William Drewery Dobbs - Generation 3

William Drewery Dobbs is my great-great-great grandfather. Little by little, I have been able to piece together some facts of his life. I'm hoping that his other descendants will see this and will be able to add to the story.

William Drewery Dobbs makes his first appearance in the Census in 1820 in Norfolk, Virginia as the second son of Willoughby Dobbs and his wife, Rachel Edmonds. According to the genealogy data handed down to me by Nellie West Dobbs, the granddaughter of his brother Joseph, William was born in 1816.

I often wondered how he was named. Who was the Drewery from whom his middle name is derived? This is what I found...

It is curious to note that several lines below Willoughby’s listing in the 1820census is a listing for a man named William Drewery. He is a single man and is listed in the same age grouping as Willoughby. My speculation is that Willoughby named his son after this man. Was he a friend or a relative? Could he have been the child’s godfather? We may never know. I can’t find any other records of the name Drewery being used in any other Dobbs family members, although Drewery, Drewry, Drury were common names in the Norfolk area during the time of his birth.

According to the 1820 and the 1830 census, William had three brothers and five sisters. I know the name of only one of his brothers (Joseph, the grandfather of the aforementioned Nellie) who I will write about in another posting. Do any of you other Dobbs descendants reading this know who the others are?

In the 1840 Census, William is living in Portsmouth, VA with the following household composition – 1 male between 20 and 30, 1 male between 30 and 40, 1 female between 10 and 15, 1 female between 15 and 20, and 1 female between 50 and 60. My guess is that he is the male between 20 and 30 and his wife is the female between 15 and 20. The other male and female may be a brother and sister. The older female may be his mother Rachel Edmonds Dobbs. She passed away in 1846.

William’s first child, my grandfather, Charles Edwin Willoughby Dobbs, was born on August 12, 1840. On his death certificate, his son, Charles Dobbs from Louisville, KY, listed his father’s name as William D. Dobbs and his mother’s name as Elizabeth Lesley. My best guess is that Elizabeth died in childbirth and William married Martha Anne Leslie soon thereafter. Charles Edwin Willoughby (a.k.a.Reverend CEW Dobbs, Baptist Minister) ) is shown as being 11 years old in the 1850 census and is living with William (age 34) and Martha (age 28).

I haven’t solved this mystery of the two mothers yet. Why are there two different spellings of Lesley/Leslie? Could they have been sisters or relatives? Were their family ties in Baltimore? When I entered Elizabeth Lesley into my Ancestry search engine, there were several of them in Baltimore.

William's wife, Martha Ann Leslie died on October 23, 1872 at age 50 according to her obituary that appeared in the Baltimore Sun on October 25, 1872. That means she was born in 1822 and in 1840, she would have been 18. William would have been about 24.

In the 1850 Census, William and Martha Ann are living in Norfolk, VA with the following children: Charles – 11, Anne – 9, William W – 7, Martha A – 5, and
George H. – 3. William’s occupation is shown as carpenter.

In 1855, tragedy struck Portsmouth with a Yellow Fever epidemic that killed a substantial portion of the population. Two of William’s children died on August 10, 1855– William W. age 12, and Virginia, age 2.

In the 1860 Census, the family is living in the Jefferson Ward of Portsmouth. William is 44, still a carpenter, with a personal estate worth $200.00. His children are Ann E – 18, George H. – 10, Mary – 8, Elizabeth – 3, Claudius E. – 2, Martha A. – 13. Also living with him are William C. Sheppard, age 26, a carpenter (possibly a boarder) and Thomas E. Dobbs, age 19, carpenter’s apprentice.

I will digress a little from the census to say a few words about Thomas because for the longest time, I couldn't figure out who he was just from seeing him in the census records. It was only after I conducted a thorough reading of all of Nellie's letters to Charles that I was able to decipher the mystery.

Thomas E. Dobbs is William’s nephew, the son of his brother Joseph. Thomas was a twin. His brother was Henry Joseph Dobbs, who, as a confederate soldier, carried the colors next to General Armistead during Pickett’s Charge in the Battle of Gettysburg. His daughter, Nellie West Dobbs, wrote this to my great-grandfather, Charles Dobbs, in a letter that I have in my possession. She also wrote that both Thomas and Henry had married first cousins and that both of them lost their wives in childbirth. I have been able to confirm this in Thomas's case. He married William’s daughter, Martha Ann. They are shown in the 1870 Census, married and living with William in Baltimore. She died on October 29, 1871 at age 24. When she died, Thomas bought 4 plots in the Old North Cemetery in Baltimore where he laid her and the child to rest.

