Skip to main content

Dr. Dyer House

Dr. Dyer Home

Dr. Dyer House

Dr. Dyer House

No longer standing, was located in the 100 block of East State Street, Burlington (verified site)

“[Dr. Dyer’s Burlington home] was… to shelter three fugitive slaves, on their separate journey to Canada and freedom…. All three fugitives in later years retraced the steps of their journey and stopped to thank [Dyer] for his share in their rescue.”

Excerpt from a paper read by Harriet Mabel Norton, granddaughter of Dr. Edward Dyer, at the unveiling of the sundial monument in Burlington dedicated to Dr. Dyer in June 1935.

Evidence:

  • Dyer’s daughter wrote about finding a fugitive slave in their attic.
  • Dyer was a well-known abolitionist:
    • Helping to organize the Territorial Anti-Slavery Society in August 1842 and the Burlington Liberty Association in 1844.
    • As a stockholder in the American Freeman, an abolitionist newspaper.
    • Acting as a delegate for the 1843 Territorial Liberty Party Convention in Madison.
    • Acting as a delegate to the 1848 Liberty Party Convention in Buffalo, New York.