Contact info: Nicole@FamilyLocket.com
About Me
Hello, I’m Nicole Elder Dyer, a professional genealogist and genetic genealogist (learn more about me and my research team). I married into the Dyer family and have recently become a co-administrator of the Dyer Y-DNA surname project at Family Tree DNA. I am researching the family lines of Dyers in the United States, particularly those in the southeastern states. My husband, Lance Dyer, is a descendant of John Robert Dyer, b. 1813 in Tennessee or North Carolina and died in 1879 in Hawkins County, Tennessee. John Robert Dyer’s father is unknown, though several autosomal DNA matches link him to other Dyer families who lived in Tennessee, Georgia, and other Southern states in the 1800s. All of these families are unable to trace their Dyer lineages back further than the 1800s reliably, due to record loss and poor record keeping in southern United States prior to 1850. Combining what little evidence remains in courthouses, churches, and federal records with DNA evidence will be key in tracing the Dyer families back in time.
The Dyer Surname
Many families with the surname Dyer lived in the United States in colonial times and the late 1700s. The 1790 census reveals Dyer heads of household residing in every state with extant census returns – Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Massachusetts. This census was lost for Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, and Virginia, but Dyers are known to have resided there through other records like wills, deeds, and tax lists.
In 1840, there were 962 families with the surname Dyer in the United States. States with the highest percentage of Dyer families included Maine (20%), Massachusetts (14%), New York (12%), Tennessee (8%), Ohio (5%), Virginia (5%), Georgia (4%), and Rhode Island (4%). (See https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=dyer)
The origin of the Dyer surname depends on the location. In England, the Dyer surname came from the person’s occupation, meaning they were a dyer of cloth (see Dyer Surname, Wikipedia). Surnames in England were adopted between 1086 and 1381 to distinguish between other local people of the same first name. Some early Dyers in England include Raldulphus Diore of Normandy, 1180, William and Robert Diere, 1195, and John le Deyere of Oxfordshire, 1273 (see Surname Dyer, Forebears).
In Ireland, most surnames were adopted between 950-1150 AD and were largely patronymic, with the prefix Ó (descendant) or Mac (son) followed by a name or descriptive noun (see Irish Names, Wikipedia). Dyer/Dwyer as an Irish surname began as O Duibhir (O’Dwyer) and Mac Duibhir (McDwyer). O’Dwyer is an anglicized version of “Duibhir” meaning “dark.” Many people from County Tipperary with the surname Dwyer are descendants of Dubhuir mac Spealáin, who had may have had dark hair or dark skin coloring. O’Dwyer means grandson of Dubhuir. (See Clan O’Dwyer, Wikipedia). Many others with the surname Dyer and Dwyer in Ireland are from County Donegal (MacDwyer), and Counties Sligo and Roscommon (Dyer).
Not all Dyers are related to the same common Dyer ancestor in England or Ireland. So far, several sub-groups of DNA test-takers have been identified as matches to each other, indicating their group has a common Dyer ancestor. The goal of Y-DNA testing of males with the surname Dyer is to find groups of Dyers who descend from a common ancestor for their group. DNA testing can help distinguish between all the various Dyer families.
Y-DNA Testing
To figure out which Dyer families descend from the same common ancestor, males with the surname Dyer can be tested and compared with other Y-DNA tested Dyer men. Public DNA results for the Dyer surname project, including self-reported (but possibly unverified) earliest paternal ancestors for test-takers, can be viewed here: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/dyer?iframe=yresults. So far the following subgroups have been identified:
Group D02 (Dyer): 12 test-takers from the United States and United Kingdom. The earliest known ancestors of these test-takers are mostly from Virginia in the late 1700s, including John Dyer (1710-1773), whose will was recorded 7 March 1774 in Halifax County, Virginia, proved in court by his wife, Dinah Dyer.
Group D07 (O’Dwyer): 3 test-takers from England and Ireland. The earliest known ancestors are John Dwyer or County Tipperary b. 1802, and John O’Dwyer, b. 1780 in Tipperary.
Group D08 (Dyer): 3 test-takers from the US and UK. One of the earliest known ancestors is William Dyer, b. about 1786 in Virginia. William Dyer’s father was probably William Dyer, b. 1755, died 20 May 1828 in Pope County, Illinois.
Group D09 (Dyer): 3 test-takers from the US. Earliest known ancestors are listed as Joel Dyer (1769-1839). Joel Dyer wrote his will 19 August 1837, recorded in April 1839 in Humphreys County, Tennessee, Wills F: 198-200 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:2:77TV-YQK6).
Group D12 (Dyer): 3 test-takers from US and UK. Earliest known ancestor is Roger Dyer, died 1758 in Virginia, and his will was recorded in Augusta, Virginia, Will Book 2:301-302.
Group D13 (Dwyer): 2 test-takers from Ireland, both with earliest known ancestors from Tipperary Ireland – Thomas Francis Dwyer (1842-1899) from Thules, Tipperary, and John Dwyer b. 1 794 in Tipperary.
Group D14 (Dyer): 2 test-takers from the U.S. with no common ancestor yet determined, but they are in haplogroup E-M2. One of the test-takers is from the branch E-FT67761. This specific haplogroup has descendants from England, one from the U.S., and eight from unknown countries. See E-FT67761.
