Who were the children of NC Royal Governor Arthur Dobbs?

Answer 1

Dobbs 1689 to 1765, married Anne Osburn Norbury in 1719. They had three children, including Edward Brice who went to North Carolina with him.

In 1762, at age 72, he married 14-year-old Justina Davis.

I have visited Justina's grave in Halifax, North Carolina and would like to set the record straight. Justina died on Friday 6th December 1771, and according to her headstone "in her 26th year", meaning she would have been born in 1745. As she and Arthur were married in 1762, Justina would have been 17 years old, not 14 as so many have stated. This mistake probably comes from a lampoon of her marriage from the day, and the 7 could have been read as a 4. I have in my possession a copy of a will from 1780 in which Colonel Henry Rhodes of Onslow County, North Carolina spelled his daughter Henrietta Rhodes name 13 different ways in the same document, and he was a very well educated man.

For the record, Colonel Henry Rhodes, a Colonel in the Onslow Militia, responded to the call for help from Capt. William Dry when Brunswick was attack by Spanish privateers. Colonel Rhodes has a rich and colorful history, and his ancestor, and my good friend, John T. "Tim" Rhodes of Onslow, has written a book about him. I too have written a book of ghost stories which I am currently editing for re-release, but if you would like a copy of the original book please send me an email. In the book I describe my encounter with Justina in the cemetery at Brunswick Town State Historic Site.

Regards, John Midwood

Depending on the day the wedding took place Arthur may well have been 72, but I would say that he was probably 73. In a letter I have from a man who attended, many people have taken Arthur's age to be 78 but I think that it was actually 73.