William Dyer (also Dyre; 1609 – by 1677) was an early settler of the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...
, a founding settler of both Portsmouth and Newport, and Rhode Island's first Attorney General. He is best known for being the husband of the Quaker martyr,
Mary Dyer
Mary Dyer (born Marie Barrett; c. 1611 – 1 June 1660) was an English and colonial American Puritan turned Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. ...
, who was executed for her Quaker activism. Sailing from England as a young man with his wife, Dyer first settled in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
, but like many members of the Boston church became a supporter of the dissident ministers
John Wheelwright
John Wheelwright (c. 1592–1679) was a Puritan clergyman in England and America, noted for being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Antinomian Controversy, and for subsequently establishing the town of Exeter, New Hamp ...
and
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...
during the
Antinomian Controversy
The Antinomian Controversy, also known as the Free Grace Controversy, was a religious and political conflict in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. It pitted most of the colony's ministers and magistrates against some adherents of ...
, and signed a petition in support of Wheelwright. For doing this, he was disenfranchised and disarmed, and with many other
supporters of Hutchinson, he signed the
Portsmouth Compact
The Portsmouth Compact was a document signed on March 7, 1638 that established the settlement of Portsmouth, which is now a town in the state of Rhode Island. It was the first document in American history that severed both political and religious ...
, and settled on
Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...
in the
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
. Within a year of arriving there,
he and others followed
William Coddington
William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport, governor of Portsmouth ...
to the south end of the island where they established the town of
Newport.
Once in Newport, Dyer was very active in civil affairs, holding a number of offices, particularly those using his clerical skills such as clerk and secretary. The political alignment of the island towns of Portsmouth and Newport was in flux for the first decade of government there, and Coddington had gone to England to obtain a commission to keep the island independent with him as governor. By 1651 Dyer and others had greatly tired of Coddington's rule, and he was one of three men who went to England to have Coddington's commission revoked. Being successful, Dyer returned with the news in 1653, but his wife, Mary, who had been there at the same time, remained in England. Mary returned from England in 1657 after being there for five years, and had become a zealous Quaker convert. Banned from
, she nevertheless defied the authorities and returned in 1659, being sentenced to hang, but getting a stay of execution while on the gallows. Her last trip to Boston in 1660 resulted in her execution and martyrdom.
Following Mary's death, Dyer remarried, and continued his public service, while having some legal entanglements with William Coddington. He was dead by late 1677, though no record for his death has been found.
Early life
William Dyer was baptized at
Kirkby Laythorpe, Lincolnshire, England, on 19 September 1609, the son of William Dyer. In 1625, while a teenager, he was apprenticed to Walter Blackborne, a fishmonger, and 16 years later, while he was in New England, he was taxed back in England as a member of the "Fishmonger's Company," though his profession before leaving there was that of a
milliner
Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter.
Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of ...
. Dyer was married at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields in
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
on 27 October 1633 to
Mary Barrett (their oldest son Samuel named a son Barrett).
In 1635, Dyer and his wife sailed from England to
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
. Mary was likely pregnant, or gave birth during the voyage, because on 20 December 1635 their son Samuel was baptized at the Boston church, the same month that the Dyers joined the church. Dyer became a freeman of Boston on 3 March the following year.
Once in Boston the Dyers became attracted to the preachings of the dissident ministers
John Wheelwright
John Wheelwright (c. 1592–1679) was a Puritan clergyman in England and America, noted for being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Antinomian Controversy, and for subsequently establishing the town of Exeter, New Hamp ...
and
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...
during what is called the
Antinomian Controversy
The Antinomian Controversy, also known as the Free Grace Controversy, was a religious and political conflict in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. It pitted most of the colony's ministers and magistrates against some adherents of ...
, and in March 1637 Dyer signed a petition in support of Reverend Wheelwright, in it saying that "the court had condemned the truth of Christ." Half a year later, on 15 November, he was disenfranchised for signing this petition, and then on 20 November he and others were ordered to deliver up all guns, pistols, swords, powder and shot because the "opinions and revelations of Mr. Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchinson have seduced and led into dangerous errors many of the people here in New England." In October 1637 Mary Dyer gave birth to a premature, stillborn and deformed child, which following the Dyer's departure from Massachusetts, Boston magistrate
John Winthrop
John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...
had exhumed. In March 1638 Winthrop wrote the following about the Dyers and the infant: "The wife of one William Dyer, a milliner in the New Exchange, a very proper and fair woman, and both of them notoriously infected with Mrs. Hutchinson's errors, and very censorious and troublesome (she being of a very proud spirit, and much addicted to revelations) had been delivered of a child some few months before...it had a face but no head..." Winthrop went on to describe the deformities, and add his own embellishments, and declared that this was divine reaction to the sinful errors of Hutchinson, Wheelwright, and their followers.
