John Combs, I

Served in the French and Indian War.

See also: http://www.combs-families.org/combs/dna/index.html?virtual_archive/... "Father of the Eight".

DAR RECORD - John Combs born on - - 1733 at Caroline Co VA died at Perry Co KY on - - 1819-1830 married Nancy Harding on c - - 1760 at Shenandoah Co VA -tcd

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3QFV-L1Z

   First John Combs b 1568 m Margaret Archdale b 1569 daughter of Thomas Archdale

   travelled on Marigold and settled in Jamestown in 1619.  A draper by trade, he

   was the son of John Combs a London merchant.  The line goes back to Ulnoth

   Combs of Stow, England (1086).

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   John's marriage to Nancy HARDING is documented by the Shenandoah Co, VA wills of both of her parents, the 1783 Shenandoah Court Minutes regarding settlement due John Combs from his HARDING brothers-in-law, and the 1855 Perry Co, KY death record of their son, Elijah. Also note that the Combs and Harding lands in Shenandoah were adjacent; and that no other Combs are found recorded with Henry HARDING II other than John (for whom Henry HARDING made bail in 1779); and that both John and his son, Mason, are later found in Montgomery Co, VA adjacent to his brother-in-law, Henry HARDING III.

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   "...on her one hundredth birthday, July 7,1945, old Betty DOBSON, of Lott's Creek, Perry County, and granddaughter of "Chunky Jerry" Combs, stood in her yard feeding her chickens, and chatted with J.D. SMITH, of Dwarf, Perry County, on the CombsES. She related that John Combs was father of the eight brothers, and how he had come to Perry and build his ''improver's" cabin and cleared a few acres of ground, before returning to bring back his family."

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   From Comb & Family Website: http://www.combs-families.org/~combs/families/c-8.htm#the8

   John Combs, Sr. was probably the eldest son of Mason and Sarah, born prior to those of their children who were recorded in the Overwharton Parish Register of Stafford Co VA - where no record of John Sr. is found. Mason & Sarah probably did not marry until after 1734 (when Mason Sr. was last recorded in Caroline Co VA at age 20), and their eldest recorded son, William, was born in Nov 1740 in Overwharton Parish. Although the Overwharton Parish Register includes births as early as 1723, for the years 1723-1735, there are no marriage or death entries, and very few births or baptisms. According to George Harrison Sanford King in his book, "The Register of Overwharton Parish, Stafford County, Virginia, 1723-1758," it was not until after the death of Rev. Alexander SCOTT in 1738 that the Register was used as such (during the tenure of Rev. John MONCURE). This makes it likely that John was born between 1735 and 1738.

