Charles Volney Dyer (June 12, 1808 – April 24, 1878) was a prominent Chicago

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

and Stationmaster on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

Early life

Charles was born in Clarendon, Vermont on June 12, 1808, the ninth of the ten children of Daniel and Susannah Olin Dyer. A precocious child, he was sent at age 15 to the Castleton Academy to prepare for college. He then attended Middlebury College's medical department, from which he graduated on December 9, 1830. He established a practice in Newark, Wayne County Vermont in February 1831.

Chicago years

Ambition led him to Chicago, then a small, but rapidly growing town, in August 1835. He became Surgeon for the garrison at Ft. Dearborn soon thereafter. In 1837, he married Louisa M. Gifford, of

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * Elgin, Manit ...

, with whom he would have six children, three of whom (Stella Louisa, Charles Gifford and Louis) would survive into adulthood. The Dyers also adopted a daughter, Cornelia. Dyer was elected town clerk of Chicago in the Juny 6, 1836 town election (held at the Tremont House), but resigned immediately after being elected. Reentering private practice, he was instrumental in the fight against the cholera that plagued Chicago in the late 1840s. In 1839, he shared offices with Dr. Levi D. Boone, who would go on to become

mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of city Government of Chicago, government in Chicago, Illinois, the List of United States cities by population, third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsib ...

in 1855. Dyer invested his savings in real estate, and after several ups and downs, was able to retire from the practice of medicine in 1854.

Abolition activities

In 1837, Dr. Dyer rented a hall and called a protest meeting in reaction to the murder of

Elijah Lovejoy Elijah Parish Lovejoy (November 9, 1802 – November 7, 1837) was an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor, and abolitionist. After his murder by a mob, he became a martyr to the abolitionist cause opposing slavery in th ...

by a mob in

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) * Alton (surname) Places Australia * Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zeala ...

, Illinois. In 1838, he helped organize a Chicago Chapter of the

American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist society in the United States. AASS formed in 1833 in response to the nullification crisis and the failures of existing anti-slavery organizations, ...

, along with Rev. Flavel Bascom,

Philo Carpenter Philo Carpenter (February 27, 1805 – August 7, 1886) was Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, Illinois' first pharmacist, and an outspoken abolitionism, abolitionist. Biography Born in Savoy, Massachusetts, February 27, 1805, young Philo learned medic ...

, Robert Freeman, L.C.P. Freer, and Calvin DeWolf. In 1839, Dyer took in a runaway slave boy, and arranged for his passage on to Windsor, Canada, thus beginning his career as a stationmaster on the

. From then on, he would host many runaways, evading the Illinois law against "harboring" (fraudulently concealing) runaways by allowing them to live openly in his home while waiting for passage to Canada. One prominent conductor on the Underground Railroad,

Owen Lovejoy Owen Lovejoy (January 6, 1811 – March 25, 1864) was an American lawyer, Congregational minister, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, and Republican United States Congress, congressman from Illinois. He was also a "conductor ...

, is known to have taken many runaway slaves to Dr. Dyer's home, and was frequently a guest there himself. Dyer was not merely a passive host, he was also known to take action to rescue runaways who were retrieved by slave-catchers. Slave-catchers from Kentucky, knowing that Dr. Dyer was harboring a young male slave they were after, waited for the boy to leave Dr. Dyer's house on an errand. Snatching him, they took him to a hotel and bound him with rope, sending for a blacksmith to fit him with iron manacles. Hearing about this, Dyer went to the hotel, burst into the room where the captive was held, and cut the ropes, directing him to escape through a window. Once the slave catchers recovered from their surprise at this bold action, they chased Dr. Dyer out into the street, and one of them charged him with a

Bowie knife A Bowie knife ( ) is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knives created by Rezin Bowie in the early 19th century for his brother James Bowie, who had become famous for his use of a large knife at a duel known as the Sandbar Fight. Since its fir ...

. Dyer beat the man unconscious with his walking stick, breaking it in the process. The rest of the gang gathered their companion and left. A gold-capped cane presented to Dr. Dyer by the African American citizens of Chicago in memory of this incident still rests in the collection of the Chicago History Museum. In 1848, Dyer ran for Governor of Illinois on the

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

ticket. He lost to Augustus C. French.

Career as judge

In 1862, Great Britain and the US entered into the Lyons-Seward Treaty, intended to suppress the international slave trade. In 1863,

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

appointed Dr. Dyer a judge of the Mixed Court for the Suppression of the Slave Trade in Sierra Leone. Charles V. Dyer died at his daughter's home in Lake View, Illinois on April 24, 1878. He was buried at

Oak Woods Cemetery Oak Woods Cemetery is a large lawn cemetery in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Located at 1035 E. 67th Street, it is in the Greater Grand Crossing area of Chicago's South Side. Established on February 12, 1853, it covers . Oak Woods is th ...

in Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, Charles 1808 births 1878 deaths People from Clarendon, Vermont Middlebury College alumni Underground Railroad people Illinois Libertyites Physicians from Chicago Medicine in Chicago City clerks of Chicago