Mary Dyer Quaker Witness for Religious Freedom Hanged on Boston Common 1660 "My life not availeth me in comparison to the liberty of the truth."
Author and Dyer expert Christy K. Robinson has demonstrated that these words are likely not those of Mary Dyer (my ancestor). They do not match the words of the extant letter in Mary's hand. Robinson believes that Edward Burrough, a Quaker minister who wrote a pamphlet to King Charles II, wrote the words and appended Mary's name. The Boston magistrates had written a pamphlet defending the execution of Dyer in June 1660 and Burrough refuted them and used "Mary's words" as part of his ammunition. It worked and King Charles ordered Governor John Endecott to cease any further executions. From henceforth all capital cases would have to be referred to England for trial.
Additionally, Robinson points out that Mary would not have been executed on Boston Common but outside the city gate. (Executions did not begin on the Common until the 1800s.)
For author Robinson's article on this, see "A mystery cloaked in the obvious" at marybarrettdyer.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-mystery-cloaked-in.... Also see her fine non-fiction work, The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport (2013), as well as her two fact-based novels.
