Aunts & Uncles~Biography of Mary "Polly" (Sides) Dry

The “Aunt & Uncle” 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 of Mary "Polly" (Sides) Dry was compiled with the assistance of Claude Sonnett 4 and is entitled:

Three Sons Lost: A Mother's Civil War Heartbreak in Stanly County

Growing Up in Cabarrus County

Mary "Polly" Sides was born around 1808 in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, into a German-American farming community. She was the daughter of Christopher Sides (1765-1847) and Mary Esther Lipe (1772-1847), both of whom lived long lives and were part of the established settler families in the region.

Growing up in early 19th century North Carolina, Polly would have experienced life in a predominantly rural, agricultural society. Cabarrus County was home to many German Lutheran families who had settled in the Piedmont region, and the Sides family was well-established in this community. Her father Christopher lived to age 82, which was quite remarkable for the era.

Marriage to John George Dry

On November 11, 1822, when Polly was around fourteen years old (marriages at young ages were common in this era), she married John George Dry at Cabarrus County. George, born April 23, 1799, was about nine years her senior and came from a prominent German family—his father Johan Martin Dry (originally spelled "Duerr") had immigrated from Germany, and George had been baptized at St. John's Lutheran Church in Concord.

The marriage bond was witnessed by Daniel X. Sides, likely Polly's brother, who served as bondsman—a common practice where a family member vouched for the groom's commitment to the marriage.

Raising Eight Children

Polly and George built a large family together, having at least eight children over a span of twenty years:

• Moses M. Dry (March 10, 1824 - before 1850) - Their firstborn, who sadly died young
• Adam Dry (September 20, 1826 - January 19, 1914) - Lived to age 87, served in the Civil War
• Daniel Dry (November 23, 1828 - November 12, 1862) - Killed during the Civil War at Franklin, Virginia
• Christopher Dry (March 27, 1831 - July 3, 1863) - Died at the Battle of Gettysburg
• Martin Dry (November 6, 1833 - January 5, 1851) - Died at age 17
• George Alexander Dry (July 9, 1836 - December 22, 1863) - Died as a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware
• Esther Catherine Dry (May 2, 1839 - February 7, 1844) - Died at age 4
• Sara Ann Elizabeth Dry (June 16, 1841 - July 10, 1913)
• Eva Caroline Dry (May 22, 1844 - December 7, 1932)

The family attended St. John's Lutheran Church (also known as Dutch Buffalo Creek Meeting House), where most of the children were baptized, maintaining strong ties to their German Lutheran heritage.

Farm Life in Stanly County

The 1830 census shows the young family living in Cabarrus County, with George working as a farmer. By the 1850 census, they had relocated to the Harris township in Stanly County, which had been formed from Montgomery County in 1841. The family owned land and continued farming, which was the backbone of the North Carolina Piedmont economy.

In November 1849, Polly participated in an important legal transaction. She and George gave power of attorney to Preston W. Wooly to collect money owed to them from the sale of her father Christopher Sides's estate lands. The document records that Polly marked it with an "X," indicating she couldn't write her name—this was not uncommon for women of her generation, even in otherwise prosperous families. Notably, a Justice of the Peace certified that Polly signed "freely and voluntary and not from any fear or compulsion of her husband," which was a legal requirement to ensure married women weren't being coerced by their husbands in property matters.

Managing Alone After George's Death

George Dry died on January 6, 1857, at age 57, in Palestine, Stanly County. In his will, written just days before his death on December 26, 1856, he left his land to be sold to pay debts, gave a young bay mare to his youngest son Alexander, and left the rest of his property to "my beloved wife Mary Dry" for her lifetime or as long as she remained a widow. He specified that their two daughters, Elizabeth and Eva Caroline, should each receive fifty dollars at Polly's death, with the remainder divided among all six surviving children. George appointed their son Adam as executor.

The 1860 census shows Polly, now around 52 years old, as head of household with three of her children still at home: Elizabeth (age 18), Eva Caroline (age 16), and George Alexander (age 24). She was managing the household and property on her own during the tense years leading up to the Civil War.

Thirteen Months of Unimaginable Loss

The Civil War brought devastating tragedy to Polly's family. Between November 1862 and December 1863, she lost three sons to the conflict—a heartbreak almost impossible to comprehend.

