Dyer family manuscript collection

The Dyer family came to Boston around 1628. The crest of the Dyer family indicates that some ancestors were a part of the Crusades. William and Mary Dyer first came to the New World from England and the first records of them appear in Boston at the Massachusetts Bay Colony. William Dyer helped settle the colony of Rhode Island as well. He signed the Portsmouth Contract, the first official document in history which cut political and religious ties with England. Mary Dyer was banned from Massachusetts for her Quaker beliefs. She tried to return multiple times and was executed upon her return in 1660. Their youngest son, Charles, has many descendants in Rhode Island. Their other son, Samuel, married Anne Hutchinson, the granddaughter of the “celebrated” Puritan adviser, Anne Hutchinson.

Sarah McKarahen came from Ireland in the late 18th century to live with her brother, Daniel, in Philadelphia. Daniel McKarahen had three children: James, Charles and Elizabeth. Sarah McKarahen married Isaac Cooper in Georgetown, D.C. on November 15, 1802. Isaac Cooper’s parents were Albert Cooper and Phoebe Palmer, they were married on December 20, 1757.

Travel diaries detail a journey throughout Scotland and England taken during the summer of 1903. Many historical places were visited including Marie Antoinette’s house and Helen McGregor’s hut. Helen was the wife of Rob Roy, a folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, also known as the Scottish Robin Hood. Stirling Castle is also visited, the castle which Mary Queen of Scots resided and was crowned. There was a stop at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland. The castle has been home to the Kings and Queens of the Scots since the 16th century. Battlefields and historical landmarks of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 were visited throughout the Scottish Highlands. An entry in the journal in July 1903 detailed a sighting of Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University.

The Fell’s Point Riflemen successfully defended Fort McHenry during the Battle of 1812. They were led by Captain William B. Dyer.