© 2017 Christy K Robinson
Charles Dyer was the last child of Mary and William Dyer. He
was born the year after King Charles I was beheaded, at the time when the young Charles
II was fighting Cromwell’s forces before he fled to exile in France. To name the Dyer baby after the Anglican (with Catholic leanings) king was a rather bold
statement in Puritan, republican-leaning New England!
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| King Charles I of England |
1650: Charles Dyer born in Newport, Rhode Island,
the last of Mary Dyer’s six living children. His parents were co-founders of Portsmouth in 1638 and Newport in 1639.
1652: He was about one
and a half or two years old when both parents went to England. William went as
an agent of Rhode Island, and came home after a short time, with a political
charter for the colony that replaced their former charter; but Mary Dyer stayed
until 1657. Mary returned when Charles
was about seven, so he probably didn’t recognize her. He may have been fostered with friends when his father had to leave town
on business. (Read "Mary Dyer, the mother.")
The Dyer family probably attended the Baptist church of
Rev. Obadiah Holmes, in Newport. There’s no record of Charles in the Friends/Quaker
books, which is understandable, considering his mother’s actions as a Quaker. There’s probably no birth record like a
Congregational (Puritan) or Anglican family might have, because Baptists didn’t
baptize infants—they waited until the teen or adult years when the person
reached an age of accountability.
Was Charles educated as well as his parents had been? Mary
had been known for her conversational ability and we know she both read and
wrote, which was not the usual attainment of most women of her time. William had probably been educated at a
grammar school in Lincolnshire before his elite apprenticeship in London, and
he had trained as a surveyor and attorney after he emigrated to New England. It
was the custom of hundreds of years that boys were educated and/or apprenticed
sometime around age 14, but we don’t know about the Dyer boys. But Charles was
a farmer by age 18, so perhaps he learned on his father’s Newport farm.
1660: Mary Dyer,
a Quaker, was hanged in Boston for religious liberty, having violated her
banishment orders and been imprisoned several times between 1657 and 1660.
1661: William
Dyer Sr. married a woman named Katherine and they had one daughter, Elizabeth,
by 1661-1662. In her twenties, Elizabeth Dyer married John Greenman, they had several children, and she died
in 1755. Though Katherine sued her husband’s children after his death (and lost
each of her cases), Charles named his only daughter after his half-sister
Elizabeth.
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| Little Compton, Rhode Island Photo by LandVest |
1668: Charles
married very young, perhaps at age 17-18, for his first child, James,
was born in May 1669 in Little Compton, Rhode Island. The village is located
across the Sakonnet water to the east of Newport, on the mainland. Even today,
it’s a rural setting with green farms and a rocky Atlantic coastline.
For many
years, Charles' first wife has been assumed to be Mary Lippett, and there was a family of Lippetts in Rhode Island, but Mary is not confirmed to
be one of them. Did the teenage Charles and Mary fornicate and get pregnant, and marry in haste? How did a
teenager come to be a husbandman (a farmer and stock breeder)? Was Charles given the
land by his wealthy father, or was the land a dowry of his wife Mary (of
whatever surname)? Little Compton is close to Newport as the crow flies (in a sailboat), but they could have farmed in Middletown, between Portsmouth and Newport, or across Narragansett Bay at Kingston. Or perhaps it was the perfect distance to start your family if it came less than nine months after the wedding.
Charles and Mary had children between 1669 and 1687, and
Mary must have died between 1687 and 1689, perhaps in or shortly after childbirth.
Their children were:
1. James, b. 1669-d. abt 17352. William b. 1671, d. 1719 (executed for murdering his wife)3. Elizabeth, b. 1677, m. Tristram Hull 1699, d. 17194. Charles, b. 1685, d. 17265. Samuel, b. 1687, d. 1767. This man raised his brother William’s orphaned children after William was hanged for murdering his wife.
1670: Death of
brother Maher Dyer. Maher left a young wife, but no children.
