Person:Thomas Dyer (3)

THOMAS, Weymouth, clothworker, said to have come as early as 1632, but prob. it was something later, m. Agnes Reed, wh. d. 4 Dec. 1667, had Mary, b. 6 July 1641; John, 10 July 1643, bef. ment.; Thomas, 1645, d. young,; Abigail, 1647; Sarah, 1649; Thomas, again, 5 May 1651; and Joseph and Benjamin, tw. 6 Nov. 1603; was freem. 1644, rep. 1646 and four yrs. more, was deac. and d. 6 Nov. 1676, aged 63, but the gr.stone says, d. 15 Nov. aged 64; leav. very good est. dispos. of by will three days bef. to w. childr. and ea. of his gr.ch. beside Rev. Samuel Torrey. His wid. Elizabeth in her will of 20 Nov. 1678, pro. 31 Jan. foll. names d. Elizabeth Adams, s. Abraham and John Harding.

Dea. Thomas Dyer was born undoubtedly in England near 1612; died at Weymouth, 6 or 15 Nov. 1676, aged 63 or 64 years. He married, near 1640, a woman traditionally reported to have been named Agnes Reed. This statement appears to have been made about 1803 by Col. Asa White, a descendant of the fifth generation. It is true that Philip Reed of Weymouth, in his will dated 15 Dec. 1674, called Thomas Dyer his brother. They may have had one mother, or married sister, or Reed may have married Dyer's sister, or Dyer may have married Reed's sister; in any case they would call each other brothers. His first wife is reported to have died at Weymouth, 4 Dec. 1667. He married (2) Elizabeth (----) Harding-Frary, widow successively of Abraham Harding of Braintree and of John Frary, Jr. of Medfield. She died before 3 Feb. 1679.

He settled in Weymouth before 1641, and had seven acres granted to him on King Oak Hill, which had first been granted to Thomas Holbrook. He also received eleven acres in the First Division and thirty-three acres in the Second Division, 14 Dec. 1663. (Weymouth Land Grants, 282, 283.)

He was made a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 29 May, 1644, and on the same day was granted liberty "to Keepe an ordinary and sell wine at Waymoth." (Massacusetts Bay Colony Records, 2:74.) He served as a deputy from Weymouth to the General Court as follows: 6 May, 1646; 26 May, 1647; 22 May, 1650; 18 May, 1653; 3 May, 1654; 14 May 1656; 19 May, 1658; 30 May, 1660; 29 May, 1661; 27 May, 1663; 3 May, 1665; 23 May, 1666; 11 Sept., 1666; 29 Apr. 1668; 27 May, 1674; 7 Oct. 1674; 12 May, 1675; 9 July, 1675; 3 May, 1676 and 9 Aug. 1676. He was one of three chosen by the General Court "to end small causes" at Weymouth, 4 Mov. 1646, controvsyes under 20s. for [the] yeere in Weimouth." He was chosen a member of the committee "to determine whether to erect a bridge at Naponsit River, " 23 and 29 May, 1655. The General Court granted him liberty "to set his tainters in the prison greene during the pleasure of this Court,"22 May, 1661. He was a "cloth-worker," and this undoubtedly referred to his method of advertising his business in Boston. He was a deacon of the First Church of Weymouth from 1664 to 1676. His homestead was located at Weymouth Heights on the old road leading to Hingham, directly opposite the Old North Church.

No evidence has been found that he had a twin son named Jonathan Dyer, born 10 July, 1643, as published in the Vital Records of Weymouth. It is believed that Jno. was interpreted as Jonathan.

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