Sadie Jane Dyer was born in Thorndike, Maine on 30 April 1899, the second child born to Edgar and Anna (Dolloff) Dyer. Their first child, also named Sadie, was stillborn in Thorndike on 18 March 1898. The Republican Journal from 11 May 1899 reported "Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Dyer are receiving congratulations on the birth of a daughter recently—10 1-2 pounds." Just a few weeks later, the 8 June 1899 Republican Journal reported "Mrs. Edgar Dyer's little daughter, five weeks old, has the measles."
The 1900 Census for Thorndike shows the family on lines 6–8:
The Dyer family was still living in Thorndike at the time of the 1910 Census. Edgar, Anna, Sadie, Anna's widowed mother (listed as Dolloff Small), a servant and a boarder were all listed together in April 1910. Also listed is Blanche Small, who had been orphaned by her father, James Ira Small dying in 1905 and her mother, Caro (Lawrence) Small dying in 1909. See lines 91–97 in the image below:
Sadie's mother, Anna, passed away on 20 January 1916 in Thorndike at the age of 43 and was buried in Center Cemetery in that same town.
On 19 October 1917, Edgar married Blanche. On their marriage record, it says that Blanche was 20 years old, but she had just turned 18 on September 6. Edgar and Blanche would go on to raise Sadie's 3 step-brothers, Harry, Robert and Lewis.
Exactly one week after her father remarried, Sadie married John Herbert Merry in Belfast, Maine on 26 October 1917.
At some point, before 1920, Sadie's father, Edger, took in another girl, Marie Frances Merchant. Marie was born to Linious Charles Merchant and Elizabeth Ganley of Galway, Ireland. They married 8 April 1911 in Belfast, but their union did not last long and Elizabeth would marry Patrick Lally in 1915 and live in Portland for the rest of her life. Linious died in 1974 in Waterville. Marie was listed as "Marion Dyer" on the 1920 census as part of Edgar and Blanche's household at 49 Cedar Street in Belfast. She married Alexander Opdahl in 1932. Marie was listed as a daughter to Edgar in his 1931 obituary; as a daughter to Elizabeth Lally in her 1968 obituary, as a daughter to Sadie in Sadie's 1973 obituary; and also as a daughter to John in his 1993 obituary.
John and Sadie's first child, Earl John Merry, was born 13 September 1918 in Thorndike. The 1920 Census shows John, Sadie and Earl living on a farm with hired hand Harvey Coffin on lines 55–58 in the image below:
Five more children would be born to John and Sadie over the next decade: John Herbert Merry Jr. on 13 June 1921 in Thorndike, Ina Florence Merry on 7 July 1922 in Swanville, Maine, Mildred Anna Merry on 18 September 1924 in Searsport, Maine, Elwood Leslie Merry on 23 April 1926 in Searsport and Ervin Edgar Merry on 14 October 1927 in Belfast.
The 1930 Census shows the family of 8 renting on Commercial Street in Rockport, Maine. John has transitioned from farmer to fish merchant and Sadie was presumably quite busy raising their 6 young children! See lines 76–83 below:
Sadie's father, Edgar W. Dyer, passed away 3 April 1931 in Thorndike at age 63. His name was chiseled on the stone of his first wife, Anna, probably by his son-in-law, John Merry who had done a similar carving for his mother, Selena.
John and Sadie had another daughter, Ruth Hazel Merry, on 6 January 1932 in Belfast.
By 1940, the family had relocated to Northport, Maine and they are spread across two pages in the census. See lines 74–80 here:
and line 1 here:
Eldest daughter, Ina, married Irving Moulton in June 1940. John and Sadie had one more daughter, Shirlene Carol Merry on 24 December 1940 in Belfast, but she died just 2 day later. Eldest son, Earl married Hazel Moulton in 1941, John Jr. married Florence West in 1946 and Elwood married Delores Surek in 1948.
The 1950 Census shows John, Sadie, Mildred, Ervin and Ruth living on Smart Road in Belfast with their son Elwood's young family living next door:
After nearly 50 years of marriage, John and Sadie divorced. I can't find an exact record, but it appears to have been no later than 1966. John remarried, but Sadie did not. She passed away on 16 November 1973 in Belfast.
She was buried in Thorndike's Center Cemetery and eventually reunited there with John when he passed 20 years later.