By Sep 1757 (the birth of his son, William), John had married Nancy HARDING. So far as is known, he was only married once (According to the 1855 Perry Co, KY death record of their youngest(?) son, Elijah Combs, Jr., b 1770), his parents were John and Nancy).
John appears to have been have been the John Combs of Frederick Co VA, first recorded in 1758 when he purchased 78 acres of land on the south side of the Shenandoah River from John HARROLD Jr.,* land formerly owned by Aaron HARROLD, the deed witnessed by Hugh WEST, John LINDSEY, Jun. and James WOOD, Jun. (dated 3 Jul 1758, rec. 5 Jul 1758. Frederick VA DB4:369-70).
*Note that the surname, HARRELL, was spelled variously HAROLD, HERALD, HERRELL, etc. It is not known if this HARRELL family was the same as that of John HARRELL whose daughter, Lydia, m John's son, George (see below), although it seems likely that there was some kind of relationship. See also the 1787 Shenandoah Co, VA record documenting that land of both the Combs-Harding Families was adjacent to, and also purchased from, the HARRELLS).
In 1759, John Combs is listed on the Frederick Co, VA rent roll (no other Combs listed although it is known that Mason was still in the county at that time). John is also found in other Frederick records in 1759 and 1760, and in March 1761, he and John ALLEN "undertook for" defendant, John STACY when the latter was sued by John COUNTS
On 10 Oct 1761, a court martial was held in Frederick co, VA, and it was ordered that John Combs of Capt. Henry SPEARS Co. be fined for absenting the last General Muster. It was also ordered that Henry HARDIN Sen., also of Capt. Henry SPEARS Company, on the motion of Lt. Abraham KELLER, be discharged of further duty at musters. Henry HARDING, Sr. was the father of Nancy HARDING Combs. This record also places Henry HARDING and John Combs in the same neighborhood (same militia company), and in the neighborhood of Henry SPEARS (an early neighbor of Mason Combs, Sr. and both later found in Surry Co, NC ).
In 1764, John Combs again appeared on the Frederick Co, VA rent roll, and in Oct 1766, he sold land in Frederick to Simon CARSON which may have been the same (or part of the same) which he purchased in 1758 (research in progress), land later documented as also having been adjacent to the HARDINGS.
Despite the land sale, John continued to reside in Frederick - that part which became Dunmore in 1772 (renamed Shenandoah in 1777-8), and in Nov 1772,was sued by Isaac HITE for a debt. In Apr 1773, his father-in-law, Henry HARDING, Sr. made bail for John's appearance in the amount of 80 pounds, 4 shillings and 8 pence.
Two years later, in Nov 1774, John was again sued for debt, this time by Alexander MACHIR. John's brother-in-law, John SMITH (m Wilmoth HARDING) undertook to defend him, but the record also shows that John appeared "in his proper person" to acknowledge MACHIR'S petition. MACHIR was awarded 132 pounds, ten shillings and 2.5 pence plus costs, and John given until the following June to make payment.
In 1779, John's father-in-law, Henry HARDING II, died, and his Shenandoah Co, VA will, dated 28 Sep 1779, proved 25 Nov 1779, named his daughter, "Nanney Combs" (Shenandoah VA DBA:233).
At some point between 1773 and 1780, John Sr. apparently moved to Surry Co, NC*
*That either John Combs and/or his son, John Combs, Jr., was apparently returning to Shenandoah frequently is documented by the records of Shenandoah, where John is recorded in the 1780s, but never taxed. See also records of Wilkes Co, NC, adjacent to and formed from Surry in 1780, and note that further research of Wilkes is also still needed in regard to whether John could have been on or near "New River" (See Dickey Diary Interviews and Revolutionary War pension files of his sons, John and Nicholas re New River, and see below re Montgomery Co, VA.
According to the Revolutionary War pension file of John, Sr.'s son, "Patriot John," the latter enlisted in Jan 1777 in Shenandoah Co, VA, serving two years and four months (until ca Apr 1779). According to the Rev. War Pension file of John, Sr.'s son, Nicholas (Tory and Patriot), the latter enlisted in late 1780 in Surry Co NC, which is also the first year that a John Combs is of record in that county (his father and brothers, William and Mason, had preceded him, having left Frederick by 1768 at the latest, and probably a year or two earlier). The 1780 record is a Surry Co, NC land entry on West Double Creek, and is only one of several land transactions by John over the ensuing years.
Note: Other than mentions in the William RIDGE Estate File Depositions,* this land entry is the earliest record located for any John Combs in Surry Co NC, which may be the same land which John deeded to his father, Mason Combs, Sr. in 1784 (see below) Also in Surry Co, NC during this time period, however, was John, Sr.'s nephew, Tory John Combs (s/o William and Seth STACY Combs, Sr.), as well as his son, John Combs, and it has been difficult to separate the three in records, although it is possible that both William Combs, Sr. and his son, Tory John Combs, may have also been recorded in Wilkes Co, NC (See 1774 Surry Co, NC tax list of Benjamin Cleveland).
