Charles Combs Surry County North Carolina to Monroe County Indiana

I have been able to trace, with relative ease, my father’s line back to the man who started it in Indiana.  Primarily I have been using census and birth indexes from Indiana.  The records from North Carolina have been the major stumbling block.  I have found the Combs & Family website extremely useful in the search of my Combs ancestors.  However, even they do not know where to go after Charles, beyond the fact that my line is not among those listed in The Combses Genealogy (Combs, Josiah H, PhD. The Combses Genealogy. Talahasse Florida: Rose Printing Co., 1976.).

Below is a synopsis of the information I have on the earliest known Combs in my line:

Charles Combs, born 2 July 1793 in Virginia and died 28 February 1866 in Indiana Creek, Monroe County Indiana.  He had 2 wives that I know of.  First, and from whom my line descends from, is Abigail Reavis Brassfield.  She was born 13 Aug 1806 in Surry County North Carolina and died 16 May 1859 in Indian Creek, Monroe County Indiana; daughter of Jesse Brasfield and Mary Prichard Reavis.  His second wife was the widow Anna McLaughlin (married name), born 10 Jun 1819 and died 12 July 1892 in Monroe County Indiana.

From what I have been able to piece together Charles was possibly the son of a man named William Combs, also from Virginia.  With mentions that William may have been a Revolutionary War soldier, but no solid facts on that.  Charles Combs’s name is on a roll for George L. Davidson’s North Carolina Militia during the war of 1812.    He received 3 land grants from the Vincennes Indiana office issued in 1840 for tracts of land in Monroe County Indiana.

Charles and Abigail had eight boys, and he had one boy with Anna.  If there were girls I have not yet located them in Indiana, or they may have stayed behind in North Carolina.  My line extends down through the oldest child James. 

James M (McCraw?) Combs born 25 October 1820 in Surry County, North Carolina; died 23 January in Keensburg, Wabash County, Illinois

Aaron Combs born 28 October 1825 in Surry County, North Carolina ; died 19 January 1886 in Center, Greene County, Indiana

Bryd Combs born 4 February 1828 in Surry County, North Carolina; died 18 March 1892 in Greene County, Indiana

Galin Combs born 01 February 1830 in Surry North Carolina; died 4 April 1856 in Monroe County, Indiana

John Joseph Combs born 5 October 1831 in Surry North Carolina; died 14 February 1891 in Greene County, Indiana

Silas Combs born 21 May 1836 in Surry County, North Carolina; died 1 December 1877 in Monroe County, Indiana

Pleasant Combs born 22 October 1839 in Indiana Creek, Monroe County, Indiana; died 26 February 1886 in Center, Greene County, Indiana

Charles Jr (aka Boy) Combs born 28 Aug 1843 in Monroe County, Indiana; died 2 January 1869 in Monroe County, Indiana

William Henry Combs (Anna’s son)  born 23 September 1859 in Monroe County, Indiana; died 21 February in Monroe County, Indiana

Find-a-Grave show the listing for 2 Combs Cemetery’s in the Monroe/Greene County area.  Many of these people as well as their descendants are buried at both.  At the Combs Cemetery in Buenavista, Monroe County, Indiana you find Abigail Brassfield Combs as well as her parents.  The Combs Cemetery in Cincinnati, Greene County, Indiana you find many of the children, and at least one of Charles’s Brothers.  To the left is the image of Charles Combs's tombstone.

* Land Patent image from Ancestry.com. U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: United States. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records. Automated Records Project; Federal Land Patents, State Volumes. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/. Springfield, Virginia: Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States, 2007.

*  The Tombstone image taken by Janet Kaufman