James Frank Dobie was born in Live Oak County, Texas on September 26, 1888. His adolescent years spent on his families ranch with his 5 siblings, and a mother who enjoyed reading to them, helped shape dobie's character and perspective. Afer leaving the family ranch and going to Southwestern University in Georgetown, Dobie met Bertha McKee whom he married in 1916. He also met his first mentor in writing, Professor Albert Shipp Pegues. Dobie took jobs in teaching from 1910 to 1913 when he began his master's degree at Columbia. He soon joined the Universtiy of Texas Faculty after earning his M.A. in 1914, and joined the Texas Folklore Society shortly thereafter.

After leaving the University to serve in WWI from 1917 to 1919, Dobie rediscovered his love of the land and farm culture while managing his Uncle Jim Dobie's ranch and began a new chapter of literary discovery through the Texas Folklore Society. He returned to Austin and became secretary of the society for 21 years, creating the publication 'Legends of Texas" and developing the society into a professional literary staple.

From the Texas Historical Association: "Dobie's purpose in life from the time of his return to the university in 1921 was to show the people of Texas and the Southwest the richness of their culture and their traditions, particularly in their legends. Dobie intended to do this with the tales of old-time Texas and through the publications of the society and his own writing." Over the span of Dobie's career with the University of Texas, he published many books including, Vaquero of the Brush Country (1929), Coronado's Children (1931), Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest (1942), and The Flavor of Texas (1936) among others.

J. Frank Dobie spent WWII teaching American literature in Cambrige. After the war, he returned to Europe, teaching in England, Germany, and Austria. In 1947, Dobie was denied his request of leave continuation with the University of Texas after a fellow liberal and University President, Homer P. Rainey, was fired. This created what is now known as the UT "Dobie rule", which restricts faculty leaves of absence to two years except in emergencies.

Over the next decade, Dobie spent much of his time devoted to writing. He published works such as The Voice of the Coyote (1949), The Ben Lilly Legend (1950), The Mustangs (1952), Tales of Old Time Texas (1955), Up the Trail from Texas (1955), and I'll Tell You a Tale (1960). Dobie was also active in the newspapers, writing columns in the Southwest Review from 1939 until his death in 1964, and focused articles criticising "bragging Texas, political, social, and religious restraints on individual liberty, and the mechanized world's erosion of the human spirit" (Texas Historical Assicoation, James Frank Dobie).

Just before his death on September 18, 1964, Dobie was awarded the Medal of Freedom by then Presdient Lyndon B. Johnson, on September 14, 1964. His funeral was held on the UT campus and he was buried in the State Cemetery.