Ruthie,
Things can be a little slow around here,
I am currently doing a historical tree for my parents at the moment (40th wedding anv) and just came accros your post
My mum is a dobbin as she spells it, but other relatives spell it dobbyn, anyway most dobbins/dobbys in the republic come from from south Kilkenny/East Waterford. The fact your
Ancestors are of the Protestent religion doesent mean they
were originaly that as a lot of people converted during the
2 famine's to get work or favour with the overloard,you can
find alot of dobbins in piltown,mooncoin,kilmacow and other areas centered around these villages