Rhode Island
Scores of the followers of Wheelwright and Hutchinson were ordered out of the Massachusetts colony, but before leaving,
a group of them, including Dyer, signed what is sometimes called the
Portsmouth Compact
The Portsmouth Compact was a document signed on March 7, 1638 that established the settlement of Portsmouth, which is now a town in the state of Rhode Island. It was the first document in American history that severed both political and religious ...
, establishing a non-sectarian civil government upon the universal consent of the inhabitants, with a Christian focus. This document was penned by Dyer, he signing his name and then adding the title "clerk." Planning initially to settle in
New Netherland
New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...
, the group was persuaded by
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
to purchase some land of the Indians on the Narragansett Bay. They settled on the north east end of
Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...
, and established a settlement they called Pocasset, but in 1639 changed the name to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
.
William Coddington
William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport, governor of Portsmouth ...
was elected the first leader of the settlement, and given the Biblical title of Judge.
![Portsmouth Compact document](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Portsmouth_Compact_document.jpg)
A year after arriving in Portsmouth there was discord among the leadership of the settlement, and several of the leaders decided to go elsewhere. Dyer was
one of nine men to sign an agreement on 28 April 1639 whereby a new plantation would be formed. The men and their families soon moved to the south end of Aquidneck Island, establishing the settlement of
Newport, once again under the leadership of Coddington. Once established in Newport, Dyer and three others were tasked in June 1639 to proportion the new lands, and within the next year he was assigned 87 acres. In 1640 the two Aquidneck Island towns of Portsmouth and Newport united under a single government, and Dyer was the Secretary for them during the entire period that the island remained under its own authority, from 1640 to 1647.
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
, who envisioned a union of all four settlements on the Narragansett Bay, went to England to obtain a patent bringing all four towns under one government. Williams was successful in obtaining this document late in 1643, and it was brought from England and read to representatives of the four towns in 1644. Coddington was opposed to the Williams patent and managed to resist union with Providence until 1647 when representatives of the four towns ultimately met and adopted the Williams patent of 1643/4. With all of the Narragansett settlements now under one government, Dyer was elected the General Recorder for the entire colony in 1648.
Coddington was unhappy with the consolidated government, and wanted colonial independence for the two island towns, and decided to go to England to present his case to the Colonial Commissioners in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. In April 1651, the Council of State of England gave Coddington the commission of a separate government for the island of
Aquidneck
Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...
and for the smaller neighboring island of
Conanicut
Conanicut Island is the second-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the American state of Rhode Island. It is connected on the east to Newport on Aquidneck Island via the Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, and on t ...
(later
Jamestown, Rhode Island
Jamestown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island in the United States. The population was 5,559 at the 2020 census. Jamestown is situated almost entirely on Conanicut Island, the second largest island in Narragansett Bay. It also includes the u ...
), with him as governor.
Henry Bull of Newport said that Coddington was welcomed upon his return from England, and that the majority of people accepted him as governor. From 1650 to 1653, most of which time was during the island's separation from Providence, Dyer served as the Attorney General.
For reasons that are not clear in existing records, criticism of Coddington arose as soon as he returned with his commission. The venerable
Dr. John Clarke
John Clarke (October 1609 – 20 April 1676) was a physician, Baptist minister, co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious freedom in America.
...
voiced his opposition to the island governor, and he and Dyer were sent to England as agents of the discontents to get the Coddington commission revoked. Simultaneously, the mainland towns of Providence and Warwick sent Roger Williams on a similar errand, and the three men sailed for England in November 1651. Mary Dyer had sailed to England just before the three men departed. Because of recent hostilities between the English and the Dutch, the men did not meet with the Council of State on New England until April 1652. Whether true or not, Coddington was accused of taking sides with the Dutch on matters of colonial trade, and in October 1652 his commission for the island government was revoked. Dyer was the messenger who returned to Rhode Island the following February, bringing the news of the return of the colony to the Williams' Patent of 1643, while his wife remained in England. The reunion of the colony was to take place that spring, but the mainland commissioners refused to come to the island to meet, and the separation of mainland from island was extended for another year. During this interim period,
John Sanford was elected as governor of the island towns, while
Gregory Dexter
Gregory Dexter (1610–1700) was an early American printer, Baptist minister, and early President of the combined towns of Providence and Warwick in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was in New England as early as 16 ...
became president of the mainland towns.
