This post contains some exciting new informantin on John N. Dry's fist family. His wife has yet to be identifieid; but, I think we have all his proven childen except maybe one daughter. I know who she is but I haven't been able to poved it yet. Compiled with the help of Claude Sonnett 4:
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John N. Dry
1789 – before 3 October 1870
A Family Biography: Cabarrus County, North Carolina, to Independence County, Arkansas
Meet John N. Dry
John N. Dry's life reached across at least seven decades of American history. He was born in 1789 in the North Carolina Piedmont, raised a family in Cabarrus County, married twice, and took part in the political life of his county. Later he and his household made their way to the Big Bottom country of Independence County, Arkansas. He was already in his seventies when the Civil War began, and by the fall of 1870, when his children were selling off their shares of his Arkansas land, he had passed away.
This biography pulls together the records we have: census pages, deeds, a marriage bond, a land grant, a newspaper notice and tax lists. Where the records are clear, we tell the story plainly. Where they leave gaps (and there are a few, including exactly when he died), we say so rather than guess.
John N. Dry at a Glance
Born | 1789, Cabarrus County, North Carolina |
Died | Before 3 October 1870, Independence County, Arkansas (exact date not yet found) |
Burial | Not yet identified |
Father | Johan Martin Dry (1759–1836) |
Mother | Catherine Keppel (1767–1836) |
First wife | Name unknown; married before 1810, Cabarrus County, North Carolina |
Second wife | Sophie (Sophia) Barrier (1809–1860); married 30 April 1836, Cabarrus County, North Carolina |
Children | Alexander Monroe "Sandy" Dry; Margaret Caroline "Peggy" Dry (Mrs. Leonard Plyler); Leah Catherine Dry (Mrs. Daniel Melchor); John W. Dry |
Places lived | Cabarrus County, North Carolina (through at least 1850); Big Bottom, Independence County, Arkansas (by 1860) |
Roots: Parents and Family Background
John was born in 1789 in what the family group sheet records as Cabarrus County, North Carolina. His parents were Johan Martin Dry (1759–1836) and Catherine Keppel (about 1767 to after 1836). The sheet gives Martin's birth as 10 July 1759 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and his death as 11 December 1836 in Cabarrus County, where he is buried at St. John's Lutheran Graveyard. Catherine is listed as born about 1767 in Montgomery County, North Carolina. She was still living on 26 September 1836, when Martin signed his will, but the sheet has no death date or burial place for her. The two married in 1785 or 1786 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
The sheet also answers the question of John's brothers and sisters. Martin and Catherine had nine children, and John was the third. The same nine are named as heirs in Martin's will (Peter, Martin, John, George, Elizabeth, Catherine, Sally, Charity and Esther), so the sheet and the will agree on the count. The chart below lays out each child as the sheet records them.
Children of Johan Martin Dry and Catherine Keppel
Child | Born | Died | Spouse and marriage |
Ann Elizabeth Dry | Mar 1787, Cabarrus Co., NC | 1 Jan 1859, Russellville, Pope Co., AR | Peter Teeter (1787–1860); married 25 Mar 1809, Cabarrus Co., NC |
Peter Dry | 1787, Cabarrus Co., NC | Before 17 Dec 1853, Cabarrus Co., NC | Hetty Elizabeth A. Teeter (1787–1870); married 10 Jul 1809, Cabarrus Co., NC |
John N. Dry (this biography) | 1789, Cabarrus Co., NC | Before 3 Oct 1870, Independence Co., AR | Unknown first wife (before 1810); Sophie Barrier (1809–1860), married 30 Apr 1836 |
Catharine Dry | 1791, Cabarrus Co., NC | 24 Mar 1857, Stanly Co., NC | John Laton Sr. (1777–1852); married 10 Jun 1824, Montgomery Co., NC |
John George Dry | 23 Apr 1799, Cabarrus Co., NC | 6 Jan 1857, Palestine, Stanly Co., NC | Mary "Polly" Sides (1808–1870); married 11 Nov 1822, Cabarrus Co., NC |
Sally Dry | 1802, Cabarrus Co., NC | After 1870, Iredell Co., NC | Jacob Canoy (1799–1870); married 7 Jun 1824, Cabarrus Co., NC |
Charity Dry | About 1803, Cabarrus Co., NC | Before 1880, Stanly Co., NC | Marcus I. Huneycutt (1797–1870); married 18 Mar 1822, Cabarrus Co., NC |
Esther Dry | 1805, Cabarrus Co., NC | After 19 Apr 1881, Concord, Cabarrus Co., NC | Daniel Sides (1806–1881); married 20 Dec 1823, Cabarrus Co., NC |
Martin Dry | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded (named in his father's will) |
Source: family group sheet, with Martin Dry's will of 26 September 1836 (Cabarrus County Pleas & Quarter Sessions, 2/405). The sheet lists the children in the order shown; Martin's birth year is not recorded, so his place in the birth order is unknown.
