Nancy Arminda "Minda" DOBBS

Nancy Arminda "Minda" Dobbs was born Jan 12, 1857 in Tennessee.

There is a complete book online in pdf format:  "Our Pioneer Heritage, The Ehlers Family 2006"

http://www.gress.org/home/FamilyTree/Files/The%20Ehlers%20Book%20Final.pdf

Compiled by Delores Ann Nims

Find excerpt of book below:

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
Our Pioneer Heritage: The Ehlers Family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - 12
Family Tree for Henry C. Ehlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Descendants of Henry C. and Nancy Ehlers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Family Tree for Fredrick B. Ehlers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Descendants of Fredrick B. Ehlers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Family Tree for James "Jim" Parker Ehlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Descendants of James "Jim" Parker Ehlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Framily Tree for Laura Henrietta Ehlers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Descendants of Laura Henrietta Ehlers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Appendix:
Chronology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Map of American Settlements 1890. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Area Road Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Mineral Map of Mt Baker Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Book Review of "The Mechanism of Nature"
by Henry C. Ehlers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Letters and Poem Written by Henry C. Ehlers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
To his niece, Julia Jacobs in Ellensburg,WA on October, 4 1896.
Poem : "Thy Standard". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
To his family from the Lone Star Gold Mine
in Mt. Baker in 1897. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
To Jimy From St. Elmo, Alabama on June 13, 1920. . . . . . . . . 93
Phone Numbers and Addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Five years after Henry homesteaded in Whatcom County, Washington , Nancy Arminda Dobbs Paget arrived. Nancy was born in January 12, 1857 in Tennessee. She had four siblings and their mother died in 1861. Nancy's father remarried and the family moved to Texas where they had relatives. "Nancy described her step-mother as cruel, for example, even though there were hostile Indians in the area, her stepmother insisted Nancy go out to the well to pump water. The child was terrified."

letter from Effie Ehlers Fowler dated June 15, 1965 includes excerpt from History of Whatcom County,

Gramma Nancy riveted the attention of three generations of children with Indian stories from Texas. "I remember my great Gramma, Nancy, sitting on our bed when Skip and I were recovering from chicken pox. Gramma told us, "When I was a girl, I shot a gun out the window at the 'painted savages'. The Indians, mounted on horses, circled the cabin with frightening whoops."13 On another occasion, Nancy's uncle, Chesley S. Dobbs, was not as lucky and ended up being scalped.

Texans take rustling pretty seriously. Nancy's first husband, Mr. Paget, was hung for horse or cattle rustling in 1885. That same year Nancy came to Whatcom County and married Henry.
"Nancy made application on 160 acres adjoining her husband's homestead and the couple's property extended east from Pangborn Lake to the present Nordlund brother's farm, where the Ehlers' log cabin was located in a 'hole in the woods' (see maps in appendix). The nearest trading center was at Nooksack Crossing, near the present site of Everson." Nancy was unique. As far as we know, she was the only single white woman who came to Whatcom at this time.

We don't know why Nancy decided to come to Whatcom County, but Henry, now age 31, must have been ecstatic to meet her as there were few white women in the area. Most of the early pioneers married Indian women. Henry and Nancy were married August, 16, 1885 and had four children, Fredrick "Fred" born in 1886; James "Jim" born in 1887; John, born in 1889; and Laura, born in 1891. This small family was unusual as most farm couples had eight to twelve children.

Those who knew her, describe Nancy as strong, independent, and courageous. An educated woman, she wrote beautiful letters and diaries about the trip from Texas which were, unfortunately, destroyed in a house fire. Her grand-daughter, Patricia Ehlers Wilson, describes her as "a loving Christian woman who enjoyed singing songs of faith. Grandma Nancy's favorite hymn was 'When the Roll is Called up Yonder'. Even when quite old, she was able to carry a tune."  She gave her love of music to her children who all played musical instruments; Fred played guitar, Jim, the trumpet and Laura, the violin.

A tall, slender woman, Nancy, wore high top shoes and long dresses which she made herself. She tied her long silklike hair back in a bun. In her later years, she lived with her son, Jim and his wife, Adele. Nancy and Jim loved to discuss religion with the Jehovah Witnesses who came to the house. On other occasions, Nancy liberally dispensed "medicinal" whiskey to anyone who could fake a cough. These folks probably were not Jehovah Witnesses.

Her grand-daughters have given us two stories about Nancy. "In Texas when Grandma was a very young girl, she and some other youngsters were riding in the back end of a wagon. Mr. Dobbs often took the children along when he went out on the plains to look at the cattle. This day he took an extra horse along. He tied this horse to the back of the wagon with a rope. The horse was annoyed with the heat and dust and something spooked him. He gave a quick throw of his head and somehow the rope wrapped around the ankle of little Nancy and cinched up real tight. So tight, in fact, that she carried the indentation and white mark all the rest of her life."

"Grandma Nancy lived at the Park (area surrounding the cabin) in the log cabin for quite a while. Vera has fond memories of going up and staying overnight and sleeping with Grandma. She remembers the storms outside and the blazing fire in the old stone fireplace. One time Vera asked her if she wasn't afraid to stay alone. Grandma Nancy replied, 'Heavens no, child, if someone came in I'd throw the pot in his face.' After that Vera was careful to call out if she came at night. She wasn't about to have that pot's contents in her face."