1670: William
Dyer Sr. deeds Newport lands to sons Samuel, Henry, and William, but not to
youngest son Charles, who was already living in Little Compton with wife and
child. Perhaps William Sr. had already provided land to Charles on his wedding.
1676-77: King
Philip’s War raged between Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
colonists and Native American tribes.
His oldest brother Samuel evacuated colonists from mainland Rhode Island
across Narragansett Bay to Newport.
His brother Henry Dyer supplied horses to the military. Charles, being
about 26 years old, would have been very insecure at Little Compton, so he may
have moved his family to better-defended Newport during the war. Also, his
father’s health may have been failing at this time. Charles moving back to
manage the Dyer farm would make sense, but we can’t know.
1677: Charles’
father, William Dyer Sr., dies in Newport at age 67.
1678: Death of
eldest brother Samuel Dyer.
1679: Death of
sister Mary Dyer Ward.
1680: Half-sister
Elizabeth Dyer receives her £40 inheritance from her father’s estate.
1681: His stepmother Katherine Dyer sues Charles over "trespass" on her land. She loses.
1687: After
lawsuits which she lost, Charles buys back Newport land and house from his
stepmother Katherine.
Oct. 5, 1687: “Charles
Dyre of Newport, Husbandman bought of [nephew] Samuel Dyre of Boston,
carpenter, land in Newport RI. Bounded on the East, partly by certain lands in
possession Mr. Francis Brinley & Lt . Collo of Peleg Sanford on the South,
by land of Late Mr. Nicholas Easton and Mr. Johnson the West, by the sea on
North by land of Henry Dyre.—with house, orchards, Gardens, meadows, woods -
swamp--layed out unto mis Katharin Dyre [his stepmother] by town of Newport
1681 as her Right of Dower. 5 Oct1687.
Witt[nesses]. Weat Clarke, Robert Little, Daniel Vernon."
Source: Rhode Island Land Evidence 1648-1696 -Abstracts Vol 1 p. 206.
Source: Rhode Island Land Evidence 1648-1696 -Abstracts Vol 1 p. 206.
1687: Grants for
land in Delaware secured for Charles and Henry, by older brother, Major William
Dyre. Neither Charles nor Henry take possession of the land. [WAD] But it’s very possible that Charles’
oldest son James did, for James died in Bucks Co., Penn.
1687-89?: Death of
Charles’ wife Mary. They’d been married for 20 years.
1688: Death of
brother Maj. William Dyer in Delaware/Pennsylvania.
Mar. 8, 1690: Charles
married Martha Brownell Wait. Martha was a childless widow who was seven years
older than Charles. On the same day they married, Martha bought for £20, of her
brother Robert Brownell, 30 acres in Little Compton, RI. Charles and Martha did not have children together, but Martha raised his younger children, and perhaps grandchildren. She died in 1744 at age 100.
In Ancestry.com, there are many "hints" and pedigrees claiming that Martha Wait was the mother of Charles Dyer's children. This is incorrect, and the people claiming Martha as an ancestor have made a mistake in mindlessly copying what other people have written in error. As I wrote, Martha was a childless widow. She became step-mother to Charles' youngest three children by his first wife Mary:
From age 40 to his death at 59, I've seen no records of Charles and Martha. But it seems from his will that he owned land at Little Compton and Newport, and Martha owned land in Massachusetts, so they would have been very busy managing farms, or possibly leasing them to others.
In Ancestry.com, there are many "hints" and pedigrees claiming that Martha Wait was the mother of Charles Dyer's children. This is incorrect, and the people claiming Martha as an ancestor have made a mistake in mindlessly copying what other people have written in error. As I wrote, Martha was a childless widow. She became step-mother to Charles' youngest three children by his first wife Mary:
- Elizabeth, age 13
- Charles Jr., age 5 and
- Samuel, age 3.
1690: Death of
brother Henry Dyer. Henry (and possibly his wife) had been buried on the Dyer Farm, but after 199 years, his headstone and remains were moved to the Farewell Cemetery in Newport.
