as she returned to her home! Back in Rhode Island, Mary became a prominent Quaker minister, traveling over the new country. Preaching "inner light," Mary rejected oaths of any kind, taught that sex was no determinant for gifts of prophecy, and contended that women and men stood on equal ground in church worship and organization. In 1658 she was expelled from New Haven for preaching.

Meanwhile, Christopher Holder and the seven other banished Quakers had returned to England. Christopher wasted no time in getting in touch with George Fox in order to secure a ship for a return trip to New England. While Mary was being rebuked in New Haven, Christopher Holder and John Copeland were being ordered to leave Martha's Vineyard. Hiding in the sand dunes for several days, they met up with friendly Indians who volunteered to help them cross over to Massachusetts.

They landed in Sandwich where they found a community of people unsettled in their religious affiliations and had who had just lost their minister. Holder and Copeland were received with enthusiasm by about eighteen families who were ready to become Quakers. Finding a beautiful dell by a quiet stream in the woods, they called their enchanted hideaway "Christopher's Hollow," a name which has remained with the place. A circle of Friends gathered together and sat on a circle of stones to share their religious convictions. It was the first real Friends meeting in America, and the start of regular meetings.

Happy with this success, Holder and Copeland moved from Sandwich to Duxbury, from town to town in Massachusetts, leaving fifteen converted Quaker "ministers" in their wake. Eventually, Governor Endicott got wind of their activities and alerted scouts throughout New England to arrest them, but they remained free until they walked into Salem, Endicott's home town.

When Holder arrived at the Salem Congregational Church, he listened to the sermon of the day, then arose from the rear of the church to challenge what had been said and present Quaker alternatives. One of Endicott's men seized Holder, hurled him bodily to the floor of the church and stuffed a leather glove and handkerchief down his throat. Holder turned blue, gagged, and gasped for life. He was close to death when Samuel Shattuck, a member of the congregation, pushed Endicott's man aside and retrieved the glove and handkerchief from Holder's throat and worked hard to resuscitate him. A lifelong friendship between Shattuck and Holder started at that moment.

Holder, Copeland and Shattuck were all taken to Boston prison. Shattuck was freed by paying a 20 shilling bond. Holder and Copeland were brought before Endicott who ordered that each should have thirty lashes. After several months, they were released from prison, but were soon to return.

On April 15, 1658, Holder and Copeland returned to Cape Code. Despite a joyouse reunion in Sandwich, Endicott's spies arrested them in the middle of a meeting and marched them to Barnstable where they were stipped and bound to the post of an outhouse. With the standard three-corded rope, they were each given 33 lashes until the bodies ran with blood. The Friends of Sandwich stood in horr as "ear and eye witnessses" to the cruelty."

After recovering from the scourging, Holder and Copeland returned again to Boston on June 3, 1658 where they were once again arrested. On September 16, 1658 by the order of Governor Endicott, Christopher Holder, a future son-in-law of Richard Scott, had his right ear cut off by the hangman at Boston for the crime of being a Quaker. Richard's wife, Katherine Marbury Scott (Anne Hutchinson's sister), was present, and remonstrating against this barbarity, was thrown into prison for two months, and then publicly flogged ten stripes with a three-corded whip.

On October 19, 1658, the Massachusetts authorities during a stormy session had passed by a single vote a law banishing Quakers under pain of death. In June 1959, Quakers William Robinson of London and Marmaduke Stephenson of Holderness, now in Rhode Island, felt a call to enter Massachusetts. They were accompanied by Patience Scott, a young girl who later became a sister-in-law of Christopher Holder, and Nicholas Davis. They were all promptly thrown in jail. Learning of her Friends' incarceration in Boston, Mary Dyer went there in the summer of 1659 to visit them and was herself again imprisoned.

William Dyer wrote a letter to the Massachusetts authorities, dated August 30, 1659, chastising the magistrates for imprisoning his wife without evidence or legal right. "You have done more in persecution in one year than the worst bishops did in seven, and now to add more towards a tender woman," wrote William, "... that gave you no just cause against her for did she come to your meeting to disturb them as you call itt, or did she come to reprehend the magistrates? [She] only came to visit her friends in prison and when dispatching that her intent of returning to her family as she declared in her [statement] the next day to the Governor, therefore it is you that disturbed her, else why was she not let alone." (Click here to read full text of William's letter.)

