Patrick Dyer

Patrick Dyer, a trusted and capable employe of the Chicago Street Railway Company, now chief engineer at the Illinois street power house, was born in Summit county, Ohio, in 1857, a son of Patrick and Bridget (Gibbons) Dyer, natives of Ireland, and honored pioneers of the Buckeye State. For some time the father was employed on the construction of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati railroad. He was an early settler of Cleveland, where he died in 1876, at the age of seventy-nine years, and the death of his wife occurred in the same city in 1871.

The subject of this sketch is indebted to the public schools of Cleveland for his educational privileges, and there he grew to manhood and learned engineering. He commenced sailing out of that place in 1877 as a fireman on a tug; during the same year came to Chicago, and in the fall went as fireman on the tug Protection. He continued to serve in that capacity on different tugs for some time, but in 1881 was granted a license and accepted the position of engineer on the tug Van Schaick, sailing out of Chicago one season. He then went to Milwaukee, from which port he sailed for a short period. After a period of fifteen years on the lakes, he retired to land in 1892 and accepted his present responsible position, that of chief engineer at the Illinois street power house. During his career on the water he was in two explosions, the tug Parker being blown up twice; the first time five men were killed, and in the second two.

Socially, Mr. Dyer is a member of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association No. 4, of Chicago.

In that city, in 1882, he was married to Miss Lizzie Dean, a native of Toronto, Canada, and to them have been born five children, four of whom are still living: Kate, Harry, Thomas and Edward. Anna, the second child, is deceased.

Return to Home Port

Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.