Wayside Inn

 

Elisha Dyer, IV  (1862 -1917)

 

Prominent Member of the Exclusive "Four Hundred" of New York and Newport Society; Descendant of Notable Rhode Islanders. Son of General Elisha Dyer (1839-1906), a Governor of Rhode Island and Mayor of the City of Providence, and Nancy Anthony Viall Dyer (1842-1920); grandson of Elisha Dyer (1811-1890), also a Rhode Island Governor.

 

A descendant of Roger Williams, founder of the Rhode Island Colony, and direct descendant of William and Mary Dyer who came from England, in 1635, to Boston; later among the founders and settlers of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Dyer was educated in the private schools of Providence and was a graduate of Brown University in 1883; being the third of the name to have graduated from that institution. Receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws from Columbia Law School in 1885, he was admitted to the bar in that year also engaging in business in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, as a private banker and broker. Among the notable "Four Hundred", Mr. Dyer and his wife, the former Sidney Turner Swan (1857-1933) of Baltimore, were prominent members of New York and Newport Society. Elisha Dyer, Jr. was not only distinguished as the best dressed man in Newport, but he was recognized as Society's most accomplished dancer, and led the intricate cotillions and balls at Mrs. Astor's elaborate entertainments during the New York and Newport 'seasons'. He succumbed to pneumonia after a brief illness at his Newport home, "Wayside."