DYER, Sidney, clergyman, born in Cambridge, New York, 11 February 1814. He was chiefly self-taught, but studied for a time in the Amity Street, classical school in New York City. At an early age he was thrown upon his own exertions, and, after serving in the army in the Black Hawk war, became, in 1836, a student of theology. He was ordained as a Baptist clergyman in 1842, and shortly afterward served as a missionary among the Choctaws, soon becoming secretary of the Indian mission board in Louisville, Kentucky. He removed to Indianapolis in 1852, and in 1859 was called to Philadelphia as district secretary of the American Baptist publication society, which office he has since retained. Mr. Dyer has traveled extensively in the United States and Canada, and is a voluminous writer. His earlier poems, which appeared in various magazines, were collected into a volume entitled "Voices of Nature" (Louisville, 1850). He has also published, beside occasional sermons, "Psalmist for the use of Baptist Churches" (1854); "Songs and Ballads" (New York, 1857); "The Drunkard's Child" (1866); "Great Wonders in Little Things" (Philadelphia, 1871); "Black Diamonds" (1873); "Home and Abroad" (1874), "Hoofs and Claws" (1875); " Ocean Gardens and Palaces" (1877); "Elmdale Lyceum" (1879), and other works. He is also the author of several cantatas, including " Ruth" and " The Winter Entertainment." Among his popular verses are "The Beautiful Ladder," "The Songs my Mother Sung," and "The Grave of Ben Bolt.

"His daughter, Mattie Dyer, author, born in New York City, 23 November 1842, was educated at a female seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was afterward a teacher in the Ladoga female seminary. In 1860 she married James H. Britts, of Ladoga, Ind. She began to write for various literary journals at an early age, and has published "Edward Lee" (Philadelphia, 1865); "Harry Henderson" (1880); " Honest and Earnest" (1881); "Boys and Girls of Deep Glen "(1882); "Better than Gold" (1883); "Earl Armstrong" (1885); "Chrissie" (1886); "Marcia, an American Girl" (Chicago, 1886); "Nobody's Boy" (1887).