Samuel Green Dobyns was born to Thomas Mitchell Dobyns and Lurinda Conner on the 4th of March 1851 in Patrick County, Virginia. Thomas Mitchell Dobyns was the son of Abner Dobyns and Elizabeth Wilks of Bedford County. Abner and Elizabeth had moved to Floyd County, where Thomas grew up. Lurinda was the daughter of William Conner and Exoney Ross of Woolwine, Virginia. Shortly after the birth of Samuel Dobyns, Lurinda passed away.
Thomas Dobyns remarried soon after to Permelia Lemon of Franklin County, Virginia (near the Five Mile Mountain area). Thomas and Permelia had a daughter, Henrietta, who was born in 1858. Sadly, Permelia passed away after the birth of their daughter, Henrietta.
Thomas Dobyns married for the third time in 1861 to Catherine Ganaway of Wythe County. Samuel Green Dobyns was ten years old by the time his father remarried, and Samuel had already lost his mother and first stepmother.
In 1870, Samuel was attending Trinity College, which would later become Duke University. Samuel was boarding with Trinity professor William Ganaway and his family. I have a strong feeling that William was related to Samuel’s second stepmother, Catherine Ganaway Dobyns, but at time of this writing, I have not made the connection.
Samuel married Miss Ruth Elizabeth Lawson on the 5th of February 1872. Ruth was the daughter of Rev. William Madison Lawson and Anne Thompson, of Meadows of Dan.
Samuel and Ruth’s first child, Nancy Ada Dobyns was born on the 3rd of November 1872. Nancy would grow up and marry Robert Henry Dunkley of Claudville and they had at least seven children. Nancy would tragically die at the age of 85, when she tripped over her vacuum cleaner and broke her leg. Nancy suffered a blood clot and died three days later.
Charles William Dobyns was born to Samuel and Ruth on the 5th of March 1874. Charles married Miss Ella Ward of Wythe County and Charles was a merchant in Crockett in Wythe County.
Samuel and Ruth’s third child, Annie, born on the 24th of May 1875, married Hardin Harbour Reynolds of Critz, Virginia. Hardin was the brother of the well-known R.J. and Abram David Reynolds. Hardin and Annie had four children, two sons and two daughters. On Christmas Day 1912, their seven-year-old daughter Nancy was placing her gifts from Santa Claus on the mantle above the fireplace, when her gown caught fire. Little Nancy died from the burns and shock nine hours later. Tragedy would strike again when their fourteen-year-old daughter Lucy would die from a ruptured appendix. After Hardin Harbour passed away, Annie married Samuel Ward Thompkins from Floyd County.
The fourth child of Samuel and Ruth was Thomas Green Dobyns, born on the 10th of November 1877. Thomas married Miss Virginia Landreth and they had two sons, Robert Edward and Samuel Thomas Dobyns.
Samuel and Ruth’s fifth child was Katherine, born the 7th of March 1882. Katherine married Professor James Luther Taff, who was from Meigs County, Tennessee.
Samuel and Ruth’s youngest child was Gladys Ruth, born on the 30th of July 1889. Gladys married William Angel on the 22nd of February 1911 and the couple moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia where William worked for the Southern Railway Company. Gladys came home to Claudville to visit her parents for Christmas and died suddenly on the 12th of December 1911; she was only twenty-two years old.
Samuel Green Dobyns died on the 20th of January 1941 and his beloved wife Ruth passed away twenty days later on February 9th, 1941.
Samuel’s obituary was printed in the Martinsville Daily Bulletin on Tuesday, January 21st, 1941, on page 7, column 4…
Samuel G. Dobyns, 90, oldest alumnus of Trinity College, now Duke University, died Monday night at his home, Dobyns Homestead, five miles west of Stuart. He had been in ill health for several months. Mr. Dobyns was born at Floyd Courthouse, March 4, 1851, a son of Thomas M. and Lurinda Conner Dobyns. He went to Mount Airy Academy before entering Trinity. He graduated in law but never practiced, deciding instead to return to Patrick county and devote his life to the management of his farm. He served as deputy collector internal revenue under General Fitzhugh Lee during Grover Cleveland’s second presidential administration. Funeral services will be held Wednesday morning at 11 o’clock with Elders Joel E. Marshall and J. M. Dickerson at the Claudville Baptist Church.
Three weeks later, Ruth’s obituary was also printed in the Martinsville Daily Bulletin on page 9, column 6…
Mrs. Ruth Lawson Dobyns, 92, passed away at her home, “Dobyns Homestead” following a gradual decline in health. She was born at Meadows of Dan on March 23, 1849, the daughter of William and Annie Thompson Lawson; she was the last of twelve children. Ruth joined Concord Baptist Church in 1863, at the age of 14, and in 1872, she married Samuel Green Dobyns. Soon thereafter, they moved to Dobyns Homestead in Claudville where they spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Dobyns were chiefly instrumental in securing the establishment of the present Dobyns Church and were faithful members, bringing their membership to Concord as its’ first members. Funeral services were held Tuesday morning at 11 o’clock at Dobyns Church with Elders J. M. Dickerson of Floyd, and Joel E. Marshall, of Stuart in charge of services. Pallbearers and flower bearers were neighbors and close friends of the family.
Samuel and Ruth were laid to rest at the Samuel Green Dobyns Cemetery, located on a knoll, between roads #631 and #644, in the Dobyns Church area, about a half mile south of Vipperman’s old mill.
Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626.
