PIONEER OF THE WEST

NANCY MARYLAND COREL (LAHAY) DOBBINS

March 27, 1834-November 6, 1917

Las Animas Leader, Nov. 14, 1917

Las Animas, Colorado

Transcribed by Bobby Dobbins Title

Mrs. Nannie Dobbins, one of Bent county's pioneer citizens, passed away at the home of her son, R. G. Dobbins, last Tuesday evening, after a gradual failing in health due to extreme age.  The funeral service was held from the home on Seventh and Grove avenue on Thursday afternoon, the Rev. Eugene B. Kunts, D. D., officiating.

Mrs. Dobbins was born in Virginia, March 27, 1834, and at an early age moved to Kansas, settling near Lawrence.  Here she witnessed much of the border strife that made the history of that state.  She was a witness of the sacking and burning of Lawrence in 1856 by Quantrell and his band, and many other atrocities and wrongs of those stirring times.  In 1867 she was united in marriage with James S. Dobbins, to which union three children were born – Mary, who died in infancy; Robert G., cashier of the American Sugar plant here at Las Animas; and Scott W., who preceded his mother to the grave but a few weeks.  They continued to live near Lawrence until 1875 when they came to Bent county and settled near Rule Creek, 14 miles east of Las Animas.  With the coming of the railroad shortly after, the Santa Fe tracks were laid through their home and corrals, necessitating a removal.  For several years they resided at Fort Lyon, then a big frontier post; afterwards they settled on land just east of the Purgatoire and engaged in the stock business.  In 1904 Mr. Dobbins died, and Mrs. Dobbins then resided for several years with a sister, Mrs. Olive McGee, at Kansas City, Mo.  Some three years ago, on account of rapidly failing health, she returned to live with her son, R. G. Dobbins and family, in her declining years.

Passing away at the ripe age of 83 years and 7 months, with a residence in the west of nearly 10 years and in Colorado 42 years, would classify Mrs. Dobbins as one of the pioneers of the Great West.  What she has seen in her long lifetime, the things that made history for this great frontier of a great nation, would make a volume more interesting than a romance.  She was the type of woman that helped to make the development of the west a possibility.  Well educated, rugged of health and born with the fortitude that enabled her sex to undergo the hardships of the frontier and to face its dangers, both physical and mental, w\she went through life never shirking her part in any scheme of events no matter what it might be.  To such pioneers of the early days (…..) all that our county now is, for their fortitude made all things that followed, possible.

The many friends of Mrs. Dobbins during her lifetime, and of the family left behind, extend their deepest sympathy to the bereaved relatives at this time of sorrow.

-o-

"Nannie," as the family called her, was married first to Francois (Frank) LaHay, in Kansas.  They lived near what is now the Clinton Lake.  Two children were born to that marriage, son Ollie and daughter Ella, but unfortunately Frank died in 1863 while in Missouri and both children died in 1864.  At that time, Nannie moved back to Lawrence, where she lived with her sister Olivia Corel McGee and family.  The McGee's lived next door to the Dobbins family....

Nannie was my great grandmother.

THE FAMOUS GREAT-GRANDFATHER?

JAMES (JIM) SELLERS DOBBINS

1834-1902

 In the family stories told to my sister and me when we were growing up, it was always James Sellers Dobbins (my dad's grandfather) who was oh, so famous.  According to the stories, he was one of Kit Carson's Scouts, was at one time captured by the Indians, and was given one of Kit Carson's rifles at some point in the relationship.  Now, for two little girls growing up in the 1940's, amid all the radio and movie cowboys - Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Cisco Kid, the Lone Ranger, Red Ryder, and so many others, having a real life great-grandfather (though long dead) who not only was a cowboy in Kansas and Colorado but also a Scout with the famous Kit Carson, was a real thrill.

As the story went, the gun was ultimately passed on to Jim Dobbins' son Robert Gaston Dobbins and thence to his son Percy, who was my dad's cousin.  We girls had never met any of these Colorado Dobbinses but my dad and Percy were buddies growing up; undoubtedly the gun story was passed around between them.  My sister and I were very impressed and were true believers in what we were told.

And so it was that when I turned about 40 years old, I became interested in genealogy and the first family I researched was the famous James Sellers Dobbins.  Was I in for a surprise!

When my mother turned over to me the few Dobbins family documents she had been given by her mother-in-law Maud Dobbins, I saw first of all the picture above, which was old and a bit faded -- and certainly didn't look like the handsome dude in the top photo, although it was the same person.
I learned that Jim Dobbins spent his life after the Civil War raising stock out on the dry prairie of eastern Colorado.  Dry, dust, hard work: that pretty much sums up what the "real" picture of Jim looked like.

But still, I wondered about him being one of Kit Carson's scouts.  Below is part of what was written on the back of that "Hawes" photograph by Maud.  Typescript is below:

Fought in the Civil War, Union side 1863.  Was Indian Scout in Kit Carson's Brigade patrols to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and Santa Fe, N.M. over the Santa Fe trail.  

Now it is true that Kit Carson spent a lot of time around Ft. Lyons near Las Animas where Jim Dobbins, his wife Nannie, and sons Robert Gaston and Scott Walter Dobbins lived.  But Kit Carson died in 1864, which was long before Jim and his family moved to Colorado, which happened in 1875.  As to the gun, Percy Dobbins, son of Robert Gaston Dobbins, gave it to a museum in New Mexico and they authenticated it as belong to Carson.  However, in the pile of material my mother had, there was also an old article that said one of Carson's attendants in his latter years was given the gun, and as he aged, he in turn passed it on to Percy.  

Within a few weeks of researching my now "not so famous" relative, I was convinced that what my family handed down was like that old game we used to play as kids - with telling a story to one person and having that story repeated from person to person and seeing how changed it was at the end.  

Jim Dobbins in 1860 left Kansas for the Colorado gold country and went back empty handed.  In 1863 he did fight in the Civil War in the 11th Kansas Cavalry.  His regiment was sent out to settle some Indian problems around the various forts.  And as nearly as I can prove, he did once own a rifle belonging to Kit Carson.  But a famous Scout?   I think not.

Best I can do for him is an IMMORTAL NOBODY.