08/15/2026
Lydia (Hough) Dyar: Patriot, Merchant, "Seeds Woman"
Lydia lies interred at the Old South Burying Ground in Billerica, Massachusetts. Her stone bears resemblance to the work of the Lamson family of carvers, possibly from the period 1775–1789 (Joseph, John, Joseph Jr., or Caleb Lamson).
Here lies ye Body of the
Widow Lydia Dyar of Boston;
the Place of her Nativity, where
She left a good Estate & came
into ye Country May 22d, 1775 to
escape ye abuce of ye Ministerial
Troops sent by George ye 3d to
subject North America to Slavery.
She died July 28th 1776 Aged 88 Years
The sweet remembrance of the Just
Shall flourish when they Sleep in the dust.
❖Life of Lydia (Hough) Dyar
Lydia Hough, daughter of William and Mary (Bricknell) Hough, was born in Boston on February 2, 1697/8. William Hough was a Boston tallow chandler; Lydia was one of his four children with Mary — William, Abigail, Lydia, and Ebenezer — and had an older sister, Elizabeth, who had already married James Pitts and received her share of the estate by the time William’s will was written.
Lydia married Joseph Dyer on December 19, 1717, by the Rev. John Webb — likely at Boston's New North (Fifth Congregational) Church. Joseph, born in Boston in 1687, was a mariner. That same year the couple bought a house on Hepburn Lane, and Joseph, together with his mother and three sisters, sold four acres of marsh in Charlestown.
Known issue of Lydia and Joseph:
Joseph Jr., born February 1718/19, died 1780.
William, born April 15, 1721, after Joseph Sr.’s death.
Joseph Sr. died around 1720, leaving Lydia a young widow before William was even born. In 1750, Lydia inherited a house from her father’s estate which stood at the corner of Middle Street and Salutation Alley (now Hanover and Salutation) in Boston’s North End — very valuable real estate today. Here she set up shop selling seeds imported from London. The property’s proximity to Copp’s Hill, where British (“Ministerial”) troops encamped and set up a battery of cannon, may have influenced Lydia — then in her late seventies and of independent means — to leave her native town “into the country” when Boston was besieged in 1775. She settled in Billerica, where she died the following year.
❖Lydia’s estate
Her will wasn’t actually probated until May 12, 1780, most likely because it left her son Joseph, a cooper, the use of her estate for his lifetime — and he didn’t die until 1780. Only then was her property, a mansion house on Fore Street in Boston’s North End plus a share of a warehouse on Ballard’s wharf, finally divided among her six grandchildren: William, Joseph, and Lydia (named “Senior Heirs”), and Sarah, John, and Jeremiah (“Minor Heirs”). It’s also worth noting that it’s through Lydia’s branch of the family that the surname settled into the spelling “Dyar.”
❖A “Seeds Woman” of Boston
For many years Lydia kept her shop in Boston’s North End. She was one of several Boston women known as “Seeds women,” merchants who imported garden seeds each spring and advertised them in local newspapers such as the Boston-Gazette.
The earliest of her ads to survive — and the oldest known newspaper ad for her seed business — ran in the Boston Gazette on February 17, 1766:
Imported in the last Ships, and Captain Freeman, from London and to be Sold by Lydia Dyar, Near the Salutation, Boston, A fresh Assortment of Garden Seeds, viz. Early Charlton, early Hotspur, golden Hotspur, large Marrowfats, Dwarf ditto, large Rounceval, early Ormond, Hotspur, Spanish and Maratta Peas; early Hotspur, early Dwarf, Windsor, early Mazagan and Lisbon Beans; early Dutch and early Yorkshire Cabbage, green curl'd Savoy, Battersea, Sugar Loaf, large Winter and red Cabbage Seeds, large Colliflower, early ditto, Sweet Marjoram, Thyme, Summer Savory, Sage, Balm, Hyssop, Orange Purple and early golden Carrot, white Spanish Silver and red Onion, large swelling Parsnip, curl'd double Parsley, short top Raddish, Salmon Radish, Cabbage, Coss, Marble and several other Sorts of Lettuce, curl'd Endive, Salary, round Summer Spinnage, red and white Clover and Herds Grass, R**e, H**p, Canary and other Sorts of Seeds, warranted to be good, and of last Year's Growth, sold at the lowest Terms. (Boston-Gazette, February 17, 1766)
❀Peas: Early Charlton, Early Hotspur, Golden Hotspur, Large and Dwarf Marrowfats, Large Rounceval, Early Ormond, Spanish, and Maratta Peas
❀Beans: Early Hotspur, Early Dwarf, Windsor, Early Mazagan, Lisbon Beans
❀Cabbages & cauliflower: Early Dutch, Early Yorkshire Cabbage, Green Curl’d Savoy, Battersea, Sugar Loaf, Large Winter and Red Cabbage, Large and Early Cauliflower
❀Roots: Orange, Purple, and Early Golden Carrot; White Spanish, Silver, and Red Onion; Large Swelling Parsnip; Short-top and Salmon Radish
❀Salad & greens: Cabbage, Cos, and Marble Lettuce; Curl’d Endive; Celery (“Salary”); Round Summer Spinach; Curl’d Double Parsley
❀Herbs: Sweet Marjoram, Thyme, Summer Savory, Sage, Balm, Hyssop
❀Field & misc.: Red and White Clover, Herds Grass, R**e, H**p, Canary Seed
It’s a striking list — over forty named varieties, evidence of a well-established, well-stocked shop as early as 1766. The ad’s location, “Near the Salutation,” confirms she was selling seeds out of the North End house she’d inherited from her father sixteen years earlier.
A later ad, from February 20, 1769, shows she kept at it for years — offering a shorter but still varied list (Charlton and Ormond peas, Windsor and kidney beans, Yorkshire and Dutch cabbage, clover and “Sallad Seeds”) from a shop she then described as “Near the North-Battery,” a few streets over in the same North End neighborhood. She was still advertising as late as April 22, 1774, in the Massachusetts Spy — just over a year before she fled Boston — meaning she ran her seed business right up to the eve of the Revolution.
These names reflect both long-lost heirloom strains (Ormond peas, Mazagan beans, Battersea cabbage) and varieties still recognized today, like Marrowfat peas, Early York cabbage, and Windsor broad beans.
As the Revolution drew near, Lydia’s North End home and shop stood uncomfortably close to British encampments on Copp’s Hill, and in 1775 she left Boston for the safety of Billerica — where she died the following year, as her gravestone records.
More on Lydia and Boston’s other “seeds women,” including copies of their newspaper ads, at the Adverts 250 Project: https://adverts250project.org/tag/lydia-dyar/