A few spellings are worth noting. The will's transcription writes "Catroul" for the daughter the sheet calls Charity, and names Esther's husband as David Sides, while the sheet and the 1823 marriage bond both say Daniel Sides. The probate entry on the sheet names Peter Dry and Daniel Sides as the executors, which supports Daniel. Four of John's sisters married and stayed in North Carolina, while Ann Elizabeth and John himself ended their lives in Arkansas.
The names Dry and Keppel are typical of the German-descended families who settled the North Carolina Piedmont, and Cabarrus County had many of them. A little timing is worth knowing too: John was born the same year George Washington took office as the first U.S. president, and North Carolina ratified the Constitution later that fall. Cabarrus County itself wasn't created until 1792, when it was split off from Mecklenburg County, so the county he called home was brand new when John was a toddler.
Early Life and First Marriage
The family group sheet places John's first marriage before 1810 in Cabarrus County. We don't have the name of his first wife. The first solid record of John as a head of household is the 1810 census (Cabarrus County, page 372, line 27). It lists a man aged 16–25 (John, who would have been about 21), a woman aged 16–25 (his wife), and two young children under ten, one boy and one girl.
The family kept growing. According to the preparer's notes, John's first wife left him with approximately six children. Four of John's children are named on the family group sheet: Alexander Monroe "Sandy" (born 1820), Margaret Caroline "Peggy" (born 1825), Leah Catherine (born 1827) and John W. (born about 1834). We'll meet each of them in the children section below. The sheet doesn't name anyone beyond those four.
A Cabarrus County Farmer and Landowner
1830: Selling 233¾ Acres to Martin Dry
On 20 July 1830, John N. Dry sold a tract of Cabarrus County land to Martin Dry for $325. The deed describes 233¾ acres laid out in the old "metes and bounds" style, with boundary lines measured in poles and anchored by pines, oaks and stakes. A pole (the "po" in the deed) is 16½ feet, which gives a real feel for the size of the farm. Neighbors named in the boundary calls include Geo. Earnhart, Elisha Harris and Matthew Barringer. Geo. Dry appears as a witness, and the deed was proven in open court by the oath of J. S. Beard before the clerk, James G. Spears, ordered it recorded. You can find it in Cabarrus County Deed Book 11, pages 303–304.
One note on names: the family group sheet lists John's father as Johan Martin Dry, but the deed doesn't say how Martin Dry or Geo. Dry were related to John. We're simply flagging the names here for future research.
1840: A Full House
By the 1840 census, John's Cabarrus County household (page 3, line 15) included John himself (aged 50–59), a wife aged 30–39, and six children: one boy aged 20–29, one aged 15–19, one aged 10–14, two aged 5–9, and one girl aged 10–14. The wife in that household is Sophie Barrier, whom John had married four years earlier.
1842: A Delegate to the Democratic Convention
On 4 May 1842, page 2 of the Raleigh newspaper The Weekly Standard listed John N. Dry among the delegates from Cabarrus County appointed to a Democratic Party convention. North Carolina politics in the 1840s were hotly contested between the Whigs and the Democrats, and being named a delegate tells us John took part in the political life of his county. We don't have further details about the convention itself.
1847: A Land Grant on Dutch Buffalo Creek
John also added to his holdings through the state. North Carolina issued Grant 721 to John N. Dry for 31 acres on 9 October 1847 (Book 152, page 419). He had "entered," or claimed, the land on 21 July 1846, and the grant places it on the waters of Dutch Buffalo Creek. Entries like this were typically made on vacant land, which was surveyed before the state issued the final grant.
