Dear List,
I'm hoping that you'll be able to offer some advice and/or information about the
following person who is, without doubt, my most frustrating ancestor. His name is Charles
DOBBS. The earliest record that I have of him is his 1866 marriage certificate. He was
married in Nebo Chapel in Ebbw Vale (to Elizabeth Jones from Cardiganshire) aged 23 years.
His residence is given as Sirhowy, near Tredegar. His father was Abraham Dobbs, deceased.
In the 1871 census of Rassau, near Beaufort Charles is aged 27 and with a birthplace of
'East Lane, Gloucester[shire]', note that there is no such place in the county
only an East Dean. In 1881, still in Rassau, he is aged 38 but now with a birthplace of
'Sirhowy, Monmouthshire', clearly he had lived there for some time prior to his
marriage, perhaps his family had moved there when he was quite young hence his belief that
he was born there. No birth of a Charles DOBBS was registered anywhere in Wales 1840-44.
In 1891, again in Rassau he is aged!
48 years and with a birthplace of simply 'Staffordshire'. None of the birth
registrations that I have found in the GRO indexes occur in Staffordshire. In 1896 he
remarried to Eleanor Price. The certificate records him as Charles DODD of Rasa-Beaufort
aged 54 years the son of Abraham DODD, a deceased coal miner. The mistake in the surname
was corrected in 1906 by Charles and Eleanor. Judging by Abraham Dobbs' occupation it
seems that Abraham and his family (including Charles) had indeed moved to Sirhowy quite
early on. Having just received the entry for Charles and Eleanor on the 1901 census of
Beaufort my hopes that it would give Charles' correct birthplace have been dashed. It
is shown as Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire. Curiously, Charles could speak Welsh despite his
probable English origins. This seems to point to the fact that if he was not born in Wales
he was very very young when his family moved to Sirhowy so that he learned to speak Welsh.
There are a number of Dobbs' in !
this area who were born in the parish of Llanelly, Breconshire but Charles doesn't
seem to be connected. In the 1851 census of Gloucestershire there is a Charles Dobbs of
the right age living in Awre, a parish next to East Dean whose birthplace is given as
Chepstow, Monmouthshire. As above, I have found no Welsh birth registrations for a Charles
Dobbs. This 1851 Charles Dobbs was not living with his parents but a visitor with the
WHITE family along with two other DOBBS children. It seems likely that he was the one born
in Westbury-on-Severn RD the son of James DOBBS so isn't mine. Is it possible that my
Charles Dobbs is shown on the 1851 census index of Tredegar (a sub-district of Abergavenny
registration district) living in Sirhowy?
Best wishes
James Phillips-Evans