On September 12, the Quakers were released from prison and banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony under threat of execution should they return. Nicholas Davis and Mary Dyer obeyed, but Robinson and Stephenson felt it their duty to remain and continue their ministry, deteremined to "look [the] bloody laws in the face." Within a month they were again arrested. When it was learned Christopher Holder was again in jail and threatened with further torture, Mary Dyer, Hope Clifton and Mary Scott (future wife of Christopher Holder and Anne Hutchinson's niece) walked through the forest to Boston from Providence to plead for his release and that of others. Mary Dyer was arrested while speaking to Holder through the prison bars.

There was no mistaking the moves of Holder, Robinson, Stephenson and Mary Dyer. They deliberately challenged the legal right of Endicott to carry out the death penalty. Doing what their compatriots were doing in England, they returned to the field as soon as they were released, willing to lay down their lives, if necessary, yet never striking a blow in retaliation. Passive non-resistance and religious appeals constituted the ammunition and weapons of this Colonial Quaker army. They had all been banished with the assurance that if they returned death awaited them.

On October 19 Mary Dyer was brought before the General Court with Robinson and Stephenson. Asked why they had returned in defiance of the law, they replied that "the ground and cause of their coming was of the Lord." When Gov. John Endicott pronounced sentence of death, Mary Dyer replied, "The will of the Lord be done." "Take her away, Marshal," commanded Endicott. "Yea and joyfully I go," responded Mary Dyer.

That week in jail, Mary, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephenson sat in their cells writing pleas to the General Court to change the laws of banishment upon pain of death. (Click here to read the full text of Mary's letter.)

On October 27, the three Quakers were led through the streets to the gallows with drums beating to prevent them from addressing the people. Robinson and Stephenson were hanged, but Mary Dyer, her arms and legs bound and the noose around her neck, received a prearranged last-minute reprieve as a result of intercession of Gov. John Winthrop, Jr. of Connecticut, Gov. Thomas Temple of Nova Scotia and her son.

Hanging of Mary Dyer Back in her cell, Mary composed another letter to the General Court, from which comes the inscription on her statue at Boston: "Once more the General Court, Assembled in Boston, speaks Mary Dyar, even as before: My life is not accepted, neither availeth me, in Comparison of the Lives and Liberty of the Truth and Servants of the Living God, for which in the Bowels of Love and Meekness I sought you; yet nevertheless, with wicked Hands have you put two of them to Death, which makes me to feel, that the Mercies of the Wicked is Cruelty." (Click here to read this second letter in its entirety.)

On October 18, 1659, William Dyer, Jr.'s petition on behalf of his mother to MA authorities, was thus answered: "Whereas Mary Dyer is condemned by the General Court to be executed for her offence; on the petition of William Dyer, her son, it is ordered the said Mary Dyer shall have liberty for forty-eight hours after this day to depart out of this jurisdiction, after which time being found therein she is to be executed."

Mary returned unwillingly back to Rhode Island. She was accompanied by four horsemen who followed her fifteen miles south of Boston. From there she was left in the custody of one man to escort her back to Rhode Island.

Once home, Mary longed for the companionship of other Quakers. She busied herself across Long Island Sound on Shelter Island where a group of Indians had approached her, asking if she would hold Quaker meetings with them. Although Mary was out of danger in this environment, she was not content. She made it known that she must return to Boston to "desire the repeal of that wicked law against God's people and offer up her life there." In late April, 1660, in obedience to her conscience and in defiance of the law and without telling her husband, she returned once more to Boston.

It took a week for the news to reach William Dyer that Mary had left Shelter Island. Quickly, he wrote again to the magistrates of Boston. (Click here to read William's moving letter.) Governor Endicott received the letter and presented it to the General Court. Too bad if William was having trouble with his wife. She was giving them trouble, too. She had no right to come back and defy their orders. The General Court summoned Mary before them on May 31, 1660.

"Are you the same Mary Dyer that was here before?" Governor Endicott asked her. "I am the same Mary Dyer that was here at the last General Court," she replied.

"You will own yourself a Quaker, will you not?"

"I am myself to be reproachfully called so," Mary said stiffly.

Governor Endicott said, "The sentence was passed upon you by the General Court and now likewise; you must return to the prison and there remain until tomorrow at nine o'clock; then from thence you must go to the gallows, and there be hanged till you are dead."

Mary Dyer did not flinch. "This is no more than what you said before."

"But now it is to be executed," said Endicott. "Therefore prepare yourself tomorrow at nine o'clock."

"I came in obedience to the will of God to the last General Court desiring you to appeal your unrighteous laws of banishment on pain of death," said Mary, "and that same is my work now, and earnest request, although I told you that if you refused to repeal them, the Lord would send others of his servants to witness against them."

"Are you a prophetess?" asked the Governor.

"I speak the words that the Lord speaks in me and now the thing has come to pass."