All Surry Co, NC tax lists are not extant, and it is not until 1782 that John first appears on the tax list of Capt. MARTIN, tithing 3 white, 14 slaves and 400 acres on the "North side of the Yadkin River" (On this same tax list is his sister, Winnifred Combs, widow of the above-noted William RIDGE). Presumably, the other 2 white tithes are two of John's sons, probably both in the 16-21 year age bracket (NC Statutes need to be checked), placing their birth years in the range of 1761-1766. John's sons, Nicholas and William, were both in Shenandoah this year, and son, Biram, was probably still "in hiding" (see William RIDGE Estate File), thus likely the two tithables were John, Jr. (b 1761) and Mason (b pre-1765) (with George and Henry possibly still too young, and Elijah, b 1770, definitely too young).
In 1784, the Surry Co, NC tax list of Capt. LEWIS includes three John Combs: (1) John COMES [sic], Sr., with 1 white poll (sons, Mason and Henry already gone?); (2) John COMES, 1 white poll, no acreage (probably his son, John Combs, Jr.); and (3) John COMES, 1 white poll, no acreage (probably John Combs, s/o William & Seth STACY Combs, Sr.?). Also on this list are Mason COMES, 400 acres (Mason, Sr.?) and Winnifred Combs Ridge, 100 acres and 1 white poll (who might have possibly been one of her nephews?)
On 9 Aug 1784, John Combs sold to Mason Combs, Sr. for 150 pds., "the land on which I live, mill, livestock, personalty." The deed was witnessed by George HUSTON and William COOK (the latter father of John COOK of Charlotte Co, VA and guardian to some of Winnifred Combs Ridge's children?).
It is not known if John left the county immediately upon this sale, but either way, he was back by November when the Surry County courts appointed him administrator of his father's estate (which included 400 untraced acres).
No Combs by surname are listed on either the 1785 or 1786 Surry Tax Lists (which may have been incomplete), and oral family tradition (according to The Combes Genealogy) has it that John, Sr. left Surry County following the death of a twelve year old daughter in 1784.
He was, however, apparently still in the county on 7 Sep 1786 when, it is charged that "John Combs the elder late of Surry County... with force and arms in the county aforesaid one white hogg commonly called a sow of the proper goods and chattels of Zachariah RAY Esq'r of the value of six pence then and there being found feloniously did steal take and carry away contrary to the statute in such case made and providing against the peace and dignity of the State..." This alleged act of thievery did not go forgotten, the Surry County Sheriff having been directed annually through 1792, to seek out John (apparently not a resident of the county), and years later was referred to in a deposition in 1800 in Davidson Co TN by Obediah Martin BENGE (s/o John & Elizabeth LEWIS Benge), who stated "...John Combs Senior left Surry County with a ... hog that was not his property..."
The above is the last record found thus far for John Combs, Sr. in Surry County, and John appears to have been the John Combs who was on Little Reed Island Creek of New River in Montgomery Co VA by 1787, residing adjacent to his son, Mason, and his brother-in-law, Henry HARDING, who had purchased land earlier owned by Benjamin CLEMENTS (whose daughter, Rachael, m John's son, Henry, in 1788).
By 1790, John and sons, Mason and Henry, were in Wythe Co, VA (formed from Montgomery in 1789-1790) where John is recorded in a dispute with the BREEDINGS (whose land had been purchased from the HARDINGS), and where Mason married Jane RICHARDSON in 1793 . Although both Mason and Henry are found on Wythe Co, VA tax lists, no other record of John Combs, Sr. has been located in this county, or its descendant county of Grayson (where Mason and Henry are both later recorded).
The fact that John is missing from 1790 Wythe Co, VA tax lists may indicate that he was the John Combs on the 1790 Russell Co VA tax list, but this John "looks more like" John, s/o William Combs, Sr., and again, we have the problem of segregating multiple John Combs (research in progress).
John Combs, Sr. probably also resided in Sullivan Co TN at some point during this time period (RW Pension File of his son, Nicholas Combs, Sr.) although he is not believed to have been the early John Combs recorded in that county in a 1788 militia list (not only was John, Sr. in Montgomery Co, VA at the time, but he was also over 50 years of age), and may have been the second John Combs who was in Russell Co, VA in 1799 (See also the John Combs of Russell in 1802 who tithed 3).
John may have been one of the two John Combs who was on the 1807 Clay Co, KY tax list, and possibly the one who 'goes missing' in 1808, who may be the John who appears on the 1810 Floyd Co KY tax list.
The one John Combs on the 1810 Floyd Co, KY was born pre-1765, with only one additional person in the household, a female who was also born pre-1765. However, the one John Combs on the 1810 Clay Co, KY household appears to have also been born pre-1765 with the eldest female also born pre-1765, but with also a second (and possibly third) family in his household (research in progress).
Although The Combes Genealogy states that the John Combs who died in Floyd Co, KY in 1820 was John Combs, Sr., this is based solely on his estate having been administered by John Sr.'s son, Elijah, and in fact, this John Combs has not yet been identified.
Sources (2)

