A THREE-GENERATIONAL TREAT!

Robert Boyd Dobbins, my great-great-great grandfather, was a circuit riding Presbyterian Minister in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. From 1804 to about 1835, he and his family lived in Ohio. He bought some land in Fulton County, Illinois, and eventually his whole family moved to Illinois.

In researching this old fellow, I was lucky enough to find a man in Ipava, Illinois, who was the custodian of an original copy of the Session Minutes from the founding of the Bennington Presbyterian Church. Here is the first entry in the minutes:

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The Presbytery of Schuyler appointed Cyrus Riggs and Robert B. Dobbins to organize a Church at Bennington. After publick notice the Congregation of Bennington assembled for the purpose of organization on the 25th June 1835.

The following persons presented to the Committee certificates of their membership and good standing in the Presbyterian Church, Viz, Timothy W. Robinson and Mary Robinson his wife, James Dobbins and Elizabeth Dobbins his wife, John Dobbins and Hariet Dobbins his wife, A.J. Foster and Sarah Foster his wife, Catharine Dobbins, Amanda Jane Dobbins, Abraham Miller and Mary Gage Miller his wife, Elizabeth Miller, William Thomas and Eliza Thomas his wife, and Jacob Zoll.

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The above photo is of Rev. Robert B. Dobbins. In the minutes above you will see listed his sons, James and John (with their wives) and his daughters Amanda, Mary Gage Miller and husband, and Eliza Thomas and husband. Catherine is his wife. It was a small beginning for the church, and the membership was mostly made up of his own family.

The son James noted in the minutes above was RBD's oldest son, James Alexander Dobbins who had married Elizabeth Perkins in 1826. This James is my great-great grandfather, who was the father of four children, all young at the time of the founding of this church: Robert, Paulina, Elizabeth and James Sellers Dobbins.

The picture above is of my great-grandfather James Sellers Dobbins. He was born shortly after the family arrived in Illinois. In the same Session minutes there is a very special entry that I am sharing with you today.

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Baptisms

27th June, 1835 baptized one infant, William Alexander Dobbins, son of John C. Dobbins.

17th July 1836 baptized Timothy Robinson, son of Timothy Robinson

12th Feb. 1837 baptized one infant, James Cellars Dobbins, son of James A. Dobbins.

R. B. Dobbins, Clk.

Examined thus far and approved.
Sessions of Schuyler Presbytery ) R.K. May
at Macomb April 1837 ) Moderator

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It is a rare record that shows a grandfather baptizing his son's child. And rarer yet is that we have photos of all three participants in this event.

When I started into genealogy I was put in touch with my father's elderly cousin, Percy Dobbins of Manitou Springs, Colorado. I had never met the fellow before, but during my growing up years I remembered my father mentioning that he had a cousin in Manitou Springs. After locating Percy, he and I exchanged several letters. In one of them he mentioned that his father had left him three photographs, one of his grandfather (James Sellers Dobbins), one of his great grandfather and one of his great-great grandfather. He said his father did not know the names of the latter two but knew that one of them was a preacher. Percy allowed me to have copies made of these three photos, and with diligence and luck I was able to find the missing names for these fellows, plus a great deal of other information about all of them.

In my 24 years of researching, nothing I have found has given me as much pleasure as the combination of the Presbyterian Session minutes and the photographs of Rev. Robert B. Dobbins and my direct family members, James Alexander and James Sellers Dobbins. I am one lucky researcher!