Kedar's Daughter Nancy Dobbs and husband David Manning

This entry appeared in the Virginia Genealogical Society's Magazine and has to do with Nancy's trying to prove that she is the widow of a former soldier thereby making her eligible for a pension. It is also the first document that I found that identified Kedar's wife's first name as Mary. In all of the genealogical material handed down through the family, she was listed as "Miss Willoughby."

David Manning: Nancy, his widow. A letter from J.W. Baxter,
County Clerk of Currituck, N.C. 4 Jan 1854 stated that he had found the
marriage bond between David Manning and Nancy Dobbs and it is the only evidence
he has or did have at that time. They were married 31 May 1810. Her
declaration in 1856 at aged 67 was signed in Richmond, stating he was a private
in Nathaniel Tatum's Co. He died in Norfolk Co. in October
1818.

A memo in quotation marks reads: David Manning, son of Thos. Manning
and Unis, his spouse, was born the 4th of August 1787. Nancy, daughter of
Kedar and Mary Dobbs, was born 24 Sept 1789. Elizabeth Manning, daughter
of David and Nancy, was born 15 March 1813. Frederick W. Manning, son of
David and Nancy, was born 8 November 1815. William Manning, son of David
and Nancy, was born _January 1818.

Virus Genealogicus

This quote was forwarded to me by Randy Seaver and appeared in a blog belonging to Adauto de Andrade. It's a great description of how genealogists feel about our work. When I cut and pasted into this blog, the Portuguese came with it, thus providing you with a language lesson as well. Enjoy.

Yes, this is something crazy.

É um hobbie que não tem fim. It is a hobbie that has no end.

Mas não tem como explicar. But is not explain.

A esse respeito, do muito que já li em diversos textos e obras me identifiquei com o posicionamento do Padre Reynato Breves, no artigo Novas Revelações da Genealogia, publicado no Jornal da Cidade, de Barra do Piraí, em sua edição de 12 de setembro de 1998. In that respect, much of which already have read in various texts and works I identified with the position of Father Reynato brief, Article New Disclosure of Genealogy, published in the Journal of the City of Barra do Piraí, in its edition of September 12, 1998.

Diz o seguinte: It says:

Há pessoas que não apreciam ‘Genealogia’, não se interessam por saber quem é seu avô, bisavô ou trisavô; não querem saber de onde vêm, quais são os seus ascendentes. There are people who do not enjoy 'Genealogy', is not interested in knowing who is his grandfather, great grandfather or trisavô; not want to know where they come from, what are their ancestors.

Ora, a Genealogia é a Ciência da nossa racionalidade, da marca indelével das nossas origens; diz de onde viemos, diz quem somos, diz quais são as nossas raízes, mostra-nos a nossa importância. However, the Genealogy is the science of our rationality, the indelible mark of our origins, says of where we come from, says about us, says what are our roots, shows us our importance.

A Genealogia exige paciência, perseverança e intercâmbio, mostra a necessidade da comunicação com outros Genealogistas e causa grandes surpresas e grandes emoções. The Genealogy requires patience, perseverance and exchange, shows the need of communication with other Genealogistas and causes great surprises and big emotions.

Enfrenta grandes obstáculos, terríveis barreiras, surpreendentes interrogações. Faces major obstacles, terrible barriers, surprising questions.

A Genealogia é uma paixão e quem nela entra dela não sai mais. The Genealogy is a passion and who do not enter it comes out more.

A Genealogia é amor; amor aos antepassados. The Genealogy is love, love the ancestors.

A Genealogia é gratidão; gratidão aos que nos antecederam nesta vida. The Genealogy is gratitude; gratitude to those who preceded us in this life.

A Genealogia é memória imperecível. The Genealogy is imperecível memory.

A Genealogia quase se confunde com a Heráldica. The Genealogy almost be mistaken for the Heraldry.

A Genealogia atesta a importância de uma Família. The Genealogy shows the importance of a Family.

A Genealogia é como o Livro; conserva a memória das gerações passadas contra a tirania do tempo e contra o esquecimento dos homens, que ainda é a maior tirania, e enaltece as gerações hodiernas. The Genealogy is like the Green; retains the memory of past generations against the tyranny of time and against the neglect of men, which is still the greatest tyranny, and brings the generations hodiernas.

A Genealogia move os ânimos e causa grandes efeitos. The Genealogy move the very souls and cause large effects.

Dobbs Crest - the Willoughby Barrett Version

This crest was sent in by Willoughby Barrett Dobbs III from Connecticut. He has the original seal used by Willoughby Barrett Dobbs the first.

Following is a short biography that I found of him in The Book of New York. pp. 309-310.

