David F. Dobie was born to David and Eliza Dobie on January 12, 1840, in Huntington, Quebec, in Canada. In 1844, the Dobie family immigrated to the United States, and they settled in Plattsburgh, New York, by 1850. According to the 1860 census, he was studying law.

During the American Civil War, Dobie mustered into the Union Army on August 21, 1862, as a First Lieutenant, and was promoted to the rank of Captain on May 18, 1864. Dobie served with Company H of the 118th New York Infantry. During the war, Dobie served primarily as a court martial judge advocate. Dobie’s pension application also notes that he was wounded on September 28, 1864, at Fort Harrison, Virginia.

In 1866, Dobie married Harriet J. "Hattie", and he was working as a lawyer by the 1870 census. He served as Clinton County Treasurer from 1869 to 1881 and Surrogate from 1881 to 1893. He also served as president of the Vilas National Bank of Plattsburg, president of the Clinton County Agricultural Society, and as an alternate delegate to Republican National Convention from New York in 1896. He served as warden of Clinton Prison in Clinton, New York, at the time of his death on October 24, 1900.

Sources:

U.S. Federal Census, 1850-1900

David Fowler Dobie in the New York, U.S., Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900

"Judge David F. Dobie", Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147471733/david-f.-dobie

"David F. Dobie Dead. Warden of Clinton Prison Succumbs Suddenly to Heart Disease." The New York Times, October 25, 1900, p. 8. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1900/10/25/102619996.html?pageNumber=8

Lawrence Kestenbaum, "Dobie, David F.", The Political Graveyard, https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/dixson-doctrine.html#126.87.09