That's one whale of a tale, even if it's about a dog

Joseph Dobson Jr. (1756-1836), a veteran of the American Revolution, was my fourth great-grandfather. During the time of the American Revolution, Dobson lived along the Catawba River opposite his father, Dr. Joseph Dobson Sr.

The Dobsons’ land was situated on the big bend in the Catawba River in present-day Glen Alpine where today’s River Club development is located.

Following the close of the Revolution, Joseph Dobson Jr. moved further up the Catawba to the area near Black Bear Cove near the confluence of the North Fork of the Catawba and the Catawba. That area today is in McDowell County.

From everything I’ve read about my ancestor, Joseph Dobson was known far and wide as a “story teller” and could spin better yarns than anyone.

In 1894, Thomas George Walton (1815-1905) published a series of articles in the Morganton Herald about his personal remembrances of some of Burke County’s more notable citizens of days past, and Joseph Dobson was one of the men Walton remembered.

Walton described Dobson as “a frequent attendant on the court of Burke, either as witness, plaintiff or defendant” and stated he had a reputation for telling unprecedented yarns. One of the stories Walton remembered Dobson telling concerned a hunting dog Dobson owned.

According to Walton’s remembrances, Joseph Dobson said he was at one time the owner of an incredible dog that could run down any deer. Dobson claimed his dog was the best dog in Burke County, if not the entire state of North Carolina.

Dobson said his dog became a superb deer hunting dog following a hunting trip on Table Rock mountain near the Chimneys. Anyone who has hiked across Table Rock and the Chimneys knows the rocks in that area on the east side of the Linville Gorge form high cliffs and have narrow trails with razor sharp rocks in many places. It was on one of the narrow trails that Dobson’s dog was hot on the trail of a deer.

According to what Joseph Dobson said, a large buck was startled and his dog followed right on the track. The dog, paying no attention to the trail but only intent on catching the deer, ran head-on into a razor-sharp edge of a rock which split the dog open from the point of his nose to the end of his tail.

According to what Walton remembered, Dobson said: “Following as fast as I could, having heard that flesh would grow again if the severed parts were put together before getting cold, I seized the different parts: but in my hurry I turned two legs up and two down. Holding them in this position they had stuck together. My dog got well, and after that I had no trouble catching deer, after they were started. My dog would run on two of his legs until they were tired and then switch over and run on the rested legs and this continued until the deer was run down and captured.”

This closed the contest and the victory was awarded to Dobson.

Some people say that story telling is a trait passed down through the generations. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but some people have made some comparisons to yours truly. I’ll let you be the judge of that …