The “Aunts, Uncles & Grandparents” series of biographical sketches are Artificial Intelligence (AI) compiled narratives of selected individuals from my Genealogical database. The selected AI will used the RootsMagic Individual Summary from my Genealogical Software, Roots Magic. All genealogical data is my research material acquired over the past 46 years of research. Today's Biography entitled "The Johann Martin Derr, Sr. Family Migration to America" was compiled with the assistance of Claude Sonnett 5 Median and is entitled:
The Johann Martin Derr, Sr. Family Migration to America
Johann Martin Derr, Sr. (c. 1691 – c. 1763) and Maria Gertraut Eckard (b. c. 1696)
From Großgartach, Württemberg, to Pennsylvania, and on to Mecklenburg and Cabarrus Counties, North Carolina
Quick Facts
Name | Johann Martin Derr, Sr. (also Deer, Dürr, Dörr, Darr; “Dry” in the North Carolina branch) |
Born | About 1691, Großgartach (“Gross Garda / Gross Gartach”), near Heilbronn, Württemberg [A]. Father given as Weygand Dörr in one AI summary only [B]. |
Wife | Maria Gertraut (Gertrude) Eckard (Echard, Eckert), born about 1696 [A, B] |
Married | 1717 [A] |
Emigrated | 1725 per Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran records; 1728 per Hinke. Unresolved [A] |
Naturalized | 1743, Philadelphia [A] |
Settled | Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County, Pennsylvania — the Goshenhoppen country [A, B] |
Died | About 1763 [B]; place not stated in any source |
Children | Eight listed in Appendix B (born 1718–1737) [A]. Six living children named in an 1773 deed [B]. “Nine” claimed in [C], but not demonstrated (see Research Notes). |
Branches | John Martin Jr. to Frederick Co., Maryland (1774); Carolus Ludovicus, “Charles Dry,” to Mecklenburg/Cabarrus Co., North Carolina (by 1777); daughters’ families remained in Pennsylvania. |
Introduction and Sources
This is the story of one German family told in the order it happened: a village near Heilbronn, a new life in the Goshenhoppen country of Pennsylvania, and — a generation later — the creek lands of the North Carolina Piedmont. At its center are Johann Martin Derr, Sr., and his wife, Maria Gertraut Eckard, whose descendants carried the family name across Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Carolinas, and whose North Carolina branch eventually translated the name itself into “Dry.”
Three source documents were used, and they are not equal in weight. Wherever a statement rests only on an AI-generated summary rather than on a record or a published genealogy, the narrative says so, and the section “Research Notes” gathers every conflict in one place. Bracketed letters mark the source for each statement.
Code | Source | How much weight |
[A] | Appendix B, p. 438, of a published Derr genealogy (FamilySearch image 1885 of 13306), with its transcription | Strongest of the three: a compiled genealogy that cites its own sources. Still secondary. |
[B] | AI-generated search summary on “Johan Martin Derr,” citing Geneanet, WikiTree, Falckner Swamp UCC, Genealogy.com, and a Carolina Family Roots blog post | Unverified. Useful for leads; no underlying record is cited. |
[C] | AI conversation on Charles Dry (Carolus Ludovicus Derr): his marriage, the 1777 land purchase, his death, and his four sons | Unverified, and internally inconsistent in places (noted below). |
Part One — A Son of Großgartach (c. 1691–1717)
Johann Martin Derr, Sr., was born about 1691 in Großgartach, a village in the Heilbronn district of Württemberg. Appendix B spells it “Gross Garda” and adds, in brackets, “Gross Gartach, nr. Heilbronn, Württemberg” [A]. (Today Großgartach is part of the town of Leingarten.) One AI-generated summary names his father as Weygand Dörr [B]; it is the only source to offer a father, and it cites no record for it.
Even the surname was fluid. In the German church books it would have been Dürr (or Dörr), a word meaning “dry” or “thin.” Pennsylvania pastors and clerks wrote it Deer, Derr, Darr, and Durr, sometimes for the same man in the same decade; Appendix B itself calls the elder man both “Johann Martin Deer” and “John Martin Derr.” In North Carolina the branch of his son Carolus Ludovicus eventually adopted the plain English translation, Dry [B, C]. Every one of these spellings should be searched when working in the records.
Maria Gertrude Eckard was born about 1696 [A]. The sources spell her given name Gertrude and Gertraut and her surname Eckard, Echard, and Eckert [A, B]. None of the three says where she was born or who her parents were; that remains an open question.