1850: Still in Cabarrus County
The 1850 census finds John in Cabarrus County, age 60, born in North Carolina (dwelling 1252). With him were Sophia (41), John W. (16), Wm. R. Dry (14) and Mary Matheus [Mathews] (5). The 1850 census didn't record relationships, so the census alone can't tell us how each person was connected to the household. Wm. R. and Mary don't appear on the family group sheet as children, which makes them good targets for more research.
Second Marriage: Sophie Barrier
On 30 April 1836, John N. Dry married Sophie (Sophia) Barrier in Cabarrus County. The North Carolina marriage bond index records the bond, with Benjamin Juli as bondsman and J. G. Spears as witness. (A marriage bond was a bond posted with the county to guarantee there was no legal obstacle to the marriage.) Sophie was born about 1809 according to the family group sheet, and her census ages agree (41 in 1850, 50 in 1860). That would make her about 27 at the wedding and John about 47.
The family group sheet doesn't name any children of John and Sophie together. Sophia appears right beside John in the 1850 and 1860 censuses and in the 1860 Arkansas deed we'll look at shortly, where she signed away her own dower rights.
Heading West: Big Bottom, Independence County, Arkansas
Sometime between 1850 and 1860, John and Sophia left Cabarrus County for Arkansas. We don't have a record of the journey or of what prompted it, but the 1860 census shows the household in Big Bottom township, Independence County (dwelling 1169, page 176): John N. Dry (71), Sophia (50), John W. (27) and Mary (recorded as Mathew, 14), all born in North Carolina. Independence County lies along the White River in north-central Arkansas, with Batesville as its county seat. Arkansas had been a state only since June 1836, the same year John and Sophie married.
John's daughter Peggy and her husband Leonard Plyler were in Independence County too. Leonard is named as a county resident in the 1860 deed below, and he and Peggy are recorded there in the 1870 deeds. John also appears on the Independence County tax lists for 1860 and 1861.
February 1860: Selling Land to Leonard Phyler
On 10 February 1860, John and Sophia sold 51 acres in Independence County to Leonard Phyler (spelled Plyler in other records) for $150 (Deed Book Q, pages 546–547). The land was described using the government survey system, beginning at the northeast corner of lot 46 of the northwest fractional quarter of Section 4, Township 12 North, Range 4 West. (The transcription notes that the measurements should be verified against the original.)
The following day, 11 February 1860, the couple appeared before Justice of the Peace John A. Tomlinson. John acknowledged the deed. Sophia was examined privately, away from her husband, to confirm that she signed of her own free will and was giving up her right of dower (a widow's lifetime interest in part of her husband's land). That was the standard legal safeguard for a married woman in that era. The deed wasn't filed for record until 4 January 1863, nearly three years later and in the middle of the Civil War.
John's Passing
John N. Dry died in Independence County, Arkansas, before 3 October 1870. That date is the earliest document we have that calls him deceased. It is not the date he died. The latest record we have showing him still active is the 1861 Independence County tax list, so for now the window for his death runs from 1861 to 3 October 1870. We also haven't found where he was buried.
Dividing the Land: Three Deeds in 1870
By the fall of 1870, John's heirs were selling their shares of his Arkansas land. Three deeds tell the story, and each one describes the land as coming from "John N. Dry deceased."
Date | Who sold to whom | Share | Price |
3 Oct 1870 | Sandy M. Dry and wife Elizabeth (Stanly County, NC) to Daniel Melchor and wife Leah Catherine (Cabarrus County, NC) | One-fourth of the land owned by "his father John N. Dry deceased" | $100 |
15 Nov 1870 | Daniel Melcher and wife Leah Catherine (Cabarrus County, NC) to Leonard Plyler and wife Margrett Caroline (Independence County, AR) | One-half of the land, "on the waters of White River" | $500 |
Dec 1870 (acknowledged 31 Dec) | General T. Riddle and wife Julian Catherin; William D. Gregory and wife Mary Magdalene; William H. Dry and Jane P. Dry, to Leonard Plyler and wife Margrett Caroline | One-fourth of the land | $250 |
Sandy's deed (3 October 1870) was "came to hand" for registry in Cabarrus County on 9 November 1870 and is cited as Deed Book 24, pages 145–148. It is the clearest family statement we have: it calls John N. Dry "his father," confirming Sandy as John's son.
