For the voice for Anti-Shakerism, see Mary Marshall Dyer.
Mary Dyer
A 1905 portrait of Dyer being led to the gallows in Boston in 1660, painted by Howard Pyle
Born
Mary Dyer
c. 1611
England
Died
1 June 1660(1660-06-01) (aged 48–49)
Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British America
Cause of death
Hanging
Nationality
English
Spouse(s)
William Dyer (Dier, Dyre)
Religion
Puritan, Quaker
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. She is one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs.
Dyer's birthplace has not been established, but it is known that she was married in London in 1633 to William Dyer, a member of the Fishmongers' Company but a milliner by profession. Mary and William were Puritans who were interested in reforming the Anglican Church from within, without separating from it. As the King of England, Charles I increased pressure on the Puritans; they left England by the thousands to go to New England in the early 1630s. Mary and William arrived in Boston by 1635, joining the Boston Church in December of that year.
Like most members of Boston's church, they soon became involved in the Antinomian Controversy, a theological crisis lasting from 1636 to 1638. Mary and William were strong advocates of Anne Hutchinson and John Wheelwright in the controversy, and as a result, Mary's husband was disenfranchised and disarmed for supporting these "heretics" and also for harboring his own heretical views. Subsequently, they left Massachusetts with many others to establish a new colony on Aquidneck Island (later Rhode Island) in Narraganset Bay.
Before leaving Boston, Mary had given birth to a severely deformed infant that was stillborn. Because of the religious superstitions of the time regarding such a birth, the baby was buried secretly. When the Massachusetts authorities learned of this birth, the ordeal became public, and in the minds of the colony's ministers and magistrates, the monstrous birth was clearly a result of Mary's "monstrous" religious opinions. More than a decade later, in late 1651, Mary Dyer boarded a ship for England, and stayed there for over five years, during which time she converted to Quakerism. Because Quakers were considered among the most dangerous of heretics by the Puritans, Massachusetts enacted several laws against them. When Dyer returned to Boston from England, she was immediately imprisoned and then banished. Defying her order of banishment, she was again banished, this time upon pain of death. Deciding that she would die as a martyr if the anti-Quaker laws were not repealed, Dyer once again returned to Boston and was sent to the gallows in 1659, having the rope around her neck when a reprieve was announced. She returned once more to Boston the following year and was then hanged—the third of four Quaker martyrs.
biography of Dyer. While the parents of MaryDyer have not been identified, Johan Winsser made a significant discovery concerning a brother of Dyer, which he...
A statue of Quaker religious martyr MaryDyer by Sylvia Shaw Judson is installed outside the Massachusetts State House, in Boston, Massachusetts, United...
Massachusetts Colony laws, and for this 'Antinomian heresy' MaryDyer, her husband William Dyer, Anne Hutchinson, and others were banished from the colony...
cite the following: Several immigration records show that MaryDyer, Marg. Dyer, and Malligo Dyers were transported to Dorchester County, Maryland in October...
constraints of Shaker life, Dyer left the community in 1815. Her husband, Joseph, remained, as did all five of the Dyer children. MaryDyer accused the Shakers...
effect this had on Dyer, and what it taught her about the symptoms exhibited by those who appear to lose their mind through illness. Dyer had an elder sister...
English Quaker MaryDyer, who was hanged in Boston for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. The hanging of Dyer on Boston Common...
Hutchinson and her friend MaryDyer, the Quaker martyr, have been remembered at Founders Brook Park with the Anne Hutchinson/MaryDyer Memorial Herb Garden...
Drunk History (2013) called "Boston". She played religious protester MaryDyer opposite stern Puritan magistrate John Endicott, played by Michael Cera...
Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver DSG (née Kennedy, July 10, 1921 – August 11, 2009) was an American philanthropist and a member of the Kennedy family. She was...
Mary Barrett may refer to: MaryDyer née Barrett (c. 1611–1660), colonial American Quaker martyr Mary Ellin Barrett (1926–2022), American writer Mary...
imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported. In 1660, English Quaker MaryDyer was hanged near Boston Common for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning...
Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American academic and animal behaviorist. She is a prominent proponent of the humane treatment of livestock...
Mary Lurintha "Mary Lou" Dye (née Maycock, born June 15, 1961) is an American politician from Washington. She is a Republican member of the Washington...
whole community. The best known hanging carried out by the Puritans, MaryDyer was one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs. Capital...
testimony but is comforted by Rachel Dyer. She is convicted later the same day. Burroughs is executed and Rachel Dyer dies in her cell clutching a bible...
In 1660, English Quaker MaryDyer was hanged in Boston for repeatedly defying a law banning Quakers from the colony. Dyer was one of the four executed...
English Channel. History.com. Retrieved on May 20, 2014. Dahlberg, Time; Ward, Mary Ederle (2009). America's Girl: The Incredible Story of How Swimmer Gertrude...
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (/kəˈsæt/; May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part...
Danny Dyer (born Danial John Dyer; 24 July 1977) is an English actor and presenter. Dyer's breakthrough role was as Moff in Human Traffic, with other notable...
India. Dyer was born in Murree, in the Punjab province of British India, which is now in Pakistan on 9 October 1864. He was the son of Edward Dyer, a brewer...
and Rebecca Dyre (or Dyer)(d. abt. 1795). The same site notes that Rebecca was a great granddaughter of the Quaker martyr MaryDyer. Dyre Kearney (C. 1722-1791)...
oldest son of William and Anne Hutchinson Thomas Savage William Dyer, husband of MaryDyer William Freeborn Philip Shearman John Walker Richard Carder William...
2000 Faye Glenn Abdellah Emma Smith DeVoe Marjory Stoneman Douglas MaryDyer Sylvia A. Earle Crystal Eastman Jeanne Holm Leontine T. Kelly Frances Oldham...
involving such allegations took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. MaryDyer, later to become a Quaker martyr, gave birth to a deformed child in October...
Controversy and Quaker MaryDyer who was hanged in Boston for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. Dyer was one of the four...
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