An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., 
The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, pages 424-425

	HON. TRUSTEN POLK DYER, member of the Seattle bar, was born in Warren
county, Missouri, May 27, 1856. His parents, Captain George W. and Mary A.
(Philpot) Dyer, were natives of Virginia and of English ancestry, who emigrated
at an early day to the Virginia Colony. Captain Dyer was a member of the old
State militia of Virginia and emigrated with his family to Missouri in 1840,
where he owned slaves, operated a large plantation, was a member of the
Legislature for a number of years and was one of the foremost citizens of the
State. With the breaking out of the rebellion, though a slaveholder, he was
loyal to the Union and lost his life in defense of his country.
	Young Dyer was thus left the only support of his widowed mother and seven
sisters (his only brother having removed to Colorado just after the close of the
war), and for a number of years he toiled on the farm in summer and attended
school during the winter months. At the age of fifteen he entered the Central
Wesleyan College at Warrenton, and completed his studies at the Baptist College
at Louisiana, Missouri. He began teaching at the age of seventeen, and at the
same time engaged in reading law during the winter evenings, which method he
followed for three years and was admitted to the bar in February, 1875. He then
entered the office of his brother, David P. Dyer, Probate Judge of Warren
county, and engaged in practice. He also acted as Clerk of the Probate Court. In
1878 he removed to St. Louis, and for two years held the position of Clerk of
the Registry Department of the St. Louis post office, meanwhile during the day
attending the St. Louis Law School, where Messrs. H.B. Loomis, George H. Preston
and Charles F. Fishback of this city (Seattle) were his classmates. Being now
qualified by a severe course of reading, he entered into actual practice,
associating himself with his uncle, Colonel D.P. Dyer, of St. Louis, a man who
has a national reputation not only as a military hero in the war of the
rebellion but also as a fearless guardian of the people's interest as United
States District Attorney for Missouri, and who showed his high ability in the
celebrated "whisky ring" cases under President Grant's administration. Trusten
P. Dyer was once the unanimous choice of his party for the Legislature. During
the years of 1884, ë85 and ë86, he was City Attorney for St. Louis, and in the
fall of 1886 was nominated for Prosecuting Attorney, but was defeated by a small
plurality. He was for three years prominently connected with the National Guard
of Missouri, and was a delegate to the convention of the National Guard of the
States at Washington, District of Columbia, in the spring of 1887.
	He was an alternate delegate in the Republican National Convention in
Chicago in 1888, where he met Hon. Watson C. Squire and other gentlemen of
prominence of the then Territory of Washington, and through them learned of the
activity and future promise of Seattle, and in July of the same year he removed
to this city. Soon after locating here, Mr. Dyer became associated in the
practice of law with Judge Richard Osborn, under the firm name of Osborn & Dyer.
This partnership continued until the spring of 1890, when, owing to Judge
Osborn's increased duties in the probate office, which took him from the general
practice, the partnership was dissolved and the firm of Dyer & Craven was
organized, and this continued until the spring of 1892. Since then Mr. Dyer has
practiced alone.
	He has always been an ardent Republican, even when living in a State where
it tried men's nerves to advance Republican ideas. He aided in organizing the
"Harrison Legion "in Seattle in 1888, and was the first president of that body,
taking an active interest in the campaign. He aided materially in redeeming King
county from Democratic rule. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention
which assembled at Olympia July 4, 1889, to frame the present constitution ofí
Washington. He served on several of the most important committees and was
frequently called upon to preside during the absence of the president of the
convention. Mr. Dyer was also elected a member of the State Senate of Washington
from the city of Seattle in November, 1890, for a term of four years. He served
during the sessions of 1891 and 1893, and was president pro tem, of the last
Senate.
	He was chairman and member of several of the most important committees.
Through his labors and efforts many good laws are now on the statute books of
Washington.
	Mr. Dyer was married in Seattle, June 18, 1889, to Miss Mary A. Pontius, a
native of the city, and daughter of Rezin W. and Margaret J. (Brinley) Pontius,
pioneers of the State. Mr. Dyer is prominent in Masonry; has received the
Thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite, is Eminent Commander of the Seattle
Commandery, K.T., and is a member of the Mystic Shrine; he has held many
important positions in the fraternity.
	He owns valuable real estate about the city, which he has developed and
improved, and he is largely interested in the Dyer & Freed Manufacturing
Company, wholesale and retail dealers in sash, doors and buildersí supplies.
"Dyer avenue," one of the most beautiful residence streets of Seattle, was named
from him.
	Thus briefly have we outlined the trials and triumphs of one of Seattle's
self-made men, who was quick to foresee events, grasp opportunities, and by
personal and persistent effort and enterprise has steadily ascended the scale
and attained his present position of honor and distinction among men.

Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in October 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.