Identifying the Parents of Charles Doerr/Dorr/Dry

There are one hundred and sixty-six trees on-line at Ancestry for Charles Dry, born abt 1730—35 in Pennsylvania and died before 16 Oct 1797. in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.

It’s hard to believe that 165 people can come to so many different conclusions as to the parentage of Charles Dry.




I did a tally of these trees and the results are:

I have looked at a lot of these trees and as of yet I haven’t found a single document or reference, in any of these trees, that would prove that Charles Dry who passed away in Cabarrus County about 1797 is the son of any of these couples.

When Charles died he left a Will but that WILL was destroyed in a Cabarrus County Courthouse House fire in 1876. The only proof remaining are the Cabarrus County Pleas and Quarters Minutes April 17, 1797-April 17, 1805. His actual death death is unknown yet most of these trees shows a specific death date of 16 October 1797. 

We also find in the P&Q Minutes for 20 October, 1800 an entry that reads:

• Charles Dry, dec’d. Settlement of estate by Owen Dry, extr. Balance in hands of extr. £ 98.6.0 Divided among 6 children, for each £ 16.7.8.

So we know that Charles + Christina Dry had 6 surviving children. No where are these 6 children named with the loss of the Last Will. Five of the six have been identified; they are:

1. Owen Ulrich Dry
2. Johann Martin Dry
3. Phillip Wiley Dry
4. Andrew Dry
5. Anna Christina Dry

A few researchers say the sixth child was Jacob Dry born 1764, migrated to Allen County, Kentucky where he died in 1854. I have no proof to validate this claim.

Charles Dry migrated from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania between 1776 and 1777.  The surname is recorded in the German name DOERR in Pennsylvania records while all the North Carolina records, with one exception, are recorded in the anglicized surname DRY. 

Mecklenburg Land Deed, Book 7 pages 297-300 dated 26 July 1777 is the first recorded deed for Charles Dry to be found within North Carolina records.

If you have any information on the parentage of Charles Dry I would like to hear from you.

Charles Dry is my 5th Great Grandfather.