Mary Dyer Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Mary Dyer
OCCUPATION: Folk Hero, Religious Leader
BIRTH DATE: c. 1611
DEATH DATE: June 01, 1660
PLACE OF BIRTH: England
Maiden Name: Mary Barrett

Best Known For

Mary Dyer was a Quaker who was executed in colonial-era Massachusetts for practicing her religion.

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Mary Dyer

APA Style

Mary Dyer. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 09:36, May 25, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/mary-dyer-9283002.

Harvard Style

Mary Dyer. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/mary-dyer-9283002 [Accessed 25 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Mary Dyer." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 25 2013, 09:36 http://www.biography.com/people/mary-dyer-9283002.

MHRA Style

"Mary Dyer," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/mary-dyer-9283002 [accessed May 25, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Mary Dyer," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/mary-dyer-9283002 (accessed May 25, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Mary Dyer [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 25] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/mary-dyer-9283002.

Bluebook Style

Mary Dyer, http://www.biography.com/people/mary-dyer-9283002 (last visited May 25, 2013).

AMA Style

Mary Dyer. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/mary-dyer-9283002. Accessed May 25, 2013.

Synopsis

Mary Dyer was born in England in 1611. She and her husband emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635, then moved to Rhode Island. After becoming a Quaker, Dyer was persecuted for her faith and warned to keep out of the Massachusetts colonies. She ignored these warnings--returning in 1660--and was hanged on June 1 of that year. Her death led to the easing of anti-Quaker laws in Massachusetts.

Profile

Quaker martyr. Born in England. Mary Dyer challenged the religious persecution of Quakers in the American colonies in the 1600s??a challenge she paid for with her life. She and her husband, William Dyer, emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635. She sympathized with Anne Hutchinson's religious views and moved to Rhode Island in 1638.

Returning in England, where she remained from 1650 to 1657, Mary Dyer became a Quaker, and on her return to the colonies she was arrested several times by Massachusetts colonists and warned to keep out of that colony because of her faith.

Mary Dyer ignored these warnings and returned to Massachusetts in 1660. She was hanged on June 1 of that year. Her death led to the easing of anti-Quaker laws in Massachusetts.