Another metropolitan lawyer who entered his profession by the gateway of journalism is Willoughby Barrett Dobbs, who was born in Portsmouth, Va., in the first year of the Civil War. His parents removed to Richmond, Ky., in 1866, then to Lexington, Ky., in 1868, and to Bowling Green, Ky., in 1874. In these places he attended private and public schools. Thence he entered Bethel College, Russelville, Ky., where he was graduated in 1880. For three years he taught district school and read law at the same time, attaining admission to the bar of Kentucky in 1883. He practiced law and edited newspapers until 1892, dividing his time between the two professions of law and journalism. He wrote slashing editorials at night for the Bowling Green Democrat, Daily Gazette and Daily Times and gave his hours of daylight to practice in the courts. In 1886 he became the proprietor of the Allen Sentinel, Scottsville, Ky., and livened the community in politics. He transferred his activities to Washington, D.C., in 1892 when he was called three years later to accept office as chief examiner in the Police Department of New York under Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt. This tenure was of brief duration because the office was abolished by the charter of 1898. The only other political office that Mr. Dobbs has ever held was that of Assemblyman in 1907 for the 32nd New York County District.

Note: While Willoughby was in Washington D.C. he served with Theodore Roosevelt during his tenure as the Commissioner of the Civil Service Commission. Willoughby wrote the initial Civil Service Regulations for the agency.

Brian Dobbs - Generation 9

Brian's genealogy
1. Kedar Dobbs 1748 - 1816
2. Willoughby Dobbs 1782 - 1829
3. William Drewery Dobbs 1816-1886
4. C. E. W. Dobbs 1840 - 1916
5. Charles Dobbs 1871 - 1928
6. George Whipple Dobbs Sr. 1896 - 1971
7. George Whipple Dobbs Jr. 1921 - 1990
8. George Whipple Dobbs III 1954 -
9. Brian Cory Dobbs 1981


The History Of Recorded Music ( 3 Discs) is the all-encompassing solo album. It is written, performed, produced, financed and documented by myself, Brian Dobbs.

This album includes a Vinyl CD, a DVD-Video and a DVD-Audio disc. I shot and edited all of the video, authored both DVDs and designed my own way of multichannel mixing. I also designed the album artwork with the help of photography expert Enoch Chan.


The History of Recorded Music Vinyl CD16 bit, 44.1 kHz, Stereo
1) Breathe, Into My Soul
2) Biolume
3) Needle Whip
4) The Spirits of Tomorrow
5) Superior(ity)
6) Stand the Test of Time
7) X Max
8) Light Emitting Diad
9) Breathe, Into My Soul (reprise)

Comments:

When recording for this album began there were only rough ideas floating around, mostly stored as demos on my computer. The songwriting process was linear, working and completing one song at a time. I ultimately wanted to hear certain types of songs and sounds, so once I was done with one type I then moved on to the next. For instance, I wanted a heavy metal song, an electronica song, an epic song, etc.

Once the creative process of composing and demoing a song on my computer was complete I went to the recording studio and tracked it.Composing the next song wouldn't begin until I was mostly done tracking the previous song. It's not the most efficient way of doing things, but I unfortunately never had the luxury of isolating myself for a month or two and knocking this thing out.

From conception to completion this album took one-and-a-half years. Besides the fact that I took over the roles of guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, drummer, songwriter, producer, videographer and editor, I had to fit this thing in-between having a full-time job and being the drummer and webmaster for Concrete Prophet, my band. Since I also paid for studio time myself I had to budget the recording process from paycheck to paycheck.

I am not listing complaints, I just wanted to express the reality of the whole process.I loved experimenting with synthesizers on this album. I never worked with the keyboard intimately before, but once I started doodling I found myself completely immersed into the world of patches and effects. The keyboard sneaks it's way into most of the songs, sometimes producing interesting musical hybrids.

I find it difficult to classify the album into any one particular genre however. I suppose most of the material on here is derivative of rock music, but I wouldn't call this a rock album. I'll leave that up to you.

Visuals to the Aural Medium DVD-Video16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Dolby Digital 2.

1) Interview with Brian Dobbs 2) Studio Footage 3) Music Videos

Comments:

I thought it would be interesting to put myself on camera to answer questions and offer some insight into the making of this album. Who am I? Where am I from? What were my motivations? Just how on Earth did I manage to do all of this? I do my best to give as much information as possible about my background, my reasons and methods for doing this as well as song-by-song analysis.

The interview is quite long, but after all this is my album.I knew going into this I wanted to get some video footage of the recording process. I didn't anticipate capturing the performances of most of the material but once this thing got started I thought it would be stupid not to set up the camera to capture exactly what would be heard on the album.

From that, I thought of making music videos to each song showcasing each instrument being recorded for that song. I refined the editing process as I went along but ultimately what you will see are simultaneous performances of myself playing each instrument for each song.

The History of Recorded Music DVD-Audio 24 bit, 44.1 kHz, Six Channel Surround Sound

1) Breathe, Into My Soul 2) Biolume 3) Needle Whip 4) The Spirits of Tomorrow 5) Superior(ity) 6) Stand the Test of Time 7) X Max 8) Light Emitting Diad 9) Breathe, Into My Soul (reprise)

Comments:

I'm a home theater nut. I love surround sound. Listening to music in surround sound can be a breathtaking experience. In a word, beautiful. About midway through the recording process I started thinking about whether it would be possible to include a surround mix of each song on the album. After doing some research I came across a company that sold DVD-Audio authoring software at a reasonable price. The only catch was that it didn't include the ability to mix in surround sound. The recording studio only had stereo mixing capabilities so I knew that I would have to start thinking creatively towards a solution.Ultimately what you'll hear is the music broken up into multiple channels.