The Melcher deed (15 November 1870) was acknowledged the same day before John A. McDonald, Probate Judge of Cabarrus County, who also examined Leah privately about her willingness to sign. It was registered in Cabarrus County on 18 November 1870 (Book 23, page 147) and recorded in Independence County on 4 October 1873 (Deed Book W, pages 540–541).
The Riddle deed was acknowledged on 31 December 1870 before Justice of the Peace J. T. Harper and recorded on 4 October 1873 (Deed Book W, pages 538–540). The day of the month in the opening line is hard to read: the transcription shows "[third?]," but the acknowledgment and the next deed both use 31 December, so "thirty-first" may be what the scribe wrote. A fourth deed, Leonard Plyler to William H. Dry, begins at the bottom of page 541 and is dated 31 December 1870.
John's Children
The family group sheet lists four children for John N. Dry with an unknown first wife. Three of the four are recorded as born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.
Child | Born | Died | Spouse |
Alexander Monroe "Sandy" Dry | 18 Dec 1820, Cabarrus County, NC | 10 Apr 1884 | Elizabeth Stallings (1822–1892); married 4 Dec 1844, Cabarrus County, NC |
Margaret Caroline "Peggy" Dry | 1825 (place not recorded) | Not recorded | Leonard Plyler (dates not recorded) |
Leah Catherine Dry | 8 Jun 1827 (some records say 1828), Cabarrus County, NC | 28 Apr 1911, Mooresville, Iredell County, NC | Daniel Melchor (1820–1880); married 13 Oct 1848, Cabarrus County, NC |
John W. Dry | About 1834, Cabarrus County, NC | Not recorded | Not recorded |
There are a possibiity of two additional chidren by his first unknown Wife, one is:
Martin Wiley Dry (1822–1899)
Martin was born 28 October 1822 in Cabarrus County and died 25 September 1899. He married three times. His first marriage was on 16 December 1845 to Elizabeth Plyler (1825–?? in Cabarrus County, NC. Next he married Nancy Speight on 20 October 1856 in Cabarrus County, NC. His last Marriage was to Matilda Jane Boyles on 29 May 1860. Martin Wiley Dry died on 25 September 1899.
Alexander Monroe "Sandy" Dry (1820–1884)
Sandy was born 18 December 1820 in Cabarrus County and died 10 April 1884 (Find a Grave memorial #79137343). He married Elizabeth Stallings (1822–1892) in Cabarrus County on 4 December 1844. The family group sheet shows him in the 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses and notes a probate record. In the October 1870 deed, he and Elizabeth are living in Stanly County, North Carolina, and Sandy sold his one-fourth share of his late father's Arkansas land to his sister Leah and her husband Daniel.
Margaret Caroline "Peggy" Dry (born 1825)
Peggy was born in 1825 and married Leonard Plyler. The Arkansas deeds show "Leonard Plyler and wife Margrett Caroline" living in Independence County in 1870 and buying shares of her father's land from other heirs that fall. We don't yet have a death date, burial place or children for Peggy.
Leah Catherine Dry Melchor (1827–1911)
Leah was born 8 June 1827 in Cabarrus County, according to her death certificate. The 1900 census and Find a Grave give 1828 instead. She married Daniel Melchor (1820–1880) in Cabarrus County on 13 October 1848 (bondsman Lawson A. Melch..., witness R. W. Foard). The couple appear in Cabarrus County in 1850 and 1870 (Township 2) and in Fallstown, Iredell County, in 1880.
By 1900 Leah was a widow living in Fallstown with her son Victor and his wife, and the census records that she had eight children, all living. In 1910 she was living in Coddle Creek, Iredell County, in the household of her son-in-law Augustus Davidson, age 82. Leah died 28 April 1911 in Mooresville, Iredell County, and is buried at Saint Michaels Cemetery in Troutman (Find a Grave memorial #177580284). Find a Grave lists her children as:
Child of Leah and Daniel | Years |
Henrietta Loudema Melchor Davis | 1851–1941 |
John Valentine Melchor | 1856–1929 |
Martha Jane Melchor Davidson | 1858–1944 |
Mary S. Melchor | 1861–1922 |
Victor Theophilus Melchor | 1861–1941 |
George David Melchor | 1866–1916 |
Ila Catherine Melchor Sherrill | 1869–1937 |
John W. Dry (born about 1834)
John W. was born about 1834 in Cabarrus County. He appears in his father's household in 1850 (age 16) and again in 1860 in Arkansas (age 27), so he was part of the move west. We don't have a marriage, death or burial record for him yet.
