The Life, Trials, and Execution of Mary Dyer: A Chronology
1610 or 1611
Mary Dyer is born in England to unknown parents. English marriage and probate records suggest that she used the name Marie Barret.
October 27, 1633
Mary is married to William Dyer, a fishmonger and milliner at the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which is now a part of London.
Late Spring 1635
Mary, pregnant at the time, and William Dyer sail from England to Boston.
July 1635
Roger Williams is called before the General Court and sentenced to banishment
Summer 1635
The Dyers begin building their house on Summer Street in Boston.
December 13, 1635
The Dyers become members of the Boston Congregational Church.
1636
Mary develops a close friendship with Anne Hutchinson, well-known (but controversial) for her theological insights.
March 3, 1636
William Dyer becomes a freeman.
March 1637
William Dyer signs a letter protesting the sentence of banishment issued against the Reverend John Wheelwright, a minister popular with Anne Hutchinson and what were called the Antinomians.
May 17, 1637
A meeting of magistrates and freemen in Cambridge Common decides control the colony. Supporters of John Winthrop and his orthodox theology carry the day over current governor Harry Vane and his supporters.
October 1637
Anne Hutchinson serves as a midwife as Dyer goes into labor. The fetus turns out to be dead and badly deformed (suffering from a severe form of encephalopy.) The fetus in secretly buried, but its existence will become known and used to suggest Dyer’s abandonment by God for her heresies (Dyer’s “monster”)
November 7-8, 1637
The trial of Anne Hutchinson before the Great and General Court of Massachusetts in a meetinghouse in Cambridge (Newtown). Anne is convicted and ordered to leave Boston after the winter. 58 other citizens, including William Dyer, also are banished or disenfranchised.
March 7, 1638
William Dyer is among 23 men signing the Portsmouth Compact, the basis for what the men hope will be a new and independent colony. They soon head south out of Boston, eventually reaching Aquidneck Island (part of present-day Rhode Island).
March 26, 1638
Before she leaves Massachusetts, Anne faces a church trial before the congregation of the Church of Boston. Anne is examined and excommunicated. Mary walks out of the Church in protest.
April 26, 1638
The Dyers leave Boston, in preparation for settling on land on Aguidneck Island, near present-day Portsmouth.
May 1638
The Dyers relocate further south on Aquidneck Island, at Newport.
August 1643
Mary’s close friend, Anne Hutchinson, is killed by Indians in Dutch territory in Pelham Bay.
May 1647
The first meeting of the united colonies of Providence Plantations, Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick takes place in Portsmouth.
1647
In England, George Fox establishes the Quaker religion, formally known as the Society of Friends.
1650
After giving birth to her sixth child, Mary leaves her children and William and sails for England.
1651
William Dyer, accompanied by Roger Williams and John Clarke, sail for England in hopes of securing a democratic charter for Rhode Island.
1653
Dyer returns to Newport, leaving Mary (who is in the midst of a spiritual quest) in London.
Swarthmoor Hall in England's Lake District
1654 to 1657
Mary meets George Fox, founder of the Quaker religion. At a Quaker base at Swarthmoor Hall, in the northwest of England, Mary becomes a Quaker and develops close friendships with other Quaker followers, including Edward Burroughs, Christopher Holder, and Marmaduke Stevenson. Fox suggests Quaker missions to the New World and proposes that Mary Dyer serve as a Quaker minister.
August 9, 1656
Christopher Holder is among a group of eight Quaker missionaries to arrive in Boston. The eight are imprisoned, though they have violated no laws.
October 14, 1656
The General Court enacts the first of what will be a series of increasingly draconian anti-Quaker laws. Holder and the other Quakers are forced to leave Boston for England on the first available ship.
January or February 1657
Mary Dyer and other Quakers, after a stop in Barbados, arrive in Boston. They are unaware of the new anti-Quaker law and are jailed—and held incommunicado—for over ten weeks. Mary finally manages to slip a letter to William out of a crack in the jail cell, alerting her husband as to her imprisonment in Boston.
Spring 1657
William Dyer confronts Governor John Endecott and demands the release of his wife. Because of William Dyer’s prestige in the colonies, the governor agrees to free Mary, on the condition she never returns to Massachusetts.
