He stayed in Greenspond for twenty years, earning the respect and admiration of the inhabitants and those who met or worked with him.
Dyer was also ordained a Church of England Deacon in 1849; therefore, his work in Greenspond consisted of both teaching and ministerial duties.
Dyer and his family later moved to Alberton, Prince Edward Island, where he was a minister in a Church of England Parish.
Records show that in 1837, Dyer was listed as a shoemaker in the village of Heytesbury, just a few miles from Chitterne, also in the county of Wiltshire.
[2] Robert Dyer arrived in Newfoundland in 1839 to begin his twenty-year career as NSS school master in Greenspond, Bonavista Bay, which he recorded almost daily in his diary.
Dyer notes a number of reasons for absenteeism in his diary – some older children worked in the fishery during the spring and summer, others moved inland with their families each winter to take part in the logging industry, and bad weather frequently kept students at home.
Poverty was another major problem for families who could not afford school fees or adequate clothing for their children.
William Dyer became a teacher in Prince Edward Island, and later became a pharmacist; he moved back to England in 1909.
Joseph's daughter, Alice Maude, was a nurse but later became the first registered female pharmacist in Prince Edward Island when she received her diploma in this field in 1928.
During this period, there was a severe shortage of clergymen in Newfoundland; therefore, "missions" were established, so that the clergyman in a community visited surrounding settlements regularly to hold services, baptisms, and funerals.
For nearly 26 years he ministered to the communities of Cascumpec (later Alberton), Tignish, Kildare Capes and the surrounding areas.
In the beginning his ministry took place in the homes of communicants, school houses and temperance halls, but eventually churches were built in these locations, culminating in the consecration of the original St. Peter's in Cascumpec in September 1869.