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John Dobbyn’s parents, Richard
Dobbyn and Maria Bobier were married by the Reverend Ormsby in the Town
of Castledomer, Kilkenny, Ireland, April 20, 1815. He at the age of 20,
and she at 18 years of age.
Shortly after their marriage they decided to come to the New World and
seek their fame and fortune in British America.
After a series of adventures during which Richard was captured by a
press gang, escaped, and was reunited with his wife, the couple started
farming in Ontario, where Richard also taught school for 12 years.
They had a family of 11, four girls and seven boys. The eldest was John
born February 8, 1820
John Dobbyn and Jane Laird were married in 1847. With their
children Richard John, Charles Sidney and Edward Francis, they all came
to Manitoba in the early 1880's to take up farming.
In 1881, John came to the Melita and selected a homestead. He returned
to Ontario in the fall and brought family out the next spring.
It was the general belief that a railway line would soon cross the
district and Mr. Dobbyn estimated that it would cross the Souris River
near his homestead.
The years 1881 and 82 are remembered for the “Manitoba Boom”. Across
the province rumours of rail lines prompted the creation of speculative
cities which were created on paper and aggressively marketed.
Extravagant claims were made. Each site was to be the next big thing.
By buying into one of these boom towns one was betting that the rail
line would pass through and the paper city might well become a reality.
In the spirit of the times, Mr. Dobbyn had “Dobbyn City” surveyed
on 36-3-27 in anticipation of a coming rail line.
The railway did eventually come, but Dobbyn City was long forgotten and
the river was crossed about a mile further north.
Mr. Dobbyn had long since focused on his farm, but the entrepreneurial
spirit never did leave him. In 1905 at 80 yrs. started Melita
Brick & Tile Co. after discovering red brick clay near the
river.
Adapted from Our First Century, page 36, 377, 508
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