English and Irish Family Search

at 07:52PM on Apr 20, 2009

My Great, Great Grandfather was James Dobbins born about 1810 probably around Tullamore. He was married to Mary Horan. Any information about either including parents, siblings etc would be appreciated. Also any info on exact dates of birth, marriage and death and places

I am thinking we may have the same GGGrandfather, I have a G Grandfather Patrick Joseph b 1881 his parents were listed as James Dobbins and Annie Duffy, my theory is James Dobbins father was james dobbins married to mary horan.  Mary Horan and James had the following children Maria Hoban d 1909 m 1872 Martin Hoban , Patrick d 1920 & James d1914 (these children have listed James & Mary as their parents)  Who do you decend from to have James and Mary as GGgrandfather. 

Hi Alison And Welcome,I will Pass on your Message to BundyBear

Mike

Hi Alison

So far I have only got as far as James Dobbins & Mary Horan who seem to be the parents of Patrick Dobbins b 1847 in Tullamore d 1920 at Townsville in Queensland Australia

Patrick Dobbins was married twice and had two girls from his first marriage - Kate & Mary Ann. Have no information  on his first wife. There was also a male probably died at birth.

His second marriage was to Emily Martha Agombar b 1866 at Islington and they had two girls Violet Louisa and Theresa May (my grandmother) b 1897 in Charters Towers in Queensland Australia.

My father's brother who is still alive has some information about his mother side of the family.

If you can find any connections it would be appreciated

Jim McConnell (Bundybear49)

Hi Yes I do have information,James Dobbins & Mary Horan had the following children

Patrick (1843) John (1845) James (1848) maria (1851) Alfred (1854)  I descend from james (1848) and he married Annie Duffy and had three children Patrick John & Alfred. It is the birth of John & Alfred in Queensland sometime in 1880's I cannot find.  As for patrick born 1843 his first wife was Ellen Tobin and they had the two girls and a boy James who died in 1878, Ellen died in 1887.

i hope this is helpful if you know anything on John or alfred let me know

thanks

Bundy Bear, the patrick dobbins you have listed is the brother of james dobbins who married annie duffy and they are my ggrandparents, there is a little confusion with the dates the children where born.  do have the death certificate for patrick dobbins as i am keen to know if the place of birth is listed as tullamore.  my ggfather james dobins died in 1914 in townsville annie duffy died in 1896 in charters towers.  the family was either in charters towers or townsville. 

alison

Hi Jim and Alison,

 I stumbled across your queries on James Dobbins trawling through the internet.My gg grandfather was Alfred Joseph Dobbinsb1856Tullamore,Ireland.d1938 Proserpine,Qld.Alfred m Ellen Agnes Dwyer in 1881, Rockhampton.

Jim, I have corresponded with several of the mcconnell family over  the years, so please excuse me if I have written to you?or one of your brothers? before. I can not be certain as i do not have my "folder" with me. I am currently away from home until the end of the week. I have a fair amount of info on Patrick Dobbins.

Patrick born 1846 Tullamore,Ireland.d 1920 Townsville,Qld.

m Ellen Tobin 1st marriage 1873 Sydney and had

1Mary Ann Dobbinsb1877 who married Jonas Bird

2.Catherine Thersa Dobbins who married John Hood.

Patrick Dobbins 2nd marriage to Emily Agombar 1893 charters towers

1.Violet Louisa Dobbinsm Walter Henry Reddel

2.Theresa May Dobbinsm Tasman Hugh McConnell.This is obviously your side Jim.

Alison your side has been the most difficult to work out but it took about ten years and only worked it about 12 months ago.

James John Dobbinsb 1850 Tullamore,Ireland,d1914Townsville,Qld.

married  Annie Duffey 1889 in Charters Towers.(Yes 1889)Occupation Mine Manager.

They  had three boys

1.Alfred James Dobbins b 01 Feb 1876 Ravenswood,Queensland.

He married Mary Ellen Simpson, and lived around the townsville area.He had a large family.

2.Patrick (your side Alison) i had not found anything so far, until now.b1881(1881/C3282)

3.John Dobbinsb 1879(1879/C3109)

Alfred's birth certificate has him listed as illegitimite, the name came under alfred james dobbins duffey.I do not have john's birth certificate, but he is listed as john duffey in the qld bdm's.John and his family (1879)family moved to the new south wales and victoria area from his world war one record.Hopefully Alison this makes more sense why the records could not be found.