Endicott reached his saturation point and, waving to a prison guard, yelled, "Away with her! Away with her!"

At the appointed time on June 1, 1660, Mary was escorted from her prison cell by a band of soldiers to the gallows a mile away. Apprehensive that a gathering crowd might become uncontrollably compassionate, the Magistrates took every precaution to cut off communication between Mary Dyer and her followers. Led through the streets sandwiched between drummers, with a constant rat-a-tat-tat in front and behind her, Mary Dyer walked to her death.

Despite these precautions, some of the followers were able to get close enough to appeal to her to acquiesce in banishment. "Mary Dyer, don't die. Go back to Rhode Island where you might save your life. We beg of you, go back!" "Nay, I cannot go back to Rhode Island, for in obedience to the will of the Lord I came," Mary said, "and in His will I abide faithful to the death."

At the place of execution the drums were quieted and Captain John Webb spoke, trying to justify what was about to happen. "She has been here before and had the sentence of banishment upon pain of death and has broken the law in coming again now," he said. "It is therefore SHE who is guilty of her own blood."

Mary contradicted him. "Nay, I came to keep bloodguiltiness from you, desiring you to repeal the unrighteous and unjust laws of banishment upon pain of death made against the innocent servants of the Lord. Therefore, my blood will be required at your hands who wilfully do it." Mary then turned towards the crowd and continued, "But, for those who do it in the simplicity of their hearts, I desire the Lord to forgive them. I came to do the will of my father, and in obedience to this will I stand even to death."

Pastor Wilson cried, "Mary Dyer, O repent, O repent, and be not so delued and carried away by the deceit of the devil." Mary looked directly at him and said, "Nay, man, I am not now to repent."

John Norton stepped forward and asked, "Would you have the elders pray for you?" Mary responded, "I desire the prayer of all the people of God." A voice from the crowd called out, "It may be that she thinks there is none here." John Norton pleaded, "Are you sure you dont' want one of the elders to pray for you?" Mary answered, "Nah, first a child, then a young man, then a strong man, before an elder in Christ Jesus."

Someone from the crowd called out, "Did you say you have been in Paradise?" Mary answered, "Yea, I have been in Paradise several days and now I am about to enter eternal happiness."

Captain John Webb signalled to Edward Wanton, officer of the gallows, who adjusted the noose. Mary needed no assistance in mounting the scaffold and a small smile lighted her face. Pastor Wilson had his large handkerchief ready to place over her head so no one would have to see that look of rapture twisted to distortion - only the dangling body. As her neck snapped, the crowd stood paralyzed in the silence of death until a spring breeze lifted her limp skirt and set it to billowing. "She hangs there as a flag for others to take example by," remarked an unsympathetic bystander. That was indeed Mary Dyer's intention - to be an example, a "witness" in the Quaker sense, for freedom of conscience.

Despite all the frantic attempts of the Boston magistrates to rid themselves of the challenging Quakers, they failed. Mary's death came gradually to be considered a martyrdom even in Massachusetts, where it hastened the easing of anti-Quaker statutes. In 1959 by authority of the Massachusetts General Court, which had condemned her nearly 300 years before, 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 wing. The words of my 9th great grandmother, Mary Barrett Dyer, written from her cell of the Boston jail are engraved beneath:

My Life not Availeth Me
In Comparison to the
Liberty of the Truth

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

links

• 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...
• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/y/e/Leo-Joseph-Dyer-Ma...
• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/v/i/n/Linda-J-Vindick/WE...

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Mary was a Preacher of the Quaker denomination of Christian Faith. On January 01, 1659/60, she was Executed on Boston Common by reason of her religious conviction ( American Ancestry, Columbia County, New York State by Thomas P. Hughes, Vol. II, 1887)

GEDCOM Note

Category: Antinomian Controversy Category: Portsmouth, Rhode Island Category: Newport, Rhode Island Category:Rhode Island Friends Society, Newport, Rhode Island Category:Quaker Notables

Biography ==The date and place of baptism/birth of Mary Barrett is unknown. That she was born about 1610 and in London is speculative.<ref>Johan Winsser(winsser@Basit.com)</ref>

