GEORGE CENTENNIAL DOBBINS

Sacramento County

Biographies

GEORGE CENTENNIAL DOBBINS

GEORGE CENTENNIAL DOBBINS. – Born at Rio Vista, July 4, 1876, George C. Dobbins is the son of James and Delia (Hansbury) Dobbins, early settlers in California, who came from Great Britain to make their home in the West; the father, a native of Gloucester, England, came in 1860, and the mother, born in County Galway, Ireland, made the long journey sometime later. Settling in Solano County, James Dobbins was a butcher and salmon fisher in the days when the river fishermen used to row a boat loaded with salmon from Rio Vista to Sacramento to market; and for the last twenty years of his life he kept the Russ House and the Riverview Hotel at Rio Vista; he lived to the age of eighty-five, while his wife died aged seventy.

The fourth in a family of five children born to his parents, George C. received his education in the Rio Vista grammar school, and St. Gertrude’s Academy; when sixteen years old he started working, and later went into the general merchandise business at Rio Vista, for eight years. Desiring a change of occupation, he was purser on Sacramento River boats for four years, and then for two years engaged as accountant for the Southern Pacific Railway, at San Francisco. At the end of this period, Mr. Dobbins took up his present business, that of commission merchant, and he is now district manager for the Earl Fruit Company, taking in all the Courtland vicinity.

The marriage of Mr. Dobbins, which occurred in San Francisco June 1, 1904, united him with Daisy Kearny, also a native of Rio Vista, and daughter of James and Mary (Isbell) Kearny, the former born in Nova Scotia, and the latter in Missouri, both now deceased, James Kearny passing aged sixty-seven and his good wife reaching only forty-five years. The family made their home one year in San Francisco and then moved to Colusa, later returning to the metropolis, and there Mrs. Dobbins received the greater part of her schooling, attending the John Swett Grammar School of that city. Three children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Dobbins: Louise, Georgia, and George, Jr., and for the past fourteen years the family have made their home at Courtland. Fraternally Mr. Dobbins is a member of the Native Sons of Courtland, and his wife of the Native Daughters of that place; he has always taken a keen interest in bettering educational facilities in his community and has served on the board of trustees of both the Bates joint grammar school and the Courtland union high school. He has also been interested in civic affairs, giving of his time and personal endeavors for the advancement of his community. While in business at Rio Vista, Mr. Dobbins served as city clerk for two years.

Transcribed by Vicky Walker, 2/6/07.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Page 503. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.