Mary Dyer: Biography of a Rebel Quaker (review)

Book Reviews153 These essays are uneven, but collectivelythey do shednew light on George Fox, and we are indebted to Michael Mullett for collecting and editing them, to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust for financial support, and to William Sessions for publishing them. Haverford CollegeEdwin B. Bronner Mary Dyer: Biography of a Rebel Quaker. By Ruth Talbot Plimpton. Boston: Branden, 1994. 247 pp. Maps, chart, illustrations, notes, and index. $21.95. Mary Dyer is an intriguing figure in seventeenth century American religious history. She mayhave beenthe daughter ofArabella Stuart, cousin ofJames I. With her husband, Mary emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was soon drawn to the charismatic person and teaching of Anne Hutchinson. The Dyers followedthe Hutchinsons into exile in Rhode Island. After the execution ofCharles I, Mary returned to England for seven years. There she met andjoined Friends. She returned to Boston in 1657 and was promptly jailed under the new anti-Quaker laws. Her husband secured her release in exchange for his bond that she would not return. However, Mary did return the following year with four other women to protest the ear-cropping of three Friends. Mary and three men were banished on pain of death. When two of the men were rearrested, Mary walked back to visit them in prison, and was herself arrested. William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson were hanged, Mary was reprieved at the last minute, when the noose was already around her neck. In April 1660 Mary returned to Boston, and was hanged. Hers is a fascinating life, appealingly told. But the author is neither an historian nor a Friend and the book is plagued with many small errors. These become especially noticeable in the sections recounting Mary's meeting with George Fox and her convincement. Typical ofthe imprecision is the subtitle: Mary was not a rebel Quaker; she was a Quaker rebel who resisted the dominant Puritan politico-religious culture ofNew England. The best parts ofthe book are the lengthy quotations from William and Mary Dyer's letters to the Massachusetts Bay authorities during Mary's last two imprisonments. They permitthe readerto develop her own ideas about Mary's motivation andthe Dyers' marital relationship. Ruth Plimpton explains Mary's life and action with the theme of religious freedom. However, I expectthat as a Friend, Mary was more concernedwithbeing faithful to her Inner Guide. She Temains an enigmatic figure. The author has done a great deal of research and presents information in an engaging and interesting way. The maps and illustrations are helpful. It is too bad so many inaccuracies remain. Historians are unlikely to find her conclusions or analyses persuasive. Cleveland Heights, OhioMartha P. Grundy Wilt Thou Go on My Errand? Journals of Three 18th Century Women Quaker Ministers: Susanna Morris 1682-1755, Elizabeth Hudson 1722-1782, Ann Moore 1 710-1 783. Ed. by Margaret Hope Bacon. Wallingford, Pa.: Pendle Hill, 1994. vi + 400 pp. Maps, illustrations, notes and indexes. Paper, $16.00. ...