John Dobson was born on October 13, 1826, in Yorkshire, England, to William and Elizabeth Dobson. He eventually immigrated to America and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Schofield, and they had at least two children: Mary, born around 1856; and Elizabeth, born around 1858. He worked as a manufacturer, and by 1860, he owned $11,000 of real estate and $5,000 of personal property. He supported the Republican Party, and he served as captain in the 33^rd Pennsylvania Militia Infantry during the Gettysburg campaign in 1863.

 

In 1866, he and his brother formed the partnership of John & James Dobson. According to an early biographer, the firm rose to “great prominence.” By 1870, he owned $397,250 of real estate and $488,750 of personal property. Eventually, his business was valued at “several millions of dollars.” It was “best known…as the makers of carpets, whose beauty, freshness of appearance, originality of pattern and excellence leave little or nothing to be desired.”

 

His wife died on November 28, 1907. By the early 1900s, he was suffering from sleepwalking. He hired an attendant to “guard against accident.” In June 1911, however, he “walked from his room and [fell] down a flight of stairs leading to the kitchen.” He suffered from “severe lacerations of the scalp,” and he died in Philadelphia on June 28, 1911.

 

Image: John Dobson (Men of the Century)

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