Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Dyer, Nichols D 1841 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 5, 2007, 12:40 pm

Author: Portraits & Bio Sketches, 1890

NICHOLS D. DYER. 

The flourishing city of Joliet contains many business houses in whose 
management great tact is displayed, and in which a trade is carried on that 
gives circulation to thousands of dollars per annum. One of these flourishing 
establishments is that of the subject of this sketch, who is a dealer in dry-
goods. Fifteen years after the Pilgrims of the "Mayflower" had landed on 
Plymouth Rock, the first record of William and Mary Dyer, who were first 
cousins, is found in Boston. Like many others in that day they had left the 
refinements of an English home, to brave the discomforts of the Western 
wilderness in order to enjoy the blessing of religious liberty. William Dyer 
was led by the eloquence of Roger Williams to espouse the cause of the 
Baptists, whereupon he was disfranchised and like many others compelled to 
leave the colony. His wife walked out of a meeting of Puritans in company with 
Mrs. Hutchinson. The banished Dyers bought the little isle—Rhode—Island—then 
called Aquidunk or Isle of Peace. Of the new colony who settled "Little 
Rhody," William Dyer was selected as Clerk, subsequently becoming Recorder, 
Clerk of the Assembly and Attorney-General. His wife still adhered to the 
Quaker belief although opposed to the spirit of intolerance characterising 
that body, and especially, the unjust law of banishment. Restless under it and 
firmly believing she had a mission to perform, she returned to Massachusetts 
to secure a reformation. In this she failed, and was therefore a martyr to her 
religious belief, and was brought to the gallows for execution as one sowing 
the seeds of sedition, by direction of Gov. Endicott. Through the intervention 
of a son she was spared, only to again return to the same mission and become a 
martyr to her faith. Quite a number of the progeny of these Puritans have 
become noted in American history. N. D. Dyer, of whom we write, is one of the 
lineal descendants. The subject of this biographical notice was born in 
Lexington, Ohio, January 14, 1841. He is the eighth in a family of five sons 
and four daughters, born to Daniel H. and Phila (Beaverstock) Dyer, natives of 
Vermont, and is the only survivor except his sister, Mrs. Phila M. Watson, of 
Iowa City, Iowa. Until thirteen years of age he was with his parents in his 
native village, after which he accompanied them to Callaway County. Mo., where 
his father followed farming. The lad was educated in the common schools and, 
his father having lost his Missouri property, in his youth began working by 
the month in Iowa. He continued his labors on a farm there until the winter of 
1860, when he taught school near Plainfield, Ill. In 1862, he entered the 
Commissary Department of the army at Pilot Knob, Mo., under his uncle, Col. 
George Dyer. Six months later young Dyer went to Farmington, Mo., and raised a 
company of Union refugees, whom he accompanied to St. Louis, joining Frank P. 
Blair's brigade as a Second Lieutenant. They were sent to join Sherman, and 
took part in the engagement at Chickasaw Bayou, where the Union forces were 
sadly defeated. They then went to Arkansas Post, where the tide turned and 
they captured all the artillery. After wintering at Milliken's Bend, where a 
portion of their time was spent in digging the canal in the vain endeavor to 
make the Mississippi run up hill, they were sent to Vicksburg and bore an 
active part in the siege of that city. There Mr. Dyer acted as Captain. Prior 
to this he had been made an aide on Gen. Can's staff, with the rank of 
Lieutenant, but had declined the appointment because the boys had insisted 
that as he had started out with them he should remain in their company. The 
next prominent point at which the young soldier was found was Jackson, Miss., 
after the capture of which he took part in other conflicts, among them being 
the noted engagement at Lookout Mountain, where many of our brave boys fought 
above the clouds. Following this came the battles at Ringgold, Dallas, Peach 
Tree Creek and Big Shanty. Breaking down in health while en route to Atlanta, 
Captain Dyer was discharged September 4, 1864, on a surgeon's certificate of 
disability. The succeeding two years were spent by Mr. Dyer in recovering his 
health, and he then engaged in the hardware business in Chicago, continuing it 
a year. He then went to Iowa, where in the town of Atalissa, September 12, 
1867, he was united in marriage with Miss Amanda M., daughter of Thomas Lewis. 
The same year he went to St. Louis, Mo., where he received the appointment of 
Deputy City Collector, the place being secured for him by Gov. Fletcher, and 
held a little over a year. On account of his wife's health they returned to 
Iowa, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until 1875, at which 
time he removed to Joliet. His wife was removed by death June 29, 1870, 
leaving one child, George L., who is now with his father. Since coming to 
Joliet Mr. Dyer has followed the dry-goods business. On May 6, 1873, Mr. Dyer 
contracted a second matrimonial alliance, taking for his companion Miss 
Juliette Hardy, with whom he lived happily until December 27, 1876, when she 
breathed her last. She was a daughter of Otis Hardy, of Joliet. The union was 
blessed by the birth of one child, Florence J. On April 10, 1878, Mr. Dyer was 
again married, his bride being Miss Amelia A. Hardy, who has borne him two 
children, now living—Emma Phila and Marion A. The first Presidential ballot of 
Mr. Dyer was cast for Abraham Lincoln, and his allegiance has has always been 
given to the Republican party. In the infancy of that political organization 
his father and brothers desired to vote for Gen. Fremont, but dare not do so 
in the section of Missouri in which they lived. Mr. Dyer belongs to the Grand 
Army of the Republic.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 
 


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