I'm confident no one has attempted something like this before because I came up with the mixing process myself. In the process I think I drove my engineer crazy! In the beginning he had no idea where I was taking this project, but after time he eventually began to understand. His idea for an album cover was dressing me up as a mad scientist in a laboratory.

During the recording process I told some people about my plans for a surround sound mix to which most of them asked, "But why?" My answer is that I have faith in the future of multichannel music. I've been an early adopter of the virtually unknown (and misunderstood) format and I can now also consider myself one of the privileged few on this entire planet to have an independent DVD-Audio surround sound mix.

On the trail of the first Willoughby

Kedar Dobbs married Mary Willougby when he returned from the Hudson Valley Theatre of the Revolutionary War. They had three children, one born in 1782 whom they named Willoughby Dobbs.

Willoughby grew up and married Rachel Edmonds (b. 1784) on October 20, 1805 by Reverend William Grimes. This is well documented in Virginia records.

The first time that he appears by himself in the census records is in 1820. I assume that he was living and farming with Kedar before that because in the 1810 census, Kedar Dobbs is living in St. Bride's Parish with 6 other family members, none of whom appear to be his wife.

The 1810 Census shows Kedar as the head of household. He would have been 62 in 1810. He died in 1816. In addition to Kedar, there is one male between the ages of 26 and 44, One female between the ages of 26 and 44, and four children - three young females under 10 years old, and one female between the ages of 16 and 25. There was also 1 slave, gender unspecified.

Willoughby served as a private in the War of 1812 in the 9th Reg't (Sharp's) Militia. I don't know where or how much time he spent doing this.

In the 1820 Census, Willoughby is listed as the head of household and is 38 years old. Rachel is 36. In addition, there are 6 children - 2 sons under 10 years old, 3 daughters less than 10 years old, and 1 daughter between 10 and 16.

Willoughby is shown as being engaged in agriculture. There are no slaves listed.

By the 1830 census, Willoughby is not listed and presumed deceased and Rachel is 46 and there are 9 children - son less than 5 yrs, son 5-9 yrs, son 10-14 yrs, son 15 to 19 yrs, daughter less than 5 yrs, daughter 10 to 14 yrs, daughter 15 to 19 years, and two daughters 20 to 29 yrs. In addition, there are 5 slaves - 1 male 10 to 23 yrs, 2 males 24 to 36, 1 female under 10, and 1 female 24 to 36. It could be a family from the composition and ages.

In 1840, I can't find any Dobbs's in the Norfolk, Portsmouth, St. Bride's Parish area. What could have happened and where did they go?

The Federal Mortality Schedule lists a Miss Dobbs born in 1820 who died in 1850. This might be one of them.

Rachel Dobbs' obituary appeared in local newspaper in 1846 and reads:

"In Portsmouth, Va., on Saturday, the 5th inst., of Pulmonary Consumption, Mrs. Rachel Dobbs in the 62nd year of her age. She was a subject of many severe and heavy trials, but the everlasting arms were underneath her, and the eternal God was her refuge."

I can only imagine what these severe and heavy trials must have been with nine children, a farm, no husband, and the pre-Civil War economy.

Where is Rachel buried? Could Willoughby be with her?

What about the other siblings that I haven't found. I have traced two of them because I knew their names from my great-grandfather's, (Charles Dobbs), files.

William Drewery Dobbs, born in 1816, had ten children and lots of descendants.

His brother, Joseph E. Dobbs, had three children, died early of consumption, and had less.

Since this is the next generation, it will be grist for another blog on another day.

How to figure cousin relationships

I found this neat formula on another Dobbs genealogy site "Gathering Leaves". The Dobbs's on this website are from Middlesex County, Virginia and may have some relationship to us, but I can't find it yet.

Determine the latest common ancestor, and then the number of “G”s you share.

That is the number of cousins you are.

Any difference in “G”s is the number “Removed”.

So, people who have the same great-grand-parents (2G) are second cousins (2C).

If the great-grand-parents (2G) of one person are the great-great-grand-parents (3G) of another person, then those two people are second cousins, once removed (2C1R).

They share 2Gs with a difference of 1G (3-2=1).

First Dobbs Obituary 1551

P. 106. Funeral of alderman sir Richard Dobbs. Son of Robert Dobbs, of Batby in Yorkshire; sheriff 1543, lord mayor 1551. Stowe mentions his monument in the church of St. Margaret Moyses, but gives no epitaph. Arms, Per pale argent and sable, a chevron engrailed between three unicorn's heads each charged with three gouts all counter-changed. (Wm. Smith, Rouge-dragon.) See the death and funeral of his widow in pp. 268, 269.

From: 'Notes to the diary: 1556', The Diary of Henry Machyn: Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London (1550-1563) (1848), pp. 347-355. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45537. Date accessed: 15 August 2008.