Group D15: 2 test-takers from the US with the common ancestor Joel Dyer, b. 1825 in Tennessee, died in 1851, and resided in Giles County, Tennessee in 1850.
Group D17: 2 test-takers, one with an earliest known ancestor of William O’Dwyer, born in 1759, Ballinure, Tipperary, Ireland.
Group D18: 3 test-takers, two from Ireland, and one with an earliest known ancestor of James Dyer, b. abt 1808 (probably in Ireland).
Work is ongoing to group unassigned test-takers to sub-groups, create new sub-groups, find common ancestors for these groups, and verify lineages of test-takers.
D01, D03, D04, D05, D06, D10, D11, and D16 include test-takers with the surnames Dye, Dyess, and Dare. Another surname project exists for O’Dwyer families, mainly from Ireland, at FamilyTreeDNA: O’Dwyer Family Project. The project has 193 members.
How to Take the Y-DNA Test
Males who have the surname Dyer and are descended from an unbroken male Dyer line (father, grandfather, great-grandfather etc.) should take the Y-DNA test. The Y chromosome is only passed from father to son, so women cannot take the Y-DNA test. Learn more about Y-DNA testing.
Start by taking the Y-37 Test. Once we see which Dyer lineage or sub-group you fit into, we can upgrade to additional markers if needed. Y-DNA tests are sold at FamilyTreeDNA. This is the only testing company for Y-DNA that compares results to others and finds matches. After receiving your Y-DNA test results, join the Dyer surname project. It is free to join and will allow you to compare your DNA with other Dyers.
Please contact me with any questions – Nicole@FamilyLocket.com.
Dyers in Tennessee and Georgia: Y-DNA Testing Needed
Male Y-DNA test-takers from the following lineages are needed.
John Robert Dyer b. 1813 in TN and wife Barsheba Tharp b. abt 1816 in TN
John and Barsheba resided in Hawkins County, Tennessee from 1830-1880 and had the following children:
Augustus Washington Dyer (1831-1907)
William Thomas Dyer (1833-1870)
Sarah Ann Dyer (1835-1880)
Mary Dyer (1837-1903)
Richard Fain Dyer (1839-1921)
Lewis Tharp Dyer (1841-1916)
Louisa Jane Eliza Dyer (1844-1897)
Elizabeth Frances Dyer (1847-1928)
Charles McKinney Dyer (1849-1914)
John James Dyer (1851-1895)
Nancy Malissa Dyer (1853-1867)
No documentary evidence points conclusively to John Robert Dyer’s father, though many online trees have merged him with other men of the same name and given him parents without supporting documentation.
Ten of John Robert Dyer’s descendants took autosomal DNA tests at Ancestry. Their DNA matches were examined and many descendants of other Dyers who lived in the Southern U.S. in the 1800s were found. The following ancestral couples were located as common ancestors of these matches: James Dyer b. 1804 and Bedey of Grainger Co., Tennessee; John David Dyer b. 1848 in Georgia and Eliza Jane York b. 1847 in Georgia; and LeRoy Dyer b. 1827 TN and Eliza Robertson Austin b. 1839 TN.
See the following genealogy research report: John Robert Dyer Research Report 2018
James Dyer b. 1804 in NC and wife Bedey [–?–] b. 1803 in NC
James Dyer and Bedey resided in Grainger County, Tennessee in 1850 and 1860. They had the following children:
John Dyer (1829-)
Jane Dyer (1831-)
Nancy Dyer (1833-)
Hubbard Dyer (1835-)
Warren Dyer (1837-)
Sarah Dyer (1839-)
Mary Dyer (1841-)
Mary C Dyer (1842-1935)
Calvin Lafayette Dyer (1842-1922)
Emeline Dyer (1845-)
Eliza Dyer (1848-)
Several men named James Dyer resided in Grainger County at this time, causing many online family trees to merge them into one identity and mix up the parents of the James Dyer who was married to Bedey. The father of this particular James Dyer is currently unknown and so far no documentary evidence points to a family of origin conclusively.
See the following genealogy research report: James Dyer of Grainger Co TN Report 2023
John David Dyer b. 1848 in Georgia and Eliza Jane York b. 1847 in Georgia
John David Dyer and Eliza Jane York resided in Bartow County, Georgia, in 1880 and 1900. Their children include:
Joel Elmer Dyer (1868-1938)
William W Dyer (1870-1918)
David Dyer (1874-)
Jane Dyer (1876-)
Emma Louise Dyer (1879-)
Annie L Dyer (1881-)
Ellen O Dyer (1884-)
Nancy Elizabeth “Lizzie” Dyer (1887-)
Samuel H Dyer (1891-)
LeRoy Dyer b. 1827 TN and Eliza Robertson Austin b. 1839 TN
LeRoy and Eliza were married in Hawkins County, TN, and resided in Washington County, TN in 1900. Their children included:
Frederick L “Fred” Dyer (1866-1947)
Archibald Austin Dyer (1868-1937)
Mary E Dyer (1870-1950)
William C Dyer (1872-1959)
Charles Warren Dyer (1874-1939)
Sarah Dyer (1876-1956)
Samuel T. Dyer (1878-1930)
Walter Edgar Dyer (1882-1942)