30 Mar 1946: Nancy dies at the home of her daughter, Laura, in Kent, WA at age 89.

                       TIME LINE FOR JAMES A. DOBBS

                                                   (compiled by Barbara McBride Vaughn)

Approx. 1825-born in Tennessee
 sources: 1850 Williamson Co, TX census
              1860 Claiborne Co, TN census
      1870 Parker Co, TX census (calculated birth-1822)
      1880 Jack Co. TX census

1850  Married Sallie A.___________ based upon the age of their first child.  (see 1870 census and added note)

1850 Milam, Williamson Co. TX census shows Chesley S. 33, Malinda 28, Sarah, 6, Leanna 4, Amanda 2, James 25, and George 27.  (it is believed this Chesley, James and George were brothers)

Approx. 1855- Married Ann_________. Had _____children.

1857-Daughter, Nancy Arminda Dobbs born Jan. 12 1857 in TN.  Her parents were James and Ann.  Ann passed away in TN.  She (Nancy) married a Mr. Paget but became a widow.  At 28 yrs. of age, she joined a group going North to Washington Territory to stake out land claims.  She met and married Henry C. Ehlers, one of the first settlers, Aug 16, 1885.  They had 4 children; John died at age 6 and two acres of land was donated to the community for a cemetery from their very large orchard.  Their other children were Frederick B., James P, and Laura.  Farming, gold mining and writing was their main occupation. (from "History of Palo Pinto County, TX, FHL-SLC  (book) 976.4552 H2p.)

1859-1919-Mary Ellen Dobbs married Reuben Randolph Bradford, 1859-1919.

1860-Ann died of winter fever at 30 yrs of age.  http://www.our-town.com/~brit
After death of Ann, James A., along with his brothers, William M. and Chesley S. and half-brother, George Lee, took James A.'s children, Mary Ellen, Nancy Arminda, James S. and William M. and herd of cattle south to Texas and settled in what is now Dobbs Valley.

1860 Claiborne Co, TN Census:  James Dobbs, age 32, born abt 1828, TN, home in 1860: Subdivision 9, Claiborne, TN, white, male, post office, Tazewell, wife, Sarah, age 28, William, age 10 and Lucy Dobbs, age 65 (could Lucy be James' mother?) There is another James listed in Claiborne Co after James A. left.

Note; Larry and I went to Tazewell in 2008. We searched records at the courthouse and the public library. We found some for Chesley and other Dobbs.  It was a pretty place but very steep hills, built in the mountains. We walked around one cemetery but did not have time on our schedule to do more and it was a very steep hill to climb for most cemeteries.  It is near the Cumberland Gap which makes me wonder if the Dobbs came through it and settled in Tazewell.

1870 Parker Co Census- J.A. Dobs, farmer, age 48, white, male, value of farm $500, born TN, wife, Sallie A., age 37, female, white, keeps house, born AL.; Jane, age 17, female, white, born Texas; William, age 14,male, white, born TX; Arminda, age 12, female, white, born TX; Mary, age 11, white female, born TX; Hillard, age 7, male, white, born TX; Julia A., age 5, female, white, born TX; Parker, age 3, male, white, born TX; Flora, age 2, white female, born TX; John, age 5 mos., male, white, born TX

(note: there is a possibility some of these could be Sallie's children by a previous marriage or for that matter some could have been James by a previous marriage. This census does not state how long they had been married to each other. No other marriages for James or Sallie have been found at this time.

1872- James A.'s brother, Chesley Dobbs was scalped by Indians. Dobbs Valley, TX named after our Dobbs.  James was one of the men that found him. (from history of Palo Pinto Co., TX, Family History Library-SLC,UT  (book) 976.4552 H2p) (also online-do a google search)


1880 Parker Co, TX census-
James A. DOBBS, white, male, age 45, born TN, father born NC, mother bn TN
Sarah J. DOBBS, wife, age 30, born AL, mo and fa bn MO.
Minda DOBBS, white, female, 23, daughter, born TX, fa bn TN, mo bn AR  
H.C. DOBBS, white, male, 17, son, farmhand, born TX, father bn. TN, mo. Bn AL.
Julia A. DOBBS, white, female, 15, daughter, bn. TX, fa. Bn. TN, mo. Bn. AL
James DOBBS, white, male, 13, son, bn. TX, fa bn TN, mo. Bn AL
Flora E. DOBBS , white, female, 10, daughter, bn TX, fa bn TN, mo bn AL
George DOBBS, white, male, 6, son, bn TX, fa bn TN, mo bn AL
Joanna DOBBS, white, female, 4, dau. , bn TX, fa bn TN, mo bn AL
Laurissa DOBBS, white, female, 3, dau. Bn TX, fa bn TN, mo bn AL

(since Sarah bn in AL, this probably means at least Minda  had a different mother, also Sarah would have been 7 yrs. old when Minda was born, 13 when H.C. born, 15 when Julia born. Census does not state how long James and Sarah had been married)

1954-His daughter, Julia's death certificate shows her father: Jim (short for James) DOBBS and her mother as  Flora Boatwright.  (Flora was Julia's sister.  The marriage certificate of James shows he married Sarah J. BOATRIGHT.  I believe Julia's daughter, Mrs. J.L. Willoughby, informant on Julia's death certificate may have gotten her grandmother's name wrong.