The couple were married in 1717, according to the Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church records cited in Appendix B [A] — he about twenty-six, she about twenty-one. The sources do not say where the wedding took place. Because the family did not reach America until 1725 at the earliest, the wedding almost certainly took place in Germany, most likely in or near Großgartach, though that is an inference and not a documented fact.
Part Two — A Young Family in Württemberg (1717–1725)
The first children came quickly. Appendix B lists Laurentius (born 1718), Anna Margaretha (1720), Maria Catharina (1721), and Joh. Jacob (1723) [A]. Since every proposed arrival date falls after 1723, all four were, by simple arithmetic, born before the family left Europe, so their baptisms should be in a German parish register rather than a Pennsylvania one. (Appendix B gives birth years but no birthplaces.)
If the family sailed in 1725, Johann Martin was about thirty-four, Maria Gertraut about twenty-nine, and the four children were aged seven and under. Leaving meant disposing of what they owned, securing an official release to emigrate, and paying the cost of passage for a household of six.
Historical Context: Why Leave? The sources do not record this family’s reasons. But Johann Martin’s generation in southwest Germany lived with the aftermath of repeated wars, heavy taxes, poor harvests, and, for many, religious pressure, while agents and printed promotional literature offered Pennsylvania as a land of cheap farms and tolerance. Tens of thousands of German-speaking settlers followed that road to the province in the decades that followed. |
Part Three — Crossing to Pennsylvania (1725 or 1728)
Two dates are on record for the crossing. The Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church records, as cited in Appendix B, say Johann Martin came to America in 1725. Hinke’s history of the Goshenhoppen Reformed Church, in a brief reference to three Lutheran settlers at Old Goshenhoppen who came before 1730, gives 1728 [A]. The author of Appendix B notes the three-year gap and adds that Johann Martin’s name is not found in the rosters of Philadelphia immigrants who arrived in 1728 [A].
That detail is a clue, not a verdict. Pennsylvania did not begin systematically recording arriving German Protestants (the ship lists and oaths of allegiance genealogists rely on) until 1727, so a man who arrived in 1725 would not appear on any of them. Silence in the 1728 rosters therefore leans toward the earlier date but cannot settle it. (This is background from the general history of Pennsylvania immigration, not from the supplied documents.)
Nothing in the sources names the ship, its captain, or its port of departure. The usual route for emigrants from the Heilbronn area ran down the Neckar to the Rhine and on to Rotterdam, then across the Atlantic, commonly by way of an English port, to Philadelphia. That is the typical pattern, offered as context and not documented for this family. Whichever year is right, the destination was Philadelphia: the family’s later records place them in Philadelphia County.
Part Four — Putting Down Roots at Goshenhoppen (c. 1725–1750)
Johann Martin settled in Philadelphia County, the part now called Montgomery County, in the German farming district around Goshenhoppen [A, B]. The family worshipped at the Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church in Upper Salford Township, whose records preserve their marriage, arrival, and burial details [A]. The AI summary adds that the family’s vital events also appear in the Falckner Swamp Reformed congregation records, and that relatives lived in Marlborough, Upper Salford, and New Hanover townships [B].
More children were born in the new country: Carolus Ludovicus about 1730, Maria Margar. in 1734, and Johann Martin, Jr., in 1737 [A]. Margar. Elisabetha, born 1728, arrived either just before or just after the crossing, depending on which arrival date is correct.
In 1743 Johann Martin was naturalized at Philadelphia, according to the sources cited in Appendix B, which include a 1983 supplement to the published naturalization lists [A]. For a farm family it mattered: naturalization made him a legal subject of the Crown, with secure title to land and the right to pass it to his heirs.
Part Five — “Martin Deer’s Place” and a Growing Family (1750s)
A striking entry survives in the Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran burial register for 1752–1772: nine burials were made “on Martin Deer’s place” between 1753 and 1758 [A]. The sources do not say who was buried there (neighbors, other families, or his own), nor whether the family kept a private burying ground on the farm, as many rural German families did.
Appendix B also notes two grandchildren of the elder Johann Martin in the same register. The first is Johann Jacob, son of Jacob and Margaretha (Deer) Detweiler, born 5 September 1756 and died 25 February 1758. The second is Anna Christina, daughter of Carl Dürr, who died 29 June 1772 at the age of 3 years, 4 months, and 15 days [A]. Working backward from that age, she was born about mid-February 1769. “Carl Dürr” is evidently Carolus Ludovicus, and [C] identifies her as Charles Dry’s only daughter — a plausible identification, though not a proven one.
