Farmer, municipal official.
Born near Shetland, Ontario on 9 April 1850, he came to western Canada in 1882 and lived on a homestead in southwestern Manitoba for one year before returning to Ontario.
In 1891, he came back to Manitoba and settled on a farm near Melita with his wife Mary Frances Graham (1856-1941) and their eight children: Celia Malvina Dobbyn (1876-1940), Joseph Milton “Joe” Dobbyn (1878-1939), Albert Charles Dobbyn (1879-1955), Frances Edna Dobbyn (1881-1977), Clara Beatrice Dobbyn (1883-1971), Arletta Jane Dobbyn (1885-1974), Minnie Agnes Dobbyn (1887-1962), and Richard Herbert Dobbyn (1889-?). Three more children followed: Robert Stanley Dobbyn (1893-1958), William Cecil Dobbyn (1895-1964), and Arthur Graham Dobbyn (1899-1981).
They moved into Melita in 1905 but continued to farm until 1935. He served as the Reeve for the RM of Arthur (1898-1900, 1906-1908) and Mayor of Melita (1918-1919). He was a member of the Melita United Church and the Conservative party. He moved to Winnipeg in 1944 and died at the Misericordia Hospital on 17 August 1950. He was buried in the Melita Cemetery.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Dobbyn House (53 Boundary Street, Melita)
Birth registrations [Robert Stanley Dobbyn, William Cecil Dobbyn, Arthur Graham Dobbyn], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Death registrations [Mary Frances Dobbyn, Richard John Dobbyn], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Ex-Melita Mayor looks back on a full century of living,” Winnipeg Free Press, 7 April 1950, page 3.
“Winnipegger dies in his 101st year,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 August 1950, page 10.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Brien Farrell for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 6 September 2024
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