James Dobbins was born approx 1814 in Gibralter,Europe, and i think i found his father was from Offally,Ireland and was stationed there as a soldier.James died 1896 in Townsville.

Mary Horan b 1815 approx Kings Countyd 1877 Cawarral near Rockhampton.Mary had a brother John in qld as well.He had a large family as well and died in Mt.Martin in 1892.

As for the children of James Dobbins and Mary Horan they were all born in the geashill area near tullamore, except letitia dobbins who was born and died 1858 at mansford near warrnambool,victoria.

Hoping this helps

Michael

Micheal,

Fantastic thank you for the information however I cannot find a marriage certificate for Annie Duffy and James Dobbins.  Annie Duffy died in 1896 in Charters Towers and she is buried in the cemetery with a headstone.  James Dobbins did die in Townsville and was living with Martin Hoban (maria dobbins) husband in Griffith St Townsville.  james son Patrick is also in Townsville and his brother John joins the World War 1 in under an assumed names John Nelson however in the 1950's changes his name back to Dobbins.  he has listed Patrick as his next of kin living at Martin Hoban's home in Griffith St Townsville.  My question is why John changed his hame?  When John returned from WW1 in 1918 he was the witness at my GG's (patrick dobbins b 1881) wedding in Townsville he used John Dobbins when he signed the certificate.  I had found letitia death however I didn't know the location of her death.

Micheal if you have any more please let me know when you find your notes as my grandfather (Patrick b 1881 d 1960) only child & son, Rod, never knew of the family he was born in 1917 and lived and grew up with his mothers family, thanks you once again as the puzzle is slowly unravelling.  I am also looking for Annie Duffy's family does the marriage certificate list a place of birth?

Thanks

Alison

Michael & Alison

My paternal grandmother was Theresa May Dobbins who was the daughter of Patrick Dobbins from his second marriage to Emily Martha Agomba. Theresa married my grandfather Tasman Hugh McConnell at Charters Towers in 1921. They had 3 children Thelma, Neale (my dad) and Brian. Uncle Brian is the only one still living.

Jim

at 01:45AM on Nov 10, 2009

Bundy Bear, the patrick dobbins you have listed is the brother of james dobbins who married annie duffy and they are my ggrandparents, there is a little confusion with the dates the children where born.  do have the death certificate for patrick dobbins as i am keen to know if the place of birth is listed as tullamore.  my ggfather james dobins died in 1914 in townsville annie duffy died in 1896 in charters towers.  the family was either in charters towers or townsville. 

 

alison

I don't have a death certificate for Patrick Dobbins but my Uncle Brian does have some papers about the family which I want to have a look at however I do have papers about my Grandmother's birth and marriage which show Patrick Dobbins was born at Tullamore, Kings County (as it was then known)

Jim

at 12:09AM on Nov 18, 2009

Micheal,

 

Fantastic thank you for the information however I cannot find a marriage certificate for Annie Duffy and James Dobbins.  Annie Duffy died in 1896 in Charters Towers and she is buried in the cemetery with a headstone.  James Dobbins did die in Townsville and was living with Martin Hoban (maria dobbins) husband in Griffith St Townsville.  james son Patrick is also in Townsville and his brother John joins the World War 1 in under an assumed names John Nelson however in the 1950's changes his name back to Dobbins.  he has listed Patrick as his next of kin living at Martin Hoban's home in Griffith St Townsville.  My question is why John changed his hame?  When John returned from WW1 in 1918 he was the witness at my GG's (patrick dobbins b 1881) wedding in Townsville he used John Dobbins when he signed the certificate.  I had found letitia death however I didn't know the location of her death.

 

Micheal if you have any more please let me know when you find your notes as my grandfather (Patrick b 1881 d 1960) only child & son, Rod, never knew of the family he was born in 1917 and lived and grew up with his mothers family, thanks you once again as the puzzle is slowly unravelling.  I am also looking for Annie Duffy's family does the marriage certificate list a place of birth?

