education governor succeeded death_date death_place religion birth_place children office preceded birth_date term_start spouse article_title term_end name occupation
significant based on lifelong appointments as clerk and secretary nicholas easton john commission cranston in 1654 , following repeal of coddington before 24 october 1677 newport , rhode island puritan , quaker kirkby laythorpe , lincolnshire , england william william , mahershallalhashbaz , mary , charles , elizabeth , samuel , stillborn daughter , henry , 1st attorney general of rhode island position established baptized 19 september 1609 may 1650 mary barrett william dyer -lrb- settler -rrb-
 1651 william dyer milliner , commissioner , deputy , secretary , general recorder , attorney general
william dyer -lrb- settler -rrb-

william dyer -lrb- also dyre -rrb- -lrb- 1609 -- by 1677 -rrb- was an early settler of the colony of rhode island and providence plantations , a founding settler of both portsmouth and newport , and rhode island 's first attorney general .
he is best known for being the husband of the quaker martyr , mary dyer , who was executed for her quaker activism .
sailing from england as a young man with his wife , dyer first settled in boston in the massachusetts bay colony , but like many members of the boston church became a supporter of the dissident ministers john wheelwright and anne hutchinson during the antinomian controversy , and signed a petition in support of wheelwright .
for doing this , he was disenfranchised and disarmed , and with many other supporters of hutchinson , he signed the portsmouth compact , and settled on aquidneck island in the narragansett bay .
within a year of arriving there , he and others followed william coddington to the south end of the island where they established the town of newport .
once in newport , dyer was very active in civil affairs , holding a number of offices , particularly those using his clerical skills such as clerk and secretary .
the political alignment of the island towns of portsmouth and newport was in flux for the first decade of government there , and coddington had gone to england to obtain a commission to keep the island independent with him as governor .
by 1651 dyer and others had greatly tired of coddington 's rule , and he was one of three men who went to england to have coddington 's commission revoked .
being successful , dyer returned with the news in 1653 , but his wife , mary , who had been there at the same time , remained in england .
mary returned from england in 1657 after being there for five years , and had become a zealous quaker convert .
banned from massachusetts , she nevertheless defied the authorities and returned in 1659 , being sentenced to hang , but getting a stay of execution while on the gallows .
her last trip to boston in 1660 resulted in her execution and martyrdom .
following mary 's death , dyer remarried , and continued his public service , while having some legal entanglements with william coddington .
he was dead by late 1677 , though no record for his death has been found .
