Donald Claude Dobbins (March 20, 1878 – February 14, 1943) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. Born on a farm near

Dewey, Illinois Dewey is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in East Bend Township, Champaign County, Illinois, United States. Geography Dewey is located at at an elevation of 732 feet. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Dewey ...

, Dobbins attended public school, the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univers ...

, Dixon Business College, and

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

. He then worked as a stenographer from 1900–1906, later working as a post office inspector from 1906–1909. He studied law and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1909, commencing practice in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metrop ...

. He served as delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

at Philadelphia in 1936. Dobbins was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1937). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1936, so he resumed his practice of law. He died in Champaign, Illinois, February 14, 1943 and was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery.

References

1878 births 1943 deaths Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois People from Champaign, Illinois George Washington University alumni {{Illinois-politician-stub