Daniel, her 33-year-old son, was the first to fall. He was killed in camp at Franklin, Virginia, on November 12, 1862. The circumstances suggest he may have died from disease or an accident rather than direct combat, as illness claimed more soldiers' lives than battle during the war.

Eight months later, on July 3, 1863, Christopher died at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. He was 32 years old and serving with the 52nd North Carolina Infantry. Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war, with over 50,000 casualties over three days. Christopher was left on the battlefield and died either from his wounds or while in enemy hands as a prisoner of war. His body was never returned home to North Carolina.

Just five months after burying one son, Polly received news that another had died. George Alexander, her 27-year-old son, died on December 22, 1863, at Fort Delaware, a Union prison camp in Delaware City. Fort Delaware was notorious for its harsh conditions—overcrowded, disease-ridden, and desperately short on food and medicine. Thousands of Confederate prisoners died there during the war.

In the span of just thirteen months, Polly lost half of her surviving sons. For a mother who had already buried two young children years earlier (Moses and little Esther Catherine), and who had lost her teenage son Martin in 1851, these war losses represented an almost unbearable accumulation of grief. Her son Adam also served in the Confederate Army with Company A of the 27th North Carolina Regiment, and she must have lived in constant fear for his life as well. Fortunately, Adam survived the war, though he was wounded in the arm.

Living With Her Daughter's Family

By 1870, Polly was living with her daughter Sara Ann Elizabeth (who had married Turner W. Ingram in 1868) in Albemarle, Stanly County. The census lists her as 58 years old, living as mother-in-law in her daughter's household. Turner Ingram was considerably older than Sara Ann, being born in 1806.

Polly lived until at least 1870, and likely survived into the early 1870s, dying in Stanly County. She would have been in her sixties, having outlived her husband by more than a decade and witnessed tremendous change and loss in her lifetime. One can only imagine the stories she shared with her daughters and grandchildren about the sons and husband she had lost.

The Times She Lived Through

Polly's life spanned a remarkable period in American history. Born during Thomas Jefferson's presidency, she lived through:

• The War of 1812 (when she was a young child)
• Westward expansion and the establishment of new counties like Stanly in 1841
• The rise of cotton agriculture in the South, though the North Carolina Piedmont remained more focused on small-scale farming
• The tumultuous 1850s leading up to the Civil War
• The devastating Civil War (1861-1865), which claimed three of her sons and transformed the South forever
• Reconstruction, as the South struggled to rebuild after the war

As a woman in 19th century North Carolina, Polly had limited legal rights and opportunities, but she demonstrated resilience and capability in managing her household and property after her husband's death. Her mark on the 1849 legal document reminds us that education for women was not prioritized in this era, yet she successfully raised a large family and navigated the complex challenges of her time, including the unimaginable grief of losing three sons to war.

Her Lasting Legacy

Polly's descendants continued to live in Stanly and surrounding counties for generations. Her son Adam lived to 1914, dying at age 87, and her daughters Sara Ann Elizabeth and Eva Caroline both lived into the early 20th century—Eva Caroline remarkably lived until 1932, nearly 70 years after the Civil War ended. Through them, Polly's lineage spread throughout North Carolina, connecting her to countless descendants who still live in the region today.

Her story represents that of countless mothers—North and South—who sent their sons to war and received the devastating news that they would never return. In Stanly County alone, dozens of families experienced similar losses. But knowing this was a shared experience didn't make Polly's grief any lighter. Each of those three sons had been a baby she'd nursed, a child she'd raised, a young man she'd watched grow into adulthood. Daniel had been 33, Christopher 32, and George Alexander just 27 when they died. They should have had full lives ahead of them.

Polly's strength in continuing on, in managing her household, in supporting her surviving children, and in eventually finding peace living with her daughter's family, speaks to a resilience that defined a generation of women who endured the Civil War. Her story reminds us that behind every casualty statistic was a mother's broken heart, and that the true cost of war is measured not just in battles lost or won, but in families forever changed.

Mary "Polly" (Sides) Dry is the wife of John Geroge Dry my 3rd Great Grand Uncle making Mary my 3rd Great Grand Aunt by marriage.