Oregon Bobbitt was a remarkable man. He taught himself to read and write. He had managerial ability and served two terms as a d

The Bobbitt Family In America

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Oregon Bobbitt was a remarkable man. He taught himself to read and write. He had managerial ability and served two terms as a director of the Greenbrier County Home for the Poor. He served as postmaster for the community of Williamsburg in the same county.

H. H. Hardesty interviewed Oregon Bobbitt in 1881 for an account of his family. The account was published in Hardesty's Historical Encyclopedia in 1883. It is from this account that we have been able to research the history of the John and Permelia Bobbitt family. Some excerpts from this account are rewritten here.

"OREGON BOBBITT, born near Amherst County Court House, on October 5, 1817 was a son of John Bobbitt, born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Emelia (Hill) Bobbitt, born in Amherst County. His mother died in 1861, and his father in 1856, both in this county. Oregon Bobbitt made his home in Greenbrier county, first in 1845, then lived for a time in Nicholas county, returning here and then moving to Monroe county, where he lived for two years. He then made his home in Greenbrier county. He was eighteen years superintendent of the county infirmary, from 1859 until his resignation in 1878, when he moved to the farm where he now resides, in Williamsburg district. He held the office of postmaster two years, and then resigned to take care of personal business."

During the war between the states, Oregon Bobbitt and all of his brothers, sided with the confederate cause. Many of the sisters of Oregon Bobbitt were married to men who felt that the union cause was the best course. Because of this political difference, the families became separated, although they lived in the same general area.

George W. Bobbitt, son of Oregon Bobbitt, was a private in the Confederate Army, Company A, of Hounshell's Battalion, Virginia Cavalry. He was described as 19 years of age, 5 feet, 6 inches tall, fair complexion, blue eyes, light brown hair, no whiskers. He was on a list of prisoners on May 10, 1865 of the Union Army. He was paroled in Charleston, West Virginia, on record # 48, sheet 4. He was listed as the son of Oregon and Lucy Ann Bobbitt.

James H. Bobbitt, son of Oregon Bobbitt, was a private in the Confederate Army, Company A, of the 19th and 22nd Virginia Cavalry.

James Tolliver Bobbitt, son of Tilman Bobbitt, was a captain in the Confederate Army. When the war was over, James was so disappointed in the outcome of the war, that he persuaded his father, and his cousins to leave the east and find a new way of life in the western part of the country.

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