Thanks

Alison

Hi Alison,

                 I am back home now ,and happy to have helped.This side of the dobbins family was not easy /(and expensive)to make any sense of! James Dobbins married Anne Johnston in 1889 in Charters Towers.It appears she had been married before.I did a search of the qld registers and it looks like she married Thomas Johnston in 1866 in Qld.

There was a Anne Johnston present at the birth of Ellen Horan (John Horan(Mary Dobbins nee Horan's brother) and Ellen Murnane daughter) in 1871.

Anne Duffy was born about 1844 in Carrickmacross,Monaghon,Ireland.She was the daughter of James Duffy and Mary Mayne.Another Dobbins family member, requested a researcher from the offally family history society to do some research on the dobbins family and James Dobbins was christened in the Catholic church in Geashill,Kings County  July 1848.

James and Anne had three children, Alfred James,Patrick Joseph, and John Dobbins

I have  some info on Alfred James Dobbins and a photo.

I only just worked out recently that Patrick had one son, your dad, Rod. Is your dad still alive?

Your dad's uncle John Dobbins married Cecilia Margaret James in Townsville,1919.As far as i have worked out, he moved around a fair bit,and is listed in Newcastle, and Victoria over the years.I do not know where or when he died.But he had a son John James Dobbins b 1920Townsville,Qld d2003 Caboolture.I saw his world war one record and i am not sure of why he declared the wrong name for enlistment.

I have found information/photos to have been a bit scatty from your side of the family, do you have any photos of Alfred James, Patrick Joseph, or even John Dobbins.Or even ones you are not certain of?

at 07:48PM on Nov 20, 2009

Michael & Alison

My paternal grandmother was Theresa May Dobbins who was the daughter of Patrick Dobbins from his second marriage to Emily Martha Agomba. Theresa married my grandfather Tasman Hugh McConnell at Charters Towers in 1921. They had 3 children Thelma, Neale (my dad) and Brian. Uncle Brian is the only one still living.

Jim

Hi Jim,

            I found my notes and I corresponded with your aunt loretta about thirteen years ago.I sent the notes on what i had through your cousin, claudia at the time.I have a fair amount of information/photos on Patrick Dobbins through the Bird family,  Hood family and the Reddell family.If you are interested in photos or information i would be happy to help.

My great great grandparents were Alfred Joseph Dobbins and Ellen Agnes Dwyer they had seven children.Mary Winifred Dobbins1883,James Joseph,William John,Margaret Ellen,Alfred Paul,Mary Winifred1893(Dot) and Arthur John Dobbins.

My g grandfather was Arthur John Dobbinsb1896Longreachd1976Proserpine.He had 5 children, Mary Ellen(Moya),Arthur Thomas(Tom my grandfather),Donald,Norrie,and Jack.

Regards

Michael

Michael,

Thank you for your reply.

I was speaking to Aunty Loretta a while back and she told me that she had some info on the family and I was to see her but due to some serious health issues I haven't yet seen her.

What she has may be info she got through you so I will see what she has first then contact you and compare notes.

Jim

Michael,

Thanks for all your information, Rod Dobbins was born in 1917 the only son  & child of Patrick Joseph Dobbins born in 1881 and died in 1960.  Rod died in 1998 he was my grandfather.  My Grand father Rod didn't talk about his family as he spent alot of time with his mothers family. I found through the Electoral role that James Dobbins b 1845 Tullamore lived the the last few years in Griffith Street Townsville with his brother in law Martin Hoban and children.  (Maria Hoban nee Dobbins) had died a few years earlier. Patrick Joseph was at one stage at the same address and this is listed on John Dobbins WWI record.

My mother is going to Ireland next year and will do some research then for more informationon the family.  I have located Annie Duffey mariage to Thomas Johnston and I cannot see any children born from that marriage.

As for John Dobbins I am having the same problems I cannot find where he and Cecilia died.  I have seen on the internet the head stone for his son John James b 1920 and his children are listed however I cannot find a telstra listing from them.  This is one family that does not want to be found.

I do have some photos of Patrick Joseph (PJ) with my mother as a young child about 1950 let me know how we can contact to exchange the information.

Michael thanks for filling in the gaps at least it wasn't 10 years only 1 year

Alison