Line 13.1, Samuel Dyer, Son of a Martyr

Line 13.1

Samuel Dyer

Son of a Martyr

Samuel Dyer was the son of Mary Barrett Dyer. He must have lived a turbulent childhood, but had a strong role model in his mother, if not his father as well.

Samuel Dyer son of William Hutchinson and his wife Mary Barrett, was born

Samuel married Anne Hutchinson, daughter of Edward Hutchinson and his wife Catherine Hamby, and granddaughter of William and Anne Marbury Hutchinson

He died in Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island

Samuel and Anne Dyer had the following children:

1.      William Dyer born 07 March 1662/63 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. He died 22 July 1738, in Truro, Barnstable, MA. William married Mary Taylor in Barnstable, Barnstable, MA where Mary had been born in 1660.

2.      Samuel Dyer born 1665 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 15 July 1724 in Newport, Newport, RI. He married Mary Cotta.

3.      Nathaniel Dyer born 1667 in Boston, Suffolk, MA and died 21 April 1729 in Newport, Newport, RI. He married Elizabeth Parrott.

4.      Edward Dyer born 1770 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. and probably died in North Kingstown, Washington, RI and married Mary Greene.

5.      Elisha Dyer born 1672 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. in North Kingstown, Washington, RI

6.      Anne Dyer born about 1673 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. and died Newport, Newport, RI after 1717. She married Carew Clarke of Westerly, Washington, RI

7.      Henry Dyer born 1674 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. and died there before 1743. He married Mary Rice

8.      Barrett Dyer born 1678 in Boston, Suffolk, MA. and died there 07 December 1753 where he is buried in the South Burying, Boston, Suffolk, MA. He married 1. Hannah Steward, 2. Elizabeth Mann Bull and 3. Abigail Blake

Samuel Dyer was born 1635 in Boston, MA but lived part of his childhood and young manhood in Rhode Island. His Quaker teachings were evident in an October 11, 1659 court record that as far as the military was concerned he had a Quaker reaction. In 11 Oct 1659, Samuel and brother Mahershallahashbaz (is that a mouthful or what) came before the General Court of Trails in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, facing charges of “larceny against the state” because they refused to serve in the military. They spent some time in prison before their trail so when they were found guilty, the judge felt they had been punished enough. Quakers were and still are pacifist who refused to serve in the armed forces or take part in wars.

For all his Quaker upbringing and leanings, however, Samuel attended the Second Old North Church in Boston along with his most of his children. This church was officially known as Christ Church and was Boston’s second Anglican Church. The name “Anglican” at this time would have meant that church had English roots. It was still a

“puritan” church in 1635 and indeed until the end of the 17^th century. The Puritan church, per say, decreased in prestige as the “cleansing” of the faith turned toward banishments, hanging and torture. A gentler faith emerged by the 18^th century and the puritan church produced the Presbyterian denominations as well as being parent to the Congregational Churches in New England and later the rest of the United States. Some Unitarian congregations, as well, have puritan roots. However, in Samuel’s lifetime, the Puritans still had a strong hold on the religious sector of life in Boston and much of New England. Samuel seems to have been an active member of Christ Church and except for his run in with the “law” because of his pacifism, he must have conformed his beliefs to the Puritan church. Samuel’s family history and his own run in with the law, may have tempered his tongue if not his faith. The son of a woman hanged for her beliefs, might realize that a little conformity didn’t necessarily mean he had to give up the differences in his Christianity. It just meant he wasn’t so vocal about it. Christ Church now considers itself an Anglican Church, the Church of England, the very church that persecuted the Puritans. The irony of this is, of course, the very ideology that the Puritans were trying to escape, ended up replacing them. And the irony of Samuel Dyer’s Christianity is that he returned to the very religious structure that caused so much pain in his own family line. But eventually Samuel did leave Boston and returned to Rhode Island sometime after his youngest child was born.

In 1661, Samuel signed papers relating to Misquanicut lands in Narraganset County, Rhode, Island. His wife was left land in Narragansett in her father’s 1676 will and it may have been the natural thing to go back to Rhode Island. All but his oldest son returned with Samuel and Ann. Samuel died in North Kingston after 1678. Anne ended up in Newport, probably to live with one of her children, and died there in 1717.

***SOURCES***

1. Internet Frank E. Dyer www.familytreemaker.com/users/d/y/e/Frank-E-Dyer/GENES-0004.html

2. New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Clarence Almon Torrey

3. G. Michael Anthony, Oregon 1669

4. "William Dyer, a Rhode Island Dissenter---- from Lincoln or Somerset" by William Allan Dyer

5.] The True Story of Mary Dyer, New England Historical and Genealogical Register Vol. CIV Jan. 1950

6. Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island by John Osborn Austin, 1982

7. Second Supplement to Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Melinda Lutz Sanborn

8. Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site "Ancestors of Harold Wheeler Bradley" at Rootsweb.com

9.  NEHGR April 1991 "The Ancestry of Katherine Hamby, Wife of Captain Edward Hutchinson of Boston, MA" by Wayne Howard Miller Wilcox, page 258

10.  The Great Migration, Vol. II, C-F by Robert Charles Anderson and George Sanborn Jr. and Melinde Lutz Sanford, NHGS