Disputed Origins Resolved

The tradition that Mary Dyer was the daughter of Lady Arabella Stuart was started in April 1944 by Mrs Harry Borden who admitted that this theory was one conceivable way to account for Mary's early whereabouts,despite no proof.<ref>Alice Eugene Ortiz, "Tradition of Mary Dyer, Quaker Martyr," NEHGS Register, 98 (April 1944)</ref>
Andrews Moriarty refuted this theory quite soundly in 1950,<ref>AndrewMoriarty, "The True Story of Mary Dyer," NEHGS Register, Vol. 104, January 1950</ref> pointing out that "NO PROOF is offered that the Lady Arabella ever "had" issue except a vague statement from Mr. Hardy's (Life of Lady Arabella Stuart) of a rumor that such was the case." Furthermore, Moriarty pointed out that "there never was such a tradition [of this lineage] among Mary Dyer's descendants, but that it was a quitemodern story, emanating from an English gentleman, Mr. F. M. Dyer of Macclesfield [sic] -- for "Frederick Nathaniel" Dyer who was an American - his father was born in Rhode Island - and who moved to England todo research]....who, not so many years ago, sent the story of his beliefs to the descendants of Mary Dyer in this country... This 'tradition' does not even have the authority of age ... this being so, the story, without more evidence, is not worthy of serious consideration." Moriarty further takes the (then) editor of the Register to task for even accepting the article for publication, as it appeared four years after the July, 1940 issue (Vol. 94) which published the marriage record of Mary and William Dyer from the parish register of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, which clearly identified her as Mary BARRETT. :: :: The Marriage Record of Mary Dyre The Quaker Martyr - The Parish Registers of St. Martin in the Fields, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, 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 consistantly 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 beno doubt as to the wife of William Dyre and I want to congratulate you on having this information," there need be no hesitation in offeringthe 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. :: :: Brookline, Norfolk, Mass.Theresa E. Dyer<ref>New England Historicaland Genealogical Register, 94 (July 1940): 300</ref> :: More recent research identified a brother of Mary Dyer, further debunking the Arabella tale, and providing a clue to her true ancestry:: In 1634 the Prerogative Court of Canterbury recorded the probate administration of William Barret, which granted the commission jointly toWilliam Dyer of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, fishmonger, and his wife Marie Dyer alias Barret, explicitly described as the sister of WilliamBarret. The following year (1635) William & Mary (Barrett) Dyer settled in Boston.<ref>Johann Winsser, "A Brother Found: A Clue to the Ancestry of Mary (Barrett) Dyer, The Quaker Martyr," NEHGR, Volume 158, January 2004, #629, Pages 27-28.</ref>

She was executed (by hanging) in Boston, MA 1 June 1660.

The so-called "Monster" child of Mary Dyer ===:: For "practicing Medicine," Jane Hawkins, around 1637-1653 was banished from the Boston community to live in the woods. While at Portsmouth, as a mid-wife, she, with Anne Hutchinson, had assisted at the birth of the so-called 'monster' of Mary Dyer.... as relatedin John Winthrop's "History of New England" (1853), 2:10-11, 1:313ff.<ref>"The Story of Jane Hawkins," NEHGR Vol 114 p208 </ref>

Mary Dyer, Martyr ===:: William Dyre wrote a pathetic letter to the Massachusetts authorities, complaining bitterly of their treatment of his wife. It is found in the Chamberlain Collection in the Boston Public Library, and was published in the Nation, May 29, 1902, through the offices of Mr. Worthington C. Ford.

:: William Dyre writes::: "Having received some letters from my wife, I am given to understand of her commitment to close prison.....:: "Though wet to the skin, she was thrust into a room wherein was nothing to sit or lie upon but dust. Had your dog been wet, you would have afforded it a chimney corner to dry itself, or had your hogs been penned in a sty, you would have afforded them some dry straw, or else you would have wanted mercy to your beast, but alas, Christians now withyou are used worse than hogs or dogs.......:: "Even the worst of men, the Bishops themselves, denied not the visitation and relief of friends to their wants which I myself, have oft experienced by visiting Mr. Prime, Mr. Smart and other eminent (.....) when he was commanded close in the Tower. I had resort once or twice aweek and never fetched before authority to ask me whereof I came to the Tower or King's Bench or Gate House....:: "Hath not people in America the same liberty as beasts and birds have to pass the land or air without examination?......... It is not to be forgotten the former cruelties you used towards her when she came from England, having been tossed at sea all winter, but a little refreshment that had by cross winds at Barbadoes, yet as soon as come into Harbour shut up in prison and there kept.......for no transgression at all, only that Mr. Bellingham then as now, said she was a Quaker.........:: "Where your law or rule to keep a man's wife from him seven or eight weeks and a mother from her children, in a capacity of a close prison, which admits of no baylement?......." :: "so saith her husband W. Dyre" :: "Newport, this 30th August, 1659:: "To ye Court of Assistants now assembled at Boston this 6th September, 1659.":: This was endorsed: "To ye Court of Assistants, delivered into ye Court by his wife, Mary Dyre, 7th, 7th mo. 58." (Sep.7,1659) :: :: Mary, wife of William, suffered martyrdom at Boston, Suffolk, May 32, 1660.<ref>Rhode Island Friends Record - Deaths, pg.99</ref> :: :: RI Historical Cemeteries Transcription Project Index shows: Mary Dyer, - 31 May 1660, Newport, RI (NT600) :: ::"Women who made a difference. Names of the 19 women to be inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame October 7 were announced this week" "Mary Barret Dyer (birth year unknown-1660) She defied Puritan church autorities in Colonial Boston to gain religious freedom for Quakers. Her death by hanging helped establish the right to worship freely in the Colonies."<ref>The Hartford Courant Newspaper, Saturday, March 11, 2000</ref> :: ::

