Ancestor Round Up: Everett Franklin Combs

Everett Franklin Combs, c1924.
Image from my personal collection.

Everett Franklin Combs, Sr., was born 29 March 1886 in Martin County, Indiana to Willis Franklin Combs and Mary Margaret Hall. He was the fifth of eight ­­children and his siblings were, Ira (1877-1956), Jennie (1880-1948), Homer (1882-1971), Ada (1884-1901), John (1888-1959), Margaret (1891-?), George (1893-1923), and Eliza (1897-1987).

His family lived as farmers in Lost River Township, Martin County, Indiana. According to his sister Eliza’s journals, they were happy there living off the land, playing in the streams, hunting, and fishing. Unfortunately, his time there was short-lived. Everett’s mother Margaret and older sister Ada died in 1901 during a typhoid fever outbreak. His youngest sister Eliza wrote that the women spent weeks nursing the family back to health only to succumb to the illness themselves. The fever hit the local area hard, and his father Willis Franklin remarried a widow with two daughters within a few years.

After this marriage Willis moved the newly merged family to just outside of Vincennes in Knox County. Here they worked as tenant farmers for Brevoort Farms, but moved home to Lost River before the 1920 census.

Fort Casey Lighthouse.
From Washington State Parks.

On 10 March 1906 Everett joined the US Army. According to his enlistment papers he was 5’6” tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes, and light brown hair. My father states his grandfather told him he was a medic while in the service and nicknamed “Doc.” Discharge papers state his last duty station was Fort Casey in Washington State. He was discharged 9 March 1909. Unfortunately, after his death, many of Everett's papers were burned. My father described his discharge papers as an excellent example of Edwardian script, a work of art by itself. He never saw it again after his grandfather died and assumes it was burned.

While he was away Everett corresponded with his future wife Sylvia Ann Freeman. They married a few months after his return on 13 November 1909 in Martin County, Indiana. However, many decades later during a marital argument a long-held secret came out to the family. My father, who was there, told me the story. Everett was in love with another girl, who he wrote to faithfully, but she never wrote to him. Likewise, this girl wrote to him for over a year with no reply. She gave up on Everett and was married to another man by the time he returned home. What neither of them knew was Sylvia had intercepted the letters in the mailboxes. The letters to and from Sylvia were the only ones getting through. My father said Everett was furious, and while angry for several days, there was nothing he could do about it 40 years later.

In the 1910 Census Everett and Sylvia are living as newlyweds in Lost River Township again. He lists himself as a farmer and is renting his land. Shortly their family begins to grow and by 1920 they have four children. According to his WWI draft card the family lived in West Baden, Orange County, Indiana just a few miles from Lost River.

The saddest part of genealogical research was the discovery of the many children they lost during their marriage. My grandfather did not know about them until later in life when he found the stones for his siblings. In total they lost seven babies due to disease, still birth, or prematurity.

Sometime between 1917 and 1920 the family moved to Washington, Daviess County, Indiana. My grandfather told a story about the move. He was not in school yet, only four or five years old, and the second youngest in the family at that time. They loaded a buckboard wagon with all their belongings and a cow in tow. The children took turns walking with the cow and sitting in the wagon almost 50 miles.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Once in Washington Everett began working as a laborer for the B&O railroad yard. Washington was a huge railroad hub for many decades which made it a bustling city within the corn fields. While the 1920 census did not state their address the 1927 directory showed they rented a home at 107 NW 6^th Street and Everett still worked for the B&O railroad. However, they did move frequently and never owned a home until later in life according to my father.

By 1930 they lived at 379 NW 10^th Street in Washington and Everett was then a station supervisor for the B&O Railroad. Two years after that they lived at 816 Robinson Street, the home they eventually bought. The 1940 census asked for the highest level of education and Everett stated he completed to 4^th grade and Sylvia to 7^th grade. Everett left the B&O sometime prior to this census and was now listed as a truckdriver for the City Street Department.

Everett and his son Paul c1965.
Image from my personal collection.

However, within two years Everett was working for the city police department according to his WWII draft card. During WWII my father and his parents lived with Everett, Sylvia, and their youngest children. My grandmother helped cook, clean, take care of the kids, and assisted in keeping the extended family in town well.

My father remembers him as a cop growing up and did not know about his other jobs until I showed him these documents. According to his memories, Everett carried a nightstick, but no gun, and wielded a lot of respect from the local community. Dad stated he was quick with that stick and loved to twirl it when he walked.

They lived on Robinson St until Sylvia died in 1964. Everett was able to live a few more years on his own until being taken in by his daughter Zelma and her family. Everett died at 6:30 am on 7 November 1970 at the Prairie Village Nursing Home in Washington. He had suffered for an extended period from cardiac and renal failure. The services were held at Gill Funeral Home in Washington and he was buried with his family at the Oak Grove Cemetery.

Family Group:
Everett Franklin Combs, son of Willis Franklin and Mary Margaret Hall, married Sylvia Ann Freeman, daughter of John Ulysses S Grant Freeman and Alta Eldora Davison. They had the following children:

Albert Keralla Combs (17 October 1910 – 16 February 1980) who married Pauline Christine Casper

James Franklin Combs (31 May 1913 – 16 July 1987) who married Mayme Jones and Harriett Bobb

Paul Edward Combs (5 October 1915 – 13 Nov 1978) who married Ruth Eleanor Brennan

Zelma Mae Combs (24 February 1918 – 26 December 2005) who married Delbert Orris Horton

Ruth Emily Combs (7 Jun 1920 – 20 June 1920) died from pneumonia

Gladdis Marie Combs (11 April 1921 – 5 May 1921) died from pneumonia

Everett Franklin Combs Jr. (5 May 1922 – 10 May 2010) who married Anna Louise Catt

Mary Louise Combs (17 November 1924 – 8 June 2003) who married Charles Heaton King

Infant (24 March 1927) stillborn

Kenneth Eugene Combs (13 Oct 1928 – 13 Oct 1928) died from prematurity

Infant (12 Jun 1929) stillborn

Mildred Pauline Combs (13 August 1930 – 18 Aug 1930) died from a heart defect

Robert Earl Combs (30 September 1933 – 16 October 1933) died from indigestion