DANIEL DOBYNS OF COLONIAL VIRGINIA:
HIS ENGLISH ANCESTRY AND AMERICAN DESCENDANTS


By Kenneth W. Dobyns and Margaret S. Thorpe

Copyright © 1969 Kenneth W. Dobyns


[Subsequent additions and corrections are incorporated]


General permission is granted for any person to make one copy of this book for his own personal use and not for sale or further reproduction.

Certain documents and items reproduced herein were obtained from English depositories of public records, and the British crown claims crown copyright in such documents and items. The British crown has granted a general permission to reproduce these items under certain conditions provided their source is acknowledged. These items include the following:

The will of Guy Dobyns, from the Gloucester Dioscean Register Office

The will of Randall Dobyns, from the Principal Probate Registry, Somerset House, London

The signature of Randall Dobyns, from the Gloucester Dioscean Register Office

The petition of Richard Dobyns et al, from the Public Record Office, London

Mr. R.F. Nice and the Rev. H.L.O. Davies have given their kind permission to reproduce the drawing of the Newent Parish Church (page 3), which was taken from a publication of that church.




Arms Claimed by Daniel Dobyns 1616

Shield checkered black and silver; on a red inset, five pierced gold stars.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Frontispiece.....................................................................................................................iii

Preface............................................................................................................................vii

Table of Abbreviations.....................................................................................................viii

Chapter I. ..The Dobyns Family in England......................................................................1

Chapter II......Daniel Dobyns the Emigrant to Virginia and His Early Descendants...........23

Chapter III.....Edward4 Dobyns (Thomas3, Daniel2, DanielI) and His Descendants............42

Chapter IV......Abner3 Dobyns (William2, DanielI) and His Descendants...........................59

Chapter V.......William3 Dobyns (Charles2, DanielI) and His Descendants..........................72

Chapter VI......Charles3 Dobyns (Charles2, DanielI) and His Descendants.........................90

Chapter VII.....Samuel3 Dobyns (Charles2, DanielI) and His Descendants.........................98

Chapter VIII....Other Descendants of Charles2 Dobyns, son of DanielI Dobyns................107

Chapter IX......Griffin3 Dobyns (Griffin2, DanielI) and His Descendants............................116

Chapter X.....Miscellaneous.............................................................................................146

Notes...............................................................................................................................155

Index of Names................................................................................................................161

PREFACE

This book is not intended as an epitaph for dead ancestors but as a prologue to a living family. The authors between them have spent thirty years of spare time and odd moments in a quest through original documents, ancient records and fickle memories in search of a family's forgotten past. This search was personally conducted in Virginia, throughout the United States. An attempt has been made to bring life to the earlier of the twenty generations presented herein, generations of men and women who are now represented only by disconnected documents in scattered archives and by a family scattered half a world from its point of origin.

Unlike a more conventional search, a genealogical search ends at the beginning, and this search ended in the early 1400's, when the family was found in Newent, Gloucestershire, England. By the late 1500's and in the 1600's, family members were attending Oxford University at a time when the vast majority of Englishmen still were able to sign their names only with a mark. Several were educated in the law. One of our ancestors, a younger son, trained in youth to be a haberdasher, later became a Member of Parliament and wealthy in his own right. His orphaned grandson, after receiving a comparatively small inheritance from his grandfather, sought his fortune in the colony of Virginia, where he became, by colonial standards, a man of some importance. His family multiplied and scattered and is now found across the United States.

The authors have taken the early history of the family from recorded documents, official records and compilations which are fully cited. Family tradition, scant as it is, has been completely ignored by the authors in dealing with the English and early American generations. The information concerning the later generations is derived from correspondence, frequently without supporting documentary evidence. Extensive correspondence with members of the family now living has extended the scope of the book far beyond what the authors might have achieved by their own documented research, but with the obvious result that complete proof cannot be provided for the later generations so treated.

The authors realize that this book does not include all of the descendants of Daniel Dobyns the Emigrant or even all of those surnamed "Dobyns". The work does present a foundation upon which those descendants not traced herein can build their own genealogical lines. Even though no claim to completeness or absolute accuracy can be made, there is value for future generations in the compiling and preserving of these family records.

The authors would like to express their appreciation to the many people who have helped with this book, and especially to those who, although not members of the family, have helped in so many ways to makes its publication possible. Perhaps the authors should express their appreciation to the postal carriers who have carried numerous letters and manuscripts between Macon, Georgia and Arlington, Virginia in the last year and a half, because the authors have never met each other except by correspondence.

Kenneth W. Dobyns
Arlington, Virginia

Margaret S. Thorpe
Macon, Georgia

TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS


b . . . . . born
ca . . . . .circa, about
Co. . . . .county
d . . . . . .died
DB . . . .deed book
DCAF . Dobyns-Cooper and Allied Families by A.A.P. Ballou and W.F. Cooper
d.inf. . . .died in infancy
DW&O. .deeds, wills and orders
EAQG. .Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy
fn. . . . . .footnote -- see notes in special section, pages 155-159
m . . . . . married
mss. . . . manuscript
NFK. . . nothing further known
NFPR. . North Farnham Parish Register
OB. . . . .order book
p, pp. . . page, pages
¶ . . . . . .paragraph or group of paragraphs forming a family entry
PCC. . . Prerogative Court of Canterbury
PRO. . . Public Record Office, London
prob . . . probably
WB . . . .will book
WB&I. . .wills, bonds and inventories
W&D. . . wills and deeds

Note that the identifiers A through I and numbers 2 through 12 appear beside some names in the listing. These identifiers aid in identifying the generations, the letters referring to the English generations in order, beginning with A for the first generation identified and ending with I for the last generation traced. The emigrant continues the identifier I, identifiable with the numeral "one" and the remaining American generations continue in numerical order. The names listed in parentheses at the beginning of a ¶ entry contain these identifiers in square brackets and are used to trace the descent, in capsule form, of the listed individual back to the Emigrant (for the American generations) or to the earliest identified ancestor (for the English generations).

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