The Estate of Solomon Dry~When Did He Pass Away

 
Solomon Dry son of Phillip Wiley Dry and Catherine Koppel was born about 1798 in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.

Solomon married Esther Melchor, daughter of Henry Melchor and Nancy Anna Abernathy on 11 December 1821 in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.

Over the next 19 years, Solomon and Esther would add 9 children to their household; 5 sons and 4 daughters. About 1857, at age 59, Solomon passed away leaving his Widow, Esther and 9 children.
Solomon Dry’s death date is as elusive as his birth date but there are some clues. Because he was a land owner his widow was entitled to dower rights thus triggering probate action within the Probate Court system.

There are many on-line trees most showing that Solomon Dry passed away in 1855. None of these contains sources and thus should not be considered serious research so use these dates and data at your own peril.

Solomon’s probate folder dated 1858 is located on Cabarrus County, North Carolina and on line at Ancestry and FamilySearch. The file can be found on Family Search at: ¹

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRNF-RD8?cc=1911121&wc=Q6W5-5F7%3A183206701%2C183258601%2C185527201

The probate folder consists of 4 pages and contains one pertinent documents dated 24 June 1858.


Transcription:

State of North Carolina}
Cabarrus County} In pursuance of an order of Court made at April Sessions 1858 we whose names are here unto annexed being duly summoned and sworn as Jurors to lay off and allot to Esther Dry Such dower as the lands of her late husband Solomon Dry that he was possess of at the time of his death and we being duly summoned and sworn proceeded to <illegible> and divide and put her the Said Esther Dry in the possession of the same Including the mansion house & spring and other necessary out building which her late dwelt next husband dwelt and next before his death beginning at a n. o. Abraham Dry corner then N. 57 W. 200 poles to a P. O. Centfas then N. 62 W. 23 ½ poles to a stake then S. 40 W. 27 poles to a P. O. Moses Barrier corner, thence S. 51 E. 120 poles to a W. O. then S. 83 ½ poles to a R. O. near a road then S. 83 E. 34 poles to a Willow Oak then N, 23 E. 51 poles to a stake then S. 51 E. 51 poles to a pine Knot A. dry line then N. 20 E. 61 poles to the beginning containing 80 Acres.
Given under our hands and Seals this the 24^th day of Jane 1858.
J. W. Eudy {seal}
Jacob Barrier {seal}
John Eudy {seal}

With this document we can surely state that Solomon Dry died before 24 June 1858. It’s a probate record. Probate records are generated by the Court system when a person is deceased. So we know that Solomon died sometime before this date.

My next stop when finding a probate record is too look at the Court minutes for this time period. Some Court minutes for Cabarrus County, NC are on-line.

FamilySearch has on-line court minutes and settlement for Cabarrus County. In a Volume entitled “Settlements” 1846-1858, Vol. I, pages 595 and 596 you will find an inventory of the Solomon Dry estate. Here is the Heading on Page 595: ²



The inventory was presented to the probate Court, Cabarrus County Court October Term 1857 and the next line reads: A True Inventory of the Estate of Solomon Dry dec’d Sold on the 13^th of August, 1857 on a credit of nine months.

With this document we can revise our unknown death date and now we can definitely say:
Solomon Dry died sometime before 13 August 1857.

I have found no Will and no tombstone for Solomon Dry. I have done some additional searching in the above volume for Solomon Dry name in pages before page 595 and found no additional entries. At this moment until something new is found we can say that Solomon Dry died before 13 August 1857.








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[1] "North Carolina Estate Files, 1663-1979," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-22995-22871-34?cc=1911121 : accessed 6 May 2016), Cabarrus County > D > Dry, Soloman (1858) > image 1 of 4; State Archives, Raleigh.
[2] "North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1940-1206172-1-0?cc=1867501 : accessed 6 May 2016), Cabarrus > Settlements, 1846-1858, Vol. I > image 335 of 375; county courthouses, North Carolina.