Carolus Ludovicus (Carl Dürr in the German registers, Charles Dry in later North Carolina records) married Christina Muss in the mid-1750s, and the couple’s early family is tied to the New Goshenhoppen Reformed Church in Marlborough Township [C]. Their first son, Owen Ulrich, was born 4 December 1754; Johann Martin Dry and his twin, Phillip Wiley, followed in July 1759; Andrew was born 26 March 1762 [C].
The baptism of Johann Martin Dry on 29 July 1759, recorded in the Goshenhoppen Reformed Charge, is a moment worth lingering over: the baby’s grandfather, Johann Martin Derr, Sr., stood as his godfather [C]. It is the last glimpse of the patriarch in the supplied documents.
The Eight Children Listed in Appendix B
Child [A] | Born | What the sources say |
Laurentius | 1718 | Called Johann Laurentius “Lorenz” in [C], which says he stayed close to regional church records (unverified). Not named in the 1773 deed list [B]. |
Anna Margaretha | 1720 | Appendix B does not say whom she married. [C] says she is “sometimes recorded as Groff or Smith” and offers no support. |
Maria Catharina | 1721 | Possibly the Maria Catherine who married George Christman [B] (a name match only). |
Joh. Jacob | 1723 | No further record in the sources; not named in the 1773 deed list [B]. |
Margar. Elisabetha | 1728 | Possibly the Anna Elizabeth who married Michael Kantz (Cance) [B] (name similarity only). |
Carolus Ludovicus | c. 1730 | “Charles Dry” (“Carl Dürr”). Moved to North Carolina by 1777; died autumn 1797 [B, C]. |
Maria Margar. | 1734 | Possibly the Maria Margaret named in the 1773 deed [B]. |
Johann Martin | 1737 | John Martin Derr, Jr., a captain in the Maryland militia; moved to Frederick Co., Maryland, in 1774; died 1812 [A]. |
Appendix B also names a Margaretha (Deer) Detweiler as the mother of the grandson Johann Jacob, without saying which listed daughter she is. And two names in the 1773 deed list, Maria Barbara (wife of Jacob Detweiler) and Anna Maria (wife of Abraham Wolfard) [B], do not match any of the eight names in Appendix B. That is one reason the “eight” and the deed’s six names cannot yet be reconciled (see Research Notes).
Part Six — The Patriarch’s Passing and the Estate (c. 1763–1773)
Johann Martin Derr, Sr., died about 1763 [B]. That date comes from a single AI-generated summary; no place of death or burial is given, and Appendix B states neither. If the date is right, he died four years after standing as godfather at his grandson’s baptism. The sources are also silent on the death of Maria Gertraut.
The family’s situation after his death comes into focus through a 1773 deed from Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County, described in one AI summary as naming six living children [B]:
John Martin Derr, Jr. (1737–1812)
Maria Barbara, wife of Jacob Detweiler
Maria Catherine, wife of George Christman
Anna Maria, wife of Abraham Wolfard (Wohlfart)
Anna Elizabeth, wife of Michael Kantz (Cance)
Maria Margaret
According to the same summary, George Christman took the central role in settling the family’s land holdings in Marlborough and Upper Salford townships; Wolfard purchased part of the Derr land interests; and, after Kantz died, his widow released her inherited interest to Christman [B]. The deed itself has not been seen. The summary is the only source for all of this.
Who Is Missing? Charles Dry (Carolus Ludovicus) does not appear among the six. Yet he was demonstrably alive: his daughter was buried at Goshenhoppen in June 1772, and he was in North Carolina by 1777. Whether he had already sold or released his share, was omitted, or the summary is simply incomplete is a question only the deed can answer. |
Part Seven — The Family Scatters: Allentown and Maryland (1762–1776)
Not every child stayed near the home place. The youngest son, Johann Martin, Jr. (1737–1812), lived in Philadelphia County until about 1762, then moved to Northampton Town (now Allentown, Lehigh County), where he is placed in the Jerusalem Lutheran and Reformed Church [A, B]. His first wife was Anna Ursula, possibly a Cassell, born about 1740 [A]; one summary dates the marriage to 1760 [B].
