Abiel Marston

Family/Spouse: Joseph Dyar. Joseph was born on 7 Feb 1719 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Military Service: 1 Jan 1777; American Revolution (US) Private, Capt. MUNSON's co., Col. Moses HAZEN's regt.; Continental Army p ay accounts for service from 1 JAN 1777 to 31 DEC 1779; also, same co. a nd regt.; enlisted 20 NOV 1776; service to 10 NOV 1779, 35 mos. 20 days; enlistment, during war; roll certified at Camp at Peekskill; also, Col. HAZEN's Regt.; Continental Army pay accounts for service from 1 JAN 1780 to 31 D EC 1780; also, Col. HAZEN's regt.; pay abstract for wages for OCT-DEC 1780, dated at Boston, 21 Jan 1783; said Dyer's wages reported to have been paid to Capt. M. WHITE.

Notes:

Joseph DYAR was a sea captain, and he was the leader of the "Indians" at the Boston Tea Party -- his wife being one of those who prepared and appli ed the stain used. They lived at Malden, Middlesex, Ma, and during the American Revolution he was engaged in carrying supplies to the colonial army. During that service he was taken prisoner nine times by the British.
Joseph died before the birth of his last child.

SOURCES:
POD: Alice Dyer Finley, 3 MAR 1995.
The Dyar Family Tree (1944)Genealogical & Personal Memoirs of Middlesex County (1908) IV, 1751Malden Births, Marriages & Deaths (1903), pp. 23, 226, 271 and 352.
NEH&GR XIV (1860), p. 27.Dyar, Harrison Gray Jr., Preliminary Genealogy of the Dyar Family (1903 ), p. 12.Mass. Soldiers & Sailors in the War of the Revolution, pp. 125-6.

Joseph married Elizabeth Nichols on 2 May 1771 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts . Elizabeth (daughter of John Nichols and Elizabeth Burditt) was born on 11 Jan 1751 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts ; died on 4 Jun 1818 in West Freeman, Franklin County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Joseph Dyar Jr. conveyed land in Charlestown in 1796. In 1806 he emigrat ed to the province of Maine and settled at Phillips where he "was a leadi ng Baptist elder of that section until he died" (Dyar Gen.,p. 15).The 1820 census of Phillips township shows Joseph's household with one ma le aged 16-18 (James), two aged 16-25 (Joseph 3rd and an unknown), and o ne aged over 45 (Joseph Jr.), and females: one aged 10-15 (Eliza), and o ne over 45(Sally). Three of these people were involved in agriculture.As mentioned above Joseph Jr. was very involved in the religious life of h is town. Until 1818, when the church went under, and some years after it w as revived Joseph (and two other ministers) did most of the preaching at t he church in Phillips -- these efforts were without any compensation fr om the church members. As the Farmington Chronicle stated in a series of s ketches of Phillips in 1869, "The devotion and sacrifices of those early m inisters who were faithfully engaged in their work challenges our admirati on. Their privations and suffering excite our commiseration, but a re to be attributed to errors taught by the ministers themselves and too f aithfully sanctioned by the membership."Despite the occasional decline of membership to a point approaching zer o, Joseph Dyar continued preaching. When Elder Samuel HUTCHINS visited Phi llips in 1827 he noted the poor attendance and was instrumental in starti ng the church again on her course. From this time, improvement in the man ner of conducting affairs became apparent. Elder Joseph Dyar was constitut ed pastor of the Phillips church and the preaching became more regula r. In 1830 the members who lived in Madrid, Maine, were organized in to a church by themselves and Elder Dyar was dismissed from his pastora te in Phillips. After this he bestowed most of his labor on the chur ch in Madrid. Ironically, after the departure of Joseph Dyar from Phillip s, the congregation there began to employ a paid preacher under contract.The 1830 census of Phillips township shows Joseph's household with one ma le aged 10-14 (?), and one aged 50-59 (Joseph Jr.), and females: one ag ed 5-9 (?), and one aged 50-59 (Sally). Their farm appears to have be en contiguous with that of their son Joseph 3rd.The Rev. Joseph Dyar Jr. died at AE 85, and was buried at the Riverside Me thodist Church, Phillips, Franklin Co., ME.This cemetery (behind the Methodist Church, the town's first which open ed in 1840), was destroyed on 4 OCT 1869 after two days of torrential rai ns washed out all the bridges over the Sandy River but one, took out fi ve dams above the town and killed one resident.
SOURCES:
The Dyar Family Tree (1944)Farmington Chronicle, 10 FEB-22 JUL1869 ("Sketches of History of Phillip s, Franklin, Me" by Albert Pease.)
Franklin County, Maine, Vital Statistics IV, 8.
DOD: Wirth, D.; Franklin County, Maine Cemetery Records, IV.
Whitney, Wendell; History of Phillips (ME) (1933), IV
Malden Births, Marriages & Deaths (1903), p. 23.Dyar, Harrison Gray (Jr.), Preliminary Genealogy of the Dyar Family (1903 ), p.15.
Somerset Co. (ME) census of 1820 and 1830

Joseph married Sally Merritt on 25 Dec 1792 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts . Sally (daughter of Samuel Merritt and Sarah Hawkes) was born on 20 Feb 1773 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts ; died on 24 Feb 1847 in Phillips, Franklin County, Maine; was buried in Riverside Methodist Church, Phillips, Franklin County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

May have married John G. Richardson of Malden in 7 Jun 1835

Elizabeth married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Susanna Merritt on 20 Sep 1789 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts . Susanna (daughter of Samuel Merritt and Sarah Hawkes) was born on 12 Mar 1769 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts ; died on 4 Apr 1841 in West Freeman, Franklin County, Maine; was buried in Brackley Cemetery, Freeman, Franklin County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ebenezer married Patty Caswell on 7 Jul 1805 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Patty was born on 3 Oct 1784 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sally married Jesse Holden on 9 Dec 1805 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts . Jesse was born est 1780 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts ; died on 16 Jan 1860. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Paulina married John Kempton on 25 Dec 1832 in Farmington, Franklin County, Maine. John was born on 7 Apr 1808 in Farmington, Franklin County, Maine; died on 11 Dec 1844 in Farmington, Franklin County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]