Mary Barrett

<ref>Ancestry Family Trees</ref><ref name=Torrey>Torrey </ref><ref name=EWD>Edmund West</ref><ref name=Yates>Yates</ref><ref name=EWB>Edmund West</ref><ref name=RIVE>Rhode Island, Vital</ref>: Mary Dyer<ref name=FAG>Find A Grave</ref><ref name=Filby>Filby</ref><ref name=AGBI>AGBI</ref><ref>Quaker Published Memorials</ref><ref>Sons of the American Revolution</ref>: Mary Stewart<ref name=NGO>Netherlands, GenealogieOnline</ref>

Birth

:: 1607 London, London, England<ref name=Yates/> :: 1612 London, London, England:: 1610 Hung at Boston for preaching Quaker doctrines/Boston, Suffolk,Massachusetts, USA<ref name=AGBI/> :: 1610 London, London, England<ref name=EWB/> :: 1612 London, London, England<ref name=NGO/>

Marriage ===:: 27 OCT 1633 London, London, England<ref name=Torrey/><ref name=Yates/>

::: Husband: William Dyer

Event

:: Arrival :: 1637 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA<ref name=Filby/>

Death

1 JUN 1660 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA<ref name=Torrey/><ref name=FAG/>:: She was "put to death at Boston, for her beliefs and the uttering of them..."<ref>Austin</ref>:: 01 JUN 1660 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA<ref name=FAG/><ref name=EWD/><ref name=Torrey/><ref name=NGO/>
:: 31 MAY 1660 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA<ref name=RIVE/>

Sources

• U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970. Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Microfilm, 508 rolls. Volume: 249; SAR Membership Number: 49705 * Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England MarriagesPrior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985)* Rhode Island, Vital Extracts, 1636-1899 (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Provo, UT, USA; 2014)
• Find A Grave * U.S. and UK, Quaker Published Memorials, 1818-1919 (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Provo, UT, USA; 2013)* Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Provo, UT, USA; 2014)* Ancestry Family Trees (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network) Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.* Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection - Deaths (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001) Death: 1 June 1660 Boston, MA, USA* Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Provo, UT, USA, The Generations Network, Inc., 2004) Birth: 1600 Lo. Marriage: 1633* Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012) Arrival: 1637 Boston, Massachusetts* Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection - Births (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001) Birth: 1610 London, London, England* AGBI: American Genealogical-Biographical Index, Godfrey Memorial Library, Middletown, CT, USA. Birth: 1610 Eng, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, hung at Boston for preaching Quaker doctrines* Austin, John O. The Journal of William Jefferay, Gentleman (E. L. Freeman & Sons, 1899) Page 63
• Wikipedia:Mary_Dyer* Mary Dyer, Quaker Martyr and Enigma, Dyre Farm website* Pendleton, Everett. Brian Pendleton and His Massachusetts, 1634-1681 (New Jersey, 1951) Page 131-6
• Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Transcription Project Index* John Osborne Austin, Ancestry of Thirty-Three Rhode Islanders Bornin the 18th Century, Albany, N.Y.: Joel Munsell's Sons: 1889
• New England Historical and Genealogical Register* A century of Puritanism, and a century of its opposites : with results contrasted to enforce Puritan principles...* James N. Arnold, Vital Records of Rhode Island 1636-1850, Births, Marriages & Deaths Vol.7, Friends & Ministers, Narragansett Hist. Pub. Co., Providence, RI. 1895* William Allan Dyer, "William Dyer, a Rhode Island Dissenter - From Lincoln or Somerset?," in From Genealogies of R.I. Families, Vol.1,Gen Pub. Co. Inc. 1983. * Mary Barrett Dyer* The Blue Laws (Case, Tiffany & Co., Hartford, 1838) Page 21+

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@R353280766@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

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