Bronx street named after Dyer son, mayor of NYC

© 2014 Christy K Robinson  

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In the borough of Bronx, New York, a street is named for Mary and William Dyer’s son, Maj. William Dyre (as his father and he spelled it), mayor of New York City in 1680-81. This William was born in Newport, Rhode Island, possibly about 1640, and died in the spring of 1688.

North-South streets in the area were named in honor of New York state governors and mayoralty, so William Dyre probably did not own land here. He owned several acres of property in the 1670s between Maiden Lane and Wall Street (the wall having much to do with his father, Capt. William Dyer!) on Manhattan Island for a few years. William also owned Dyer Island by deed from his father, and he purchased land in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and large tracts of land in the Delaware area.

Dyre Avenue in the borough of Bronx, New York, is marked with the A pin.
It's very close to the Hutchinson farm where Anne Marbury Hutchinson and her younger children
were murdered in 1643.

Dyre Avenue is half a mile from where Anne Hutchinson was murdered by Siwanoy Indians in 1643, near Split Rock at Pelham Bay. (The green land to the right of the A marker on this Google map.) One of the photos at this website shows that a train line runs on a Siwanoy Indian path. Surely there’s no connection between the Hutchinson farm site, the Hutchinson River Parkway, and the naming of Dyre Avenue at some point many years later. But from the comfort of our home computer chairs, it’s a fascinating coincidence to consider along with the deep connections between the Hutchinson and Dyer families.  

Dyre Avenue signpost, screenshot from Google Maps

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Christy K Robinson is author of these sites:  

• Discovering Love (inspiration)
• Rooting for Ancestors (history and genealogy)
• William and Mary Barrett Dyer (17th century culture and history of England and New England)

and of these books:

·          We Shall Be Changed (2010)
·          Mary Dyer Illuminated (2013)
·          Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This (2014)
·          The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport (2014)
·          Effigy Hunter (2015)
·          Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)