Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 1093 - 1094

DAVID M. DOBBIN, a prominent farmer of Viola Township, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, Jan. 30, 1813, and is the son of William and Margaret (Andrew) Dobbin, who were members of that noble Scotch-Irish race, with which that part of the Emerald Isle is so thickly settled. In 1824 the family of his parents came to the United States and settled in Washington County, N. Y. John and Mary (Miller) Dobbin, the paternal grandparents of our subject, came to New York with their six sons, and made a settlement in the same place about the same time. The parents of the gentleman of whom we write died in that picturesque portion of the Empire State, leaving seven children, all of whom were born in Ireland and grew to manhood, of whom David was the youngest son.

             The subject of this biographical memoir was about eleven years old when he came to this country with his parents, and received his education and grew to manhood among the rocky heights and fertile valleys of Washington County. He received an early training upon his father's farm, and on attaining his manhood, Jan. 20, 1836, was united in marriage with Miss Charity I. Graham, a native of Washington County, N. Y., born Aug. 11, 1816, of Scotch-Irish parents. In 1837, tired of tilling among the rocks and stones, and the tough roots of primeval forests that encumbered the ground, he removed to Franklin County, Ohio, with the intention of finding a more genial soil. He found that "There no stony ground provoked the wrath of the farmer: Smoothly the plowshare ran through the soil, As a keel through the waters," and there, on that congenial soil, he made his home until 1840. A year previous to that date he was bereft by the death of his wife, who left two children, one of whom is living, William J., a resident of this county, of whom a sketch is given elsewhere in these pages.

             At the date above mentioned our subject returned to Washington County, N. Y., and in April, 1843, married Miss Mary Jane French, a native of that portion of the Empire State, born Oct. 26, 1816. The year following his marriage our subject removed to DeKalb County, Ill., where in January, 1848, he again became a widower. His wife left him with two children, both of whom were small: Margaret A., the deceased wife of Thomas Irvin, and James B., who is a resident of Viola Township. For a third time, Sept. 6, 1852, Mr. Dobbin entered into a matrimonial alliance, the bride on this occasion being Miss Eliza Stott, a native of Washington County, N. Y., born Feb. 15, 1817. With his family, he continued to make his home in DeKalb County until 1883, at which time he came to Kansas and settled in Viola Township, where he owns eighty acres of highly improved land. By his third marriage he is the father of four children - Sarah M., Eliza, Isabelle and Emma.

             In early life our subject learned the cooper's trade, which he followed the greater portion of his time until after he came to Illinois, when he abandoned it and followed farming, as he owned a good property in that State. True to the instincts of his family Mr. Dobbin is a Republican, although his first vote was cast for the Democratic party, but when the slavery question crept into politics he became an ardent Abolitionist, and since 1856 has voted with the party of emancipation. In his religious views he is a United Presbyterian, and for some forty years held the position as Elder of that church. He is highly in favor of the prohibitory liquor law, and warmly advocates its stringent enforcement.

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