Baptism John Dobbins Born c 1760 or 1764 in Moy, County Tyrone

[reddli]

Whoops -- born Moy, county Tyrone, of course!

[JonBoody]

I am hoping to complete a write-up of my research on the Dobbins family in the coming weeks. Once that is complete I will send it off to you. I can say that there is quite a bit of information available out there, going pretty far back, but I still have a number of big gaps that I cannot yet fill in.

Another route to look into would be Rev. Richard Vincent. He was very closely associated with the Dobbins family, far more than just his daughter, Elizabeth, marrying James Dobbins. Perhaps John named his first son after his grandfather. It's possible other members of the Vincent family had some connections and made mention of John somewhere.

I am descended from Sarah Dobbins, daughter of the elder Rev. James Dobbins of Kilmore. In all of my research I have found only two siblings for her - Rev. Lindsay Dobbins and Rev. James Dobbins (assumed father of John).

As for Eleanor Singleton, an Ellinor Singleton was baptized on June 21, 1760, in Whitbeck, Cumberland. Perhaps it is she or a close relative with the same name who married John Dobbins.

[reddli]

Thanks JonBoody!

I misspoke earlier when I said there were none in England. I should have looked at my notes before writing with such authority.

I have found that Ellinor Singleton bap 1760, but the dates of birth of her children (1793, 1803, 1806, 1809) make me hesitant to conclude that she's the woman who married John Dobbins. It is within the realm of possibility, but not a comfortable one, particularly in that historical period.

I think two of the few other Eleanor Singletons in England in the period might be a better chance:

> Ellen Singleton, daughter of John and Isabel Singleton, baptised at Kirkham, Lancs., on 14 December 1762. Abode: Newton
> Ellen Singleton, daughter of Thomas Singleton, baptised at Lancaster St John on 3 July 1767

The 30th Foot was at Liverpool before or around the same time they were in Whitehaven. If they marched from Liverpool to Whitehaven, both Lancaster and Kirkham would have likely been along the route.

Eleanor Dobbins was said to have been born abt 1765 when she was buried in 1736 -- totally unreliable, of course, but it has helped guide my searching. Unfortunately, the St Bees parish register didn't note anything about the couple when they married in 1792 other than the fact that neither were previously married.

I've also seen quite a few Singletons in Irish records in this period, which got me thinking she may have been someone he knew before he was stationed at Whitehaven.

The hunt goes on!

All best,
r.

[reddli]

P.S. I think it's time to research the 3 main Eleanor Singletons in depth, to see if I find them dying young or marrying someone else. I started this at one point, but put the research aside.

[JonBoody]

Hello reddli,

I finished writing up everything I've found regarding the Dobbins family and their ancestry. Unfortunately, I was unable to make any further connection between your John Dobbins of Moy and James Dobbins of Moy, but I'd be happy to pass along this study for when you do make that connection. If you are interested, please send me an email address via PM and I'll send it to you.

Jon

[KimberleyW]

A lady on facebook has suggested that we have a look through the parish registers of Clonfeacle, which should cover Moy's records. Dont know how we would find those, i'm not great with Irish record searching, but if anyone has any ideas i'm more than willing to give it a try!

[KimberleyW]

Never mind, found them!

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0199?fbclid=IwAR3dOv88AohPfJt0g3Ia6iIALSDMy73CnKr3-CapPZnSLoOLh_ByF_ZNeXQ

This... could take a while
I know that these will not contain anything for John, but we might find a link to more Dobbins's that we can trace back. Perhaps!

[JonBoody]

I'm not so sure the records you have here will be of much help as they are Catholic church records. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Irish records were destroyed, so you will be limited. I'm not seeing much of anyone named James or Richard Dobbins in findmypast after the 1780s. There are quite a few Mary Daniels, but she may or may not be their sister. I didn't look too deep into the Registry of Deeds, but there was no James or Richard in what I did review. Vincent family will abstracts mention the Dobbins relatives, so perhaps more can be found by looking at that family further. The lack of records in Ireland doesn't mean too much, given the loss of records there, but one would expect at least some mention somewhere. You are right, this might take a while. I would suggest organizing and writing up everything you find, both Irish and English, and then add new hints in as they come up.

[KimberleyW]

Nope you are correct, i was hoping that we might find some more Dobbins's that we could trace back to a common ancestor but it looks like the records that we would be interested in were destroyed anyway.

I have been in contact with the Ulster ancestry group on facebook and they have provided me with some information that, while it may not be of use to our current predicament, it might be an interesting read. I fear that John will forever remain a mystery.

It seems as though all records RE: the Rev James and his wife were destroyed, but there is some information that the Rev came from the town of Killinore in county Tyrone.

Some other info that may be of interest - (just going to copy and paste it all)

"From memory the Dobbin family were in Carrickfergus in the 1400s and at some point a number of members of the family moved to land west of Armagh City in Tirnascobe. Leonard Dobbin is probably the best known member of the family, serving as MP for the Borough of Armagh in the 1830s. The name Dobbin in this area is said to derive from d’Obyn which may well be d’Aubin as previously mentioned."

"There is a well-known traditional song from Armagh called Dobbin's Flowery Vale. You would probably be able to find it performed on YouTube. I don't know the provenance of it but some of the singers websites may have more information."

"Dobbins hotel and restaurant is in Carrickfergus. A fairly ancient building. The Dobbins who settled in Ulster are believed to have originally been named D'Aubin, Huguenot refugees, who, like the de Crommelin Huguenots (for whom Crumlin is named) became successful and influential. I am related by marriage to one Mervyn Dobbin from Carrick, but who now lives, I believe, in or near Milton Keynes, England."


One last thing that has been suggested is that we could contact a Valerie Adams in the Presbyterian Historical Society, to see if she could reveal any information that they have on the reverend, which may reveal more details of his family. So i'll give that a go and get back to you