   Combs Genealogy on the Web

   The Combs Family Harry W. Mills

John Combs was born around 1733-1736 in Caroline Co., Virginia (some sources say Stafford Co.) and died about 1819-1820 at Defiance, Ky. He was the son of Mason Combs and Sarah Harding Richardson. He is the father of the eight Combs brothers who came to Perry Co. around 1785. He was married to Nancy Harding, daughter of Henry Harding II and Wilmith George in the 1750s and lived first in Warren Co. (then Fredrick Co.) around the fork of the Shenandoah River above Front Royal, Va.

Family tradition has that John served in the Revolutionary and he probably did. Records of the War Department show that one John Combs served in Capt. Casey's Company, Col. James Wood's Virginia Regiment in Oct. 1776. Capt. Casey's Company was at Valley Forge from 1-6-1777 to May 1777 during the terrible winter that year. John's son John (born 1761) served in that same company 1777-1779. Danger Nick said that he served in the war and applied for a pension but he was denied. Also John's son William is said to be a Revolutionary War veteran.

The assumption is that after John served his three years in the Continental Army, then moved to Surry County, North Carolina soon afterward. He sold his land and grist mill down there, to Mason, his father, in 1784. The following year he is one of the administrators of his father's estate. The sale of his land and mill indicates that John was leaving that State, and going back to Virginia, which corroborates the family tradition. The tradition, from different sources, (including Jesse, a grandson, born in 1798), says also that John and the family left the Yadkin country [Surry and surrounding North Carolina counties] because of the death of a young daughter, twelve years old; and who was killed by a falling tree as she was taking dinner to the work hands in the field. Regardless of the truth or falsity of the tradition that the tragedy caused John to move away, the girl was born about 1772

John was already an old man when he settled at the mouth of White Oak Creek that flows into Carrs Fork of the Kentucky River. He had first come to Perry Co. and built his 'improved cabin' and cleared a few acres of land before he returned to Virginia to bring his family.

Children of John Combs and Nancy Harding are:

1. Nickolas 'Danger Nick' Combs 1759/60
2. George 'Old George' Combs 1755 m Lydia Harrell
3. William 'Old Buckey" Combs 1757-1840 m Nell Cloud
4. Mason Combs 1757 m Jenny Richardson
5. Biram Combs 1760 m Sarah Ridge
6. John 'Soldier John" Combs 1761 m Margaret Nantz
7. Henry Harrison Combs 1765 m Rachel Clement
8. Elijah Combs 1770-1855 m Sallie Roark

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GEDCOM Source

MH:S14 Ancestry.com U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. @R1@

GEDCOM Source

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GEDCOM Source

MH:S14 Ancestry.com U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. @R1@

GEDCOM Source

MH:SC13909 0

GEDCOM Source

MH:S14 Ancestry.com U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. @R1@

GEDCOM Source

MH:SC13910 0

GEDCOM Source

MH:S13 Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. @R1@

GEDCOM Source

MH:SC13911 Ancestry Family Tree Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=79881319&pid... 0

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 1 2020, 20:59:16 UTC

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JOHN COMBS, Tammie's Paternal 5th Great Grandfather ❤

John Combs is the son of Mason Combs and Sarah Ann Nelson. When John Combs was born in 1736 in King George, Virginia, his father, Mason, was 22 and his mother, Sarah, was 18. He married Nancy Harding in 1750 in Frederick, Virginia. They had eight children in 10 years. He died in 1819 in Vicco, Kentucky, having lived a long life of 83 years.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 10 2020, 18:32:30 UTC

JOHN COMBS, Tammie's Paternal 5th Great Grandfather ❤

John Combs is the son of Mason Combs and Sarah Ann Nelson. When John Combs was born in 1736 in King George, Virginia, his father, Mason, was 22 and his mother, Sarah, was 18. He married Nancy Harding in 1750 in Frederick, Virginia. They had eight children in 10 years. He died in 1819 in Vicco, Kentucky, having lived a long life of 83 years.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Dec 28 2020, 21:26:17 UTC