In 1774 he moved again, this time to Frederick County, Maryland. In 1776 he bought 132 acres on the main road from Frederick to Ambrosey’s (Ambrose’s) Mill on Owens Creek, north of Thurmont [A]; in 1802 he bought more land nearby [A]. Anna Ursula died between 1780 and 1787, and by 1787 he had married Elizabeth, apparently a widow. He fathered twelve children in all, one of whom died in infancy [A]. He appears as Captain John Martin Derr in Maryland Revolutionary War militia officer lists [A], and a DAR ancestor number (A032074) is cited for him [B].
His will, written 22 November 1809 and proved 23 March 1812, named his wife Elizabeth, ten living children, and a granddaughter, Betsey Miller; his executor was his “Trusty friend” John Cronise [A]. One clause is a small window into family life. His daughter Eve had married Conrad Holtzman, who had since left her, and John Martin provided that if Eve did not succeed in obtaining a law to annul the marriage, her share should go to her children. The marriage was later annulled and divorced by act of the Maryland legislature on 18 January (the year is cut off in the transcription of Appendix B), with the children protected from being declared illegitimate [A].
Meanwhile the daughters’ families stayed in Pennsylvania. The Detweilers, Christmans, Wolfards, and Kantzes remained in the Montgomery and Berks County townships, and the summary traces the family’s later descendants in three clusters: Montgomery and Berks Counties; Lehigh and Northampton Counties; and Frederick County, Maryland [B].
Part Eight — South by the Great Wagon Road (1772–1777)
Carolus Ludovicus’s family was still in Montgomery County in June 1772, when Anna Christina was buried at Goshenhoppen [A, C]. Five children had been born to Charles and Christina in Pennsylvania; with Anna Christina gone, four sons remained: Owen Ulrich (then 17), Johann Martin and Phillip Wiley (12), and Andrew (10) [C]. By July 1777 the family was in North Carolina [C].
The move would have followed the Great Wagon Road, which [C] names as the route. As general background, it was the main highway of German and Scots-Irish settlement, running south from Pennsylvania across Maryland, down the Valley of Virginia, and into the Carolina Piedmont. The sources do not document this family’s route, departure date, or belongings. The road ran through the same general corridor where Charles’s brother John Martin had settled in Frederick County in 1774, so the brothers may well have been in touch, but nothing in the sources says so.
The timing deserves a note. 1777 was the second year of the Revolution, and the sources do not say whether opportunity, war, or the settling of the Pennsylvania estate drove the move. Owen Ulrich is credited with service in the North Carolina militia as a patriot [C].
Part Nine — Dutch Buffalo Creek: The 1777 Deed
The land that anchored the family in the South is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 7, pages 297–300, dated 26 July 1777 [C]. The sellers were Paul Barringer and Barbara Herenhart (Ernhart), widow and executrix of John Haygler (Hagler). Haygler’s 1771 will had directed that his land be sold if Barbara remarried; she did, taking as her husband Philip Herenhart of neighboring Rowan County, so the executors were obliged to sell [C]. Charles paid £250. The tract lay on Dutch Buffalo Creek in what was then eastern Mecklenburg County and is today Cabarrus County, which was formed from Mecklenburg in 1792 [C].
The deed catches the family in the middle of its transformation. The clerk recorded the buyer as “Charles Darr,” writing the German Dürr as an English ear heard it, years before the family settled on the literal translation, Dry [C]. The creek’s own name tells the same story: “Dutch” was the colonial English word for German speakers, and the neighborhood Charles was joining was already full of German names.
A Thread Worth Following The 1777 deed ties the Derr/Dry family into the Hagler and Herenhart (Earnhart) families of Mecklenburg and Rowan Counties through a single land transaction. The names of the sellers and of Barbara’s second husband are given in [C], which cites the deed; reading Deed Book 7, pp. 297–300 directly would confirm the details. |
Part Ten — Charles Dry’s Last Years and His Four Sons (1777–1840)
Charles Dry died in the autumn of 1797 in Cabarrus County [C]. The surviving evidence is in the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes, which show that his will was brought to probate on 16 October 1797, so he died shortly before that date. The AI conversation adds that a fire later destroyed the early Cabarrus County will records, which is why the will itself is not available [C]. That claim should be checked before it is repeated.