Timeline of John N. Dry's Life
When | What happened |
1789 | Born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina |
Before 1810 | First marriage, Cabarrus County (wife unknown) |
1810 | Census: household of John Dry, Cabarrus County |
18 Dec 1820 | Son Alexander Monroe "Sandy" born |
1825 | Daughter Margaret Caroline "Peggy" born |
8 Jun 1827 | Daughter Leah Catherine born (some records say 1828) |
20 Jul 1830 | Sells 233¾ acres to Martin Dry (Deed Book 11, pp. 303–304) |
About 1834 | Son John W. born |
30 Apr 1836 | Marries Sophie Barrier, Cabarrus County |
1840 | Census: Cabarrus County, household of six children |
4 May 1842 | Named a Cabarrus County delegate to a Democratic Party convention |
21 Jul 1846 | Enters claim to land on Dutch Buffalo Creek |
9 Oct 1847 | North Carolina issues Grant 721, 31 acres (Book 152, p. 419) |
1850 | Census: Cabarrus County, age 60 |
1850–1860 | Moves to Independence County, Arkansas |
10 Feb 1860 | John and Sophia sell 51 acres to Leonard Phyler (Deed Book Q, pp. 546–547) |
1860 | Census: Big Bottom, Independence County, age 71; appears on county tax list |
1861 | Independence County tax list |
4 Jan 1863 | The 1860 deed is filed for record |
Before 3 Oct 1870 | Dies in Independence County, Arkansas |
Oct–Dec 1870 | Heirs sell their shares of his Arkansas land to Leonard and Peggy Plyler |
4 Oct 1873 | The 1870 deeds are filed for record in Independence County (Deed Book W) |
Historical Backdrop
We don't know how each of these events touched John personally, but they were the world around him:
1789: Washington is inaugurated in April, and North Carolina ratifies the U.S. Constitution in November.
1792: Cabarrus County is created from Mecklenburg County.
1799: A gold nugget found on the Reed farm in Cabarrus County is generally regarded as the first documented gold discovery in the United States.
1812–1815: The War of 1812 comes when John is in his twenties.
1836: Arkansas becomes a state in June, two months after John's second marriage.
1846–1848: The Mexican–American War runs through the same years as John's land entry and grant.
1861: Arkansas secedes from the Union on 6 May.
1862: Union forces under General Samuel Curtis reach Batesville, the Independence County seat.
1868: Arkansas is readmitted to the Union, two years before John's heirs sell his land.
Research Notes and Open Questions
Items to verify or explore
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Sources
1810 U.S. Census, Cabarrus County, NC, page 372, line 27 (Ancestry).
Cabarrus County, NC, Deed Book 11, pp. 303–304, John N. Dry to Martin Dry, 20 July 1830 (FamilySearch, film #463587).
1840 U.S. Census, Cabarrus County, NC, household of John Dry.
The Weekly Standard, Raleigh, NC, 4 May 1842, page 2 (Newspapers.com).
North Carolina Land Grant Files: Grant 721, John N. Dry, 9 October 1847, Book 152, p. 419.
1850 U.S. Census, Cabarrus County, NC, dwelling 1252.
North Carolina Index to Marriage Bonds: John N. Dry and Sophia Barrier, 30 April 1836.
1860 U.S. Census, Big Bottom, Independence County, AR, page 176, dwelling 1169.
Independence County, AR, tax lists, 1860 and 1861 (FamilySearch).
Independence County, AR, Deed Book Q, pp. 546–547, John N. Dry and wife to Leonard Phyler, 10 February 1860.
Cabarrus County, NC, Deed Book 24, pp. 145–148, Sandy M. Dry and wife to Daniel Melchor and wife, 3 October 1870.
Independence County, AR, Deed Book W, pp. 538–541 (FamilySearch images 643–645): Riddle et al. to Plyler; Melcher to Plyler.
Leah C. Dry Melchor: NC death certificate no. 585 (1911); 1850, 1870, 1880, 1900 and 1910 censuses; marriage bond, 13 October 1848; Find a Grave memorial #177580284.
Alexander Monroe "Sandy" Dry: Find a Grave memorial #79137343.
Prepared by
Charles Purvis
CPurvis1@gmail.com
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