Fall 1657
Christopher Holder and another Quaker are arrested in a Salem church and taken to jail in Boston. The arrests prompt the General Court to enact a tougher anti-Quaker law in October. The new law authorizes the cutting of one ear off for a first offense, the second ear cut off for a second offense—as well as whipping and imprisonment. Holder is released from jail after serving two and one-half months.
Spring 1658
Mary Dyer is banished from New Haven for her Quaker preaching.
June 3, 1658
Christopher Holder and two other Quakers travel to Boston. They are arrested and sent to the House of Correction. A month later all three men have an ear cut off and are whipped. For the nine weeks following that, they are beaten twice a week.
Summer 1658
When Mary Dyer learns of the punishment of her Quaker friends, she and five other women walk from Providence to Boston to register their protest. They are lodged in the Boston jail with two other Quakers, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson.
October 19, 1658
Once again, this time by a vote of 12 to 11, the General Court turns up the screws on Quakers, this time authorizing banishment upon pain of death.
Fall 1658
Mary Dyer, Marmaduke Stevenson, and Nicholas Davis are sentenced to “punishment upon pain of death” under the recently enacted law. Stevenson heads for Salem, where he is again arrested (with William Robinson) and returned to Boston. Mary Dyer returns to Newport.
Fall 1658
Upon learning of the arrests and imprisonment of Stevenson and Robinson, Dyer feels compelled to travel once again to Boston. She meets up in Boston with Christopher Holder and the two are arrested and jailed. Holder is allowed to leave Boston for England, as he had been making plans to do.
August 30, 1659
William Dyer writes a letter to Boston magistrates. He argues that his wife harmed no one and that the laws of England did not allow the execution of Quakers.
October 20, 1659
Mary Dyer, William Robinson, and Marmaduke Stevenson appear before the General Court. Governor Endecott imposes a sentence of death on all three Quakers. They are taken back to jail to await their executions. In jail, Mary Dyer writes a letter to the General Court asking that her punishment be reduced to banishment.
October 26, 1659
Mary Dyer’s son, Will, Jr., meets with Governor Endecott and asks that his mother’s sentence be reduced to banishment. The Governor agrees to do so, but first requires that she be taken to the gallows in expectation of her hanging, have a noose placed around her neck, and only then be told of her reprieve. The Governor suggests “she needs to experience the chill of death to get some sense in her head.”
October 27, 1659
Mary Dyer, William Robinson, and Marmaduke Stevenson are led by 200 armed men, with beating drums, to the gallows. Robinson and Stevenson are hanged. As Mary stands on a ladder awaiting her execution, the reprieve is announced and she is taken back to prison, where Mary writes a second letter to the General Court.
October 28 or 29, 1659
Mary leaves Boston on horseback for Rhode Island. She is followed by four horsemen to make sure she leaves Massachusetts.
November 18, 1659
The General Court sends a declaration to London explaining their harsh approach to Quakers, while at the same time boasting of their reprieve for Dyer.
Late 1659 to April 1660
Mary sails with Anne and William Coddington to Shelter Island off Long Island. While on the island, Mary holds Quaker meeting with slaves and Manhanset Indians in the woods. While on Shelter Island, Mary receives word that General Court’s declaration to London. Mary is outraged and decides she needs to return yet again to Boston.
May 27, 1660
Writing from Portsmouth, William Dyer sends a letter to magistrates of the General Court pleading with them to spare Mary’s life.
May 31, 1660
Mary Dyer appears before the General Court and is briefly questioned by Governor Endecott. The governor declares that Mary will be executed at nine the next morning.
June 1, 1660
Mary is escorted the one-mile from the jail to the gallows.. Her last words are: “Yea, I have been in Paradise several days and now I am about to enter eternal happiness.”
September 9, 1661
King Charles issues a royal mandate ordering the General Court to stop imposing punishments on Quakers and to, instead, send the charged persons to England, where their cases will be evaluated.
November 1661
Governor Endecott says that the King’s command will be obeyed. No more Quakers are hanged. One hanging that had been scheduled for the following day is cancelled, and Quakers held in confinement are released.
Jul 9, 1663
King Charles II puts his signature on the Royal Charter for Rhode Island. The Charter guarantees (for the first time anywhere) “full liberty in religious concernments.”
1665
Governor Endecott dies.
1672
Massachusetts stops arresting Quakers for preaching.