His four sons carried the family forward on and around Dutch Buffalo Creek [C]:
Son | Life | Spouse | Notes [C] |
Owen Ulrich Dry | b. 4 Dec 1754, PA; d. 5 Mar 1840, Concord, NC | Catherine Polk (m. 9 Dec 1834) | Farmer; patriot in the North Carolina militia; lived to 85. |
Johan Martin Dry | b. July 1759 (bapt. 29 Jul 1759), PA; d. 11 Dec 1836 | Catherine Keppel (m. c. 1785) | Nine children. Buried at St. John’s Lutheran Church graveyard, Concord. |
Phillip Wiley Dry | b. July 1759 (twin), PA; d. 14 Dec 1837, Concord | Catherine (surname not given) | Farmer; died one year and three days after his twin. |
Andrew Dry | b. 26 Mar 1762, PA; d. 9 Apr 1828 | Mary Barbara Teem (Thieme/Diehm) | At least six children: Charles, Christina, John, Sophia, Matthias, Mary. Buried at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery. |
The next generation carries the story onward. Among Johan Martin Dry’s children, [C] names John N. Dry, who later migrated to Arkansas.
Seen whole, the family’s path runs from a Württemberg village in 1691, through the Goshenhoppen farms of Pennsylvania, to a will probated in Cabarrus County in 1797: three generations, three colonies, and a name that changed from Dürr to Derr to Dry along the way.
Timeline at a Glance
Year | Event | Source |
c. 1691 | Johann Martin Derr born, Großgartach, near Heilbronn, Württemberg | [A] |
c. 1696 | Maria Gertrude Eckard born | [A] |
1717 | Marriage of Johann Martin Derr and Maria Gertrude Eckard | [A] |
1718–1723 | Laurentius, Anna Margaretha, Maria Catharina, and Joh. Jacob born | [A] |
1725 (or 1728) | Family arrives in America; two dates on record | [A] |
1728 | Margar. Elisabetha born | [A] |
c. 1730 | Carolus Ludovicus (Charles Dry) born | [A, B] |
1734 | Maria Margar. born | [A] |
1737 | Johann Martin Derr, Jr., born in Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County | [A] |
1743 | Johann Martin Derr, Sr., naturalized at Philadelphia | [A] |
1753–1758 | Nine burials “on Martin Deer’s place,” Goshenhoppen Lutheran register | [A] |
4 Dec 1754 | Owen Ulrich Dry born | [C] |
5 Sep 1756 | Johann Jacob Detweiler (grandson) born; dies 25 Feb 1758 | [A] |
29 Jul 1759 | Johann Martin Dry baptized; grandfather is godfather | [C] |
c. 1762 | John Martin Jr. moves to Northampton Town (Allentown) | [A, B] |
c. 1763 | Death of Johann Martin Derr, Sr. | [B] |
29 Jun 1772 | Anna Christina Dürr (Charles’s daughter) buried, aged 3 yrs 4 mos 15 days | [A, C] |
1773 | Deed naming six living children of Martin Sr. | [B] |
1774 | John Martin Jr. moves to Frederick County, Maryland | [A] |
1776 | John Martin Jr. buys 132 acres near Thurmont, Maryland | [A] |
26 Jul 1777 | Charles Dry buys land on Dutch Buffalo Creek, Mecklenburg Co., NC | [C] |
1792 | Cabarrus County formed from Mecklenburg | [C] |
16 Oct 1797 | Charles Dry’s will probated, Cabarrus County | [C] |
1809–1812 | John Martin Jr. writes (1809) and has proved (1812) his will; dies 1812 | [A] |
Johann Martin Derr, Sr. & Maria Gertraut Eckard are my 6th Great Grandparents.
Research Notes: Where the Sources Disagree
Eight children or nine? Appendix B lists eight children and already includes both Laurentius and Carolus Ludovicus [A]. The “nine” in [C] was produced by combining Appendix B’s list with the six names in the 1773 deed [B], not by finding a ninth child. The resulting list in [C] includes an “Anna Margaretha (Groff or Smith)” for whom no evidence is offered. Until a record shows otherwise, treat “eight” as the documented figure and “nine” as unproven. Source: Annette Kunsekman Burgert, Grossgartach, Wuerttemberg, to Pennsylvania:: Some Early Colonial German Immigrants (Myerstown, PA 17067: AKB Publications, 1999), Page 16.