The Gravesite in the Old North Cemetery

I actually visited there and found them in Area AA, Lot 99. Martha Ann is the only one with a headstone which shows her nickname as “Mattie”. It’s very worn and unreadable. Next to her stone is an obelisk, maybe to mark her child’s grave.

Martha Anne is in the first plot and was buried on November 1, 1871.

Her mother, Martha Anne is in the second plot and was buried on October 25, 1871. She died of a severe and lingering illness.

George H, age 36,one of William’s and Martha’s sons, is in plot three. He died of consumption.

There are a couple small children there as well. Emma Dobbs, a 6 month old child, was buried there on April 9, 1883. Charles Dobbs, a 3 month old child, was buried on November 8, 1874.

And finally, William D. Dobbs was buried there on May 22, 1886. He died of medullary cancer.

I don’t know who the children belonged to as of yet. Maybe some of you can help me.

Thomas Dobbs Remarriage

Thomas E. Dobbs remarried on the 25th of November 1873 to Adeline (Addie) Duvall. The Duvall’s were a prominent family in Anne Arundel County, Maryland from the early 1600’s. The original founding member of this family was a Huguenot named Mageen Duvall. Funny enough, Barack Obama’s mother is a descendant of this same family. Thomas and Adeline had one daughter, Mary, who died unmarried in 1918, maybe from the flu epidemic.

Back to the census

In the 1870 Census, the family has moved from Portsmouth, VA to Baltimore, MD. I searched in the City Directories to find out when William moved. The first time I can find him is in the 1867 City Directory. He is living at 228 Saratoga St as a boarder in the home of Mrs. Adeline Duvall, his future wife’s mother!!! I found no listing for him in 1868 or 1869. He reappears with his entire family in the 1870 census in Ward 7 of Baltimore, MD.

The children listed as living with him are Ann Eliza – 27, Elizabeth -14, George H, - 20, Claudius – 12, Joseph – 8, Martha – 22 married to Thomas – 29, and Mary – 18 married to John Fricker – 22.

In 1880, William is living alone at 208 German Street with his occupation listed as “Peddler.” He died in 1886 of medullary cancer.

A few comments about the Civil War...

I found a reference to William Dobbs in Footnote.com. There is a record that shows him enlisted in Company C, 3 Va. Reserves, in Booker’s Regiment of the Virginia Reserves. It lists him as a Private in 1864. There is another document that shows he was discharged from military duty before the organization of the company but was not known to have commanded any of the C Company in 1864. So, it looks like he never actually had to participate, perhaps because of his age and number of dependents.

Thomas E. Dobbs served as a Private in Captain William Richardson’s Company of the 9th Regiment of Artillery, Virginia Volunteers. It shows he was born in Portsmouth, VA and was 21 years old. It shows he was 5’ 6 ½” tall with a dark complexion, black eyes and black hair. He was a carpenter by trade. He enlisted on April 27, 1861 for 1 year. He was discharged by special order #72 on April 1, 1862 and was paid $11 as his final pay.

Since the Portsmouth area was devastated during the war and the economy was in shambles, I assume that the family moved to Baltimore because the economic conditions were much better for house builders. The common method of travel back then was by boat from the Port of Portsmouth to the Port of Baltimore. The roads were muddy and in disrepair after the war.

Summary

Our ancestor, William Drewery Dobbs, appears to have been a very hard working family man. His own father, Willoughby, died while he was still a young teenager. He must have had to work hard to help support his brothers and sisters and his mother. After his marriage, he endured many hardships, including the deaths of many loved ones - a spouse in childbirth, two children from yellow fever, his second wife from a long and lingering illness, and his daughter,Martha Ann’s from childbirth. Then there was the Civil War, a relocation to Baltimore, and his eventual death from medullary cancer at age 70.

He outlived two wives and several of his children. When he died in 1886, he was living alone and working as a peddler to support himself. He was buried in an unmarked grave next to his family members. Nobody would even know that he was there if they walked by. But I know he’s there and how important a role he played in our existence. I walked on his grave in quiet awe as I thanked him for his hard work and a life well spent.