Dyer, Mary

English-born Quaker Mary Dyer [née Barrett] (d. 1660) emigrated to America in 1635. Her martyrdom signaled Quaker religious persecution’s end in the American colonies. Two works by Dyer survive: an original letter to the Boston General Court, and a reprinted, subsequent letter also to the Court that no longer exists in original form. Her life, death, and legacy as the sole female Quaker martyr profoundly shaped the religious culture in the colonies at that time.