Arrival in 1725 or 1728. Goshenhoppen Lutheran records say 1725; Hinke says 1728 [A]. The absence of his name from the 1728 rosters supports the earlier date but does not prove it. Johann Martin Deer, age 60 years, b. 26 Aug. 1691 in Gross Garda near Heilbronn in Wurtemberg [Grossgartach]. He was a son of Weigant Deer and Anna Margaretha. He came to America in the year 1725. Anno 1717 he married Maria Gertraut, b. 1696, daughter of Peter Eckard and his wife [N.N.] from Rueth near Schellbrunn in the Odenwald. They had 8 children: Source: Annette Kunsekman Burgert, Grossgartach, Wuerttemberg, to Pennsylvania:: Some Early Colonial German Immigrants (Myerstown, PA 17067: AKB Publications, 1999), Page 16.
Death about 1763. Found only in [B]. No place or burial site is given. Source: Marlborough Twp, Montgomery Co, PA. Book H, Vol 18, p 537 - Deed (Philadelphia, PA City Hall) - “This indenture made the 24th day of August in the year of our Lord 1763 between Gertrout Derr widow and Relikt of Martin Derr late of Marlborough Twp., Yeoman, deceased.
Parentage. The father, Weygand Dörr, appears only in [B]. Source: Annette Kunsekman Burgert, Grossgartach, Wuerttemberg, to Pennsylvania:: Some Early Colonial German Immigrants (Myerstown, PA 17067: AKB Publications, 1999), Page 16.
Which daughter married Detweiler? Appendix B says Jacob and Margaretha (Deer) Detweiler [A]; [B] says Maria Barbara Derr married Jacob Detweiler. These may be the same woman recorded under different names, or two different women. Source: Maria Margaretha (Derr) married Jacob Detwiler. Annette Kunsekman Burgert, Grossgartach, Wuerttemberg, to Pennsylvania:: Some Early Colonial German Immigrants (Myerstown, PA 17067: AKB Publications, 1999), page 17. .
Which daughter married Kantz? [B] names Anna Elizabeth in the main text, but its source list quotes a blog post about “Barbara Kantz” releasing her interest to George Christman. None of the daughters of Johan Martine Derr married a “Kantz”.
Charles Dry’s marriage date. [C] gives “1756” in one place, but also says the first son, Owen Ulrich, was born on 4 December 1754. The marriage must predate the birth, so 1756 cannot be right if the birth date is. Abt 1753.
Charles Dry and the 1773 deed. [C] explains his omission by saying the deed lists only heirs “who remained behind,” but John Martin Jr. had already moved to Allentown and Frederick County, so that explanation does not hold up. The deed needs to be read.
The Cabarrus fire. The claim that early Cabarrus will records burned is from [C] only.
The AI sources themselves. [B] and [C] warn that AI responses may include mistakes, and several details above (spouse surnames, exact dates) have no record cited. Treat them as leads.
Suggested Next Steps
The 1773 deed (Philadelphia/Montgomery County deed books): confirm the six heirs, the property, and why Charles is absent.
The Derr family genealogy cited in [B] (The Derr Family 1750–1986, Gateway Press, and its 2003 supplement), for its entry on Johann Martin Derr, Sr., and its source notes for the eight children.
Großgartach church books (Kirchenbücher): look for Johann Martin Dürr’s baptism about 1691, the 1717 marriage, and the children born 1718–1723.
Goshenhoppen Lutheran and Reformed registers: the 1759 baptism with the grandfather as godfather, Charles and Christina’s marriage, and Anna Christina’s 1772 burial.
Pennsylvania German Pioneers and naturalization lists: to test the 1725 versus 1728 arrival and to locate the 1743 naturalization.
Mecklenburg Deed Book 7, pp. 297–300 and the Cabarrus Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes for October 1797, to verify the deed and the probate date.
Sources Used
[A] Appendix B, p. 438, “United States records,” images, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GPFC-292), image 1885 of 13306; Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia; Image Group Number 004840815; with its AI-generated transcription.
[B] AI-generated search summary, “Johan Martin Derr” (drawing on Geneanet, WikiTree, Falckner Swamp UCC, Genealogy.com, carolinafamilyroots.blogspot.com, and gw.geneanet.org). Unverified.
[C] AI-generated conversation on Carolus Ludovicus Derr / Charles Dry, his 1777 land purchase, death, and four sons. Unverified.
Prepared by Charles Purvis
Compiled 5 November 2026