1699: Daughter Elizabeth marries Tristram Hull, the grandson of the Quakers Robert and Deborah Harper of Sandwich, who Mary Dyer would have known. Elizabeth and Tristram had nine children, the first named Mary--perhaps after Mary Dyer the great-grandmother, or after Elizabeth's birth mother. Elizabeth and Tristram were Quakers.
1709: Charles
dies, age 59, in Newport. He was buried with his brothers and parents on the
Dyer family farm in Newport. He'd owned several farms, livestock, and equipment, and he had a respectable amount of money to leave to his children and widow.
Will of Charles Dyer Sr.
Dated May 9, 1709; proved May 12, 1709 Newport.
Overseers: brothers George Brownell, Thomas Cornell & Benjamin Thayer.
Sons James, Samuel, William & Charles; daughter Elizabeth, now wife of Tristram Hull.· To son James, all land and tenements in Little Compton, which he now liveth on, part of which I had with my wife Martha Dyer.· To son Samuel, all my land and homestead that I now live on, with the old end of the dwelling house, barns, stables, &c., to be for him and his heirs unto the third generation, he paying legacies. To him also commonage in Newport and great bible.· To son William, £100.· To son Charles, £100.· To daughter Elizabeth, the now wife of Tristram Hull, £30.· My earnest will and desire is (that) piece of ground that is now called the Burying Ground, shall be continued for the same use unto all my after generations that shall see cause to make use of it, and I order that it shall be well kept fenced in by my son Samuel Dyre and his heirs forever.· To wife Martha, the new end of Newport house for life, and then to son Samuel. To her also, all my household stuff, plate, cash, bills, bonds, six of best cows of her choice, twenty ewe sheep, best of flock, and two cows and six sheep to be kept for her winter and summer by Samuel, who is to take a reasonable care of her, as food, firing, &c. without any grudging or grumbling.· To four sons James, William, Samuel and Charles, rest of stock.· To son Samuel, carts, plows, &c.· To overseers, £3 each.
The Dyer Farm burying ground was on the coast of
Narragansett Bay. Since the early 20th century, it's under what is now the Naval College hospital or clinic. William and Mary Dyer were buried there,
as well as Charles and Henry. Probably Maher and Charles Dyer’s wife Martha, as
well as other Dyer generations, were buried there. But the farm was
broken into smaller and smaller parcels from the time of the Revolution. In
1889, workmen came across seven graves with headstones, and moved them to the
Farewell Cemetery and Common (meaning the common grazing land) Burying Ground
near the center of Newport. Among the seven were stones for Mary’s sons Henry
(d. 1690) and Charles (d. 1709).
Other graves, unmarked, probably remain there on the former Dyer
property. If you're in Newport, you can drive on Cypress Street, right up to the fence, or you can visit it on Google Maps at this link. Then choose Street View.
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| Cypress Street fence. Approximate location of Dyer burying ground. Photo by Christy K Robinson |
I met Bert Lippincott, Newport Historical Society librarian and genealogist, who marked a map of Common Burying Ground so I could visit the grave of Charles Dyer, 1650-1709. Charles may have been buried first on the Dyer home farm, where he lived after his father and brothers died. His remains were moved to the large cemetery later. (Alternatively, the officials took the headstones but not the skeletons.)
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| Common Burying Ground click to enlarge |
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| Common Burying Ground, Newport, with inset of Charles Dyer's headstone. |
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| Dyre Avenue in the CBG cemetery |
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| Lovely ancient tree with old headstones in CBG |
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| Headstone of Charles Dyre: Here Lyeth Ye Body of Charles Dyre Senior, He Dececed May 15, 1709, Aged 59 Years. |
*****
Christy K Robinson is author of
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And of these sites:
Discovering
Love (inspiration and service)
Rooting
for Ancestors (history and genealogy)
William and Mary Barrett Dyer
(17th century culture and history of England and New England)
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Cartoons.)
Thank you for this clearly written, useful outline of this part of my family. Very well done. Kathy
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