The three sections that follow cover the first three generations of my ancestral line--Richard, George, and David Dobson--and are named for three bodies of water in Half Island Cove, a small coastal community in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. Both lakes and the pond are located on land that belonged to my ancestors. My father was born and raised near that land.

Several Dobson families appear in the records of Yorkshire, England, as far back as the early 16th century. None of them have any apparent connection to earliest ancestor of that name, Richard Dobson of Redcar in the North Riding. He was born circa 1680, but no record of his parentage has yet been found. One long-standing theory suggests that he was a Huguenot, and that the Dobson name was derived from the French d'Aubison or d'Aubigney. No definitive evidence has yet been found to support this theory.

Wherever Richard Dobson might have come from, we know where he lived. He married Margaret Watson, daughter of John "Johis" and Eleanor (Shepherd) Watson, on 19 January 1700/01 at Marske-by-the-Sea. Margaret's lineage has been traced back to 1543. All of Richard and Margaret's nine children were born at Redcar, where some of their descendants remained for several generations. After Margaret's death, he married Anne Avelson on 10 September 1728 at Marske-by-the-Sea. They had one child. In total, five of Richard's ten children survived into adulthood.

Richard Dobson Jr. (1701-1775) was also married twice. His first wife bore him only one son; the former died in 1724 and the latter in 1728. Richard Jr. remained unmarried until late in life, spending the intervening years establishing a freehold estate at Northallerton, in the parish of Ingleby Arncliffe. Due to the death of his only child, he had to look to his relations when deciding on the dispensation of his assets.

Richard and Margaret were Anglicans, according to the social mores of the day, untouched by the Methodist movement that later evolved within the Church of England. Richard died 25 October 1735, and was buried two days later at Marske-by-the-Sea. That same year, Anglican priest John Wesley--future founder of Methodism--embarked on a two-year stint as missionary to the New World. Methodism would have to stay its hand until the next generation.

George Dobson, the seventh child of Richard and Margaret (Watson) Dobson, was christened 18 June 1721 at Redcar. He married Mary Barker, daughter of George and Sarah (Carter) Barker, on 19 December 1745 at Marske-by-the-Sea, following which the couple may have moved to Sowerby long enough for the birth of their first child, Margaret. The next four children were born in the parish of Ingleby Arncliffe and the remaining twelve at Thirsk. Child mortality rates being what they were, seven of the seventeen died in infancy and three more before the age of eight.

A devout follower of the teachings of John Wesley, George often entertained the controversial minister in his own home and contributed to the building of a chapel in Osmotherley and a meeting house in Thirsk.

In 1773, however, George chose to start a new life for his family in Nova Scotia. They landed first at Boston, Massachusetts, by April 19^th. Tragedy struck soon after with the death of George's five-month-old granddaughter, Jane Wells. She was buried in Boston, a permanent reminder of her family's passage through the city.

Perhaps prompted by grief, as well as the growing unrest of the Boston colonists, the Dobson and Wells families pressed on with their journey. They landed at Nova Scotia in June, settling northeast of Fort Cumberland at Point de Bute, then part of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. What is known is that George Dobson purchased 1,750 acres in the Township of Cumberland on May 17^th. Possibly, the purchase was arranged in or near Boston.

Within a month of their arrival, George Dobson fell ill and passed away five days later, on July 28^th, at the age of fifty-two. George must have realised his time was near, for he drew up his will one day before his death. In it, he left everything to his beloved wife, Mary, with the stipulation that his two oldest sons--George Junior and David--and son-in-law William Wells should each be entitled to a fifth of the land upon payment to Mary of £30 each.

When his parents opted for a new start in Nova Scotia, David made the journey with them. Baptised on 29 May 1753 in the parish of Ingleby Arncliffe, he was about 20 years old at the time of the migration. His father's death made David a landowner in Cumberland County. Another windfall was on the way, but David would have little time to enjoy either. All he might have retained was the watch he bought from his father's estate.

On 6 May 1774, David's Uncle Richard Dobson arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, aboard the ship Albion. He had come from Yorkshire to settle the estate of his younger brother, George. Richard's first wife and only child had died in the 1720's, and he had not seen fit to remarry until 1770. He remained in Cumberland the rest of his brief days, passing away 2 April 1775. He was buried next to George in the cemetery near Fort Cumberland. Since Richard had no sons, he left the majority of his assets--including a freehold estate in Northallerton, Ingleby Arncliffe--to George's sons, George Jr. and David. Like his brother, Richard attached stipulations to his bequests. His nephews were to pay all his debts and act as executors of his estate. Events elsewhere in the colonies, however, were about to disrupt both their lives. The estate was apparently sold in later years to George Swinburn, a Cumberland settler who chose to return to Yorkshire.

Civil unrest in the New England colonies had erupted into destruction and violence. The self-styled Patriots--rebels in the eyes of those loyal to the King--declared their independence from Britain on 4 July 1776. Twenty-three days later--one day short of the third anniversary of his father's death--David enlisted in the recently arrived Royal Fencible Americans at Fort Cumberland. On November 6^th, he was sent "in disguise to reconnoitre at Memramcook." Through some misfortune, he was captured by Eddy's men, as were other Fencibles. By the 12th, roughly forty prisoners were shipped to Boston and presumably kept in a military stockade until the end of the Revolutionary War. As late as 20 October 1777, he was still listed as a prisoner.

The next verifiable record of David Dobson is the sale of his share of his father's land to his step-father, George Forkinther, on 9 December 1780, followed by his marriage to the widow Hannah Richardson on 2 August 1784 on the Island of Saint John (now Prince Edward Island). He spent his early years in Charlottetown as a tavern keeper. Word of his death reached Cumberland by 1786. Subsequent records, however, prove that he lived a good deal longer. By 1793, he was in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From there he moved to Guysborough County, where he married the young widow Magdalen Rogers (née Martha Henline) in 1813.

Most of David's descendants have moved away, but a few remain in the area. Ties to the core group of Dobsons on the Chignecto Isthmus were severed over the years until our origins were all but forgotten. One of David 's great-granddaughters--Esther Elizabeth--could only recall that the Dobsons came from Yorkshire. David himself became little more than a name on a census return. Years of research by members of the Dobson Family History Group have brought him back from anonymity, but so much more remains to be found.