In May 1653 Dyer received a commission from the General Assembly in preparation for military action against the Dutch. Captain
John Underhill was selected as Commander in Chief upon the land, and Captain William Dyer became Commander in Chief upon the sea. The following year he had some harsh words for Coddington and Richard Tew, who he accused of making "encroachments upon the highway." In 1655 Dyer's name appears on a list of
freemen from Newport.
Execution of Mary Dyer
![Mary dyer being led](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Mary_dyer_being_led.jpg)
In 1657,
Mary Dyer
Mary Dyer (born Marie Barrett; c. 1611 – 1 June 1660) was an English and colonial American Puritan turned Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. ...
returned from England, after being away for five years. While there, she became a
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
and a minister of that denomination, and upon disembarking at Boston she was jailed by the authorities for her beliefs and religious outpourings. Following the intercession of her husband, she was released, but Dyer was bound to not let her lodge in any town of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
nor to speak to anyone during the journey home. Though banned from returning to Massachusetts under threat of death, Mary nevertheless went back to Boston in 1659 and was condemned to hang with two other Quakers. While she was on the scaffold with the noose around her neck, her execution was halted, and she was sent back to Rhode Island, after which she traveled to
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
.
One more time Mary returned to Boston, and on the last day of May 1660 she was brought before Governor
John Endecott
John Endecott (also spelled Endicott; before 1600 – 15 March 1664/1665), regarded as one of the Fathers of New England, was the longest-serving governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He serv ...
, where she was questioned. Following her responses, she was ordered to be hanged the following day. On the gallows, she was encouraged to repent by Reverend
John Wilson, her former pastor at the Boston church, and to not be so deluded by the devil. Following her execution, the Friends' records of Portsmouth noted her death: "Mary Dyer, the wife of William Dyer of Newport in Rhode Island: She was put to death at the town of Boston with the like cruel hand as the Martyrs were in Queen Mary's time..."
Later life
Following his wife's death, William Dyer was remarried to a woman named Catherine by about 1664, and continued his public service. In 1661 he was a Newport Commissioner, in 1663 he was
one of several prominent citizens named in the
Rhode Island Royal Charter
The Rhode Island Royal Charter provided royal recognition to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, approved by England's King Charles II in July 1663. It outlined many freedoms for the inhabitants of Rhode Island and was the ...
, from 1664 to 1666 he was a Deputy, from 1665 to 1668 he was the General Solicitor, and in 1669 he was secretary to the council. In 1670 he was involved in a number of deeds with his sons, which he used to settle the terms of his estate. No death date has been found for Dyer, but he was dead by 24 October 1677 when his widow sued the widow of his son, Samuel. Also, Governor
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...
's will, dated 24 December 1677, mentions William Dyer, Senior, now late deceased.
Family
Six of the eight children of William and Mary Dyer grew to maturity and married. Their oldest surviving son, Samuel, married Ann Hutchinson, the daughter of
Edward Hutchinson and Catharine Hamby, and the granddaughter of
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...
. Dyer had one known child with his second wife.
See also
*
List of early settlers of Rhode Island
This is a collection of lists of early settlers (before 1700) in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Most of the lists are of the earliest inhabitants of a particular town or area.
Indian tribes and leaders
The following ...
*
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...
*
Dyer Island (Rhode Island) Dyer Island is an island in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, United States. It lies off the west coast of Aquidneck Island and is part of Melville CDP, which itself is part of the town of Portsmouth. The island lies between Melville and Prudence ...
References
Bibliography
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''Online sources''
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, William
1609 births
Year of death unknown
English emigrants
Lawyers from Boston
People from colonial Boston
People from North Kesteven District
Politicians from Newport, Rhode Island
Rhode Island Attorneys General
People of colonial Rhode Island
Puritans
American Quakers
17th-century Quakers
17th-century American politicians
Dyer family