Biography - William M. Combs
WILLIAM M. COMBS. Standing on section 36 of Chestnut Township may be seen the
home of the subject of whom this personal sketch is written. He is an honest and
reliable citizen, whose landed possessions include 112 acres and who does a
general farm business.
Our subject was born in Highland County, Ohio, April 19, 1824. His father was
Robert W. Combs and his mother Martha (Parker) Combs, the former being born in
Virginia in the year 1796, and the latter in Pennsylvania in 1797. She passed
from earth May 4, 1863, in Fulton County. Her husband still survives, and they
were the parents of ten children, namely: Cynthia A., Mary A., James P., William
W., Zur M., Cary A., Andrew J., John M. and Martha J.
Mr. Combs came to Illinois in 1835 and located in Fulton County, this State,
where he remained for 18 years. He then moved to California, then to Oregon, and
finally to Washington Territory; and after an absence of 16 years returned to
Knox County and settled down for the remainder of his life.
In 1874, March 18, he united in marriage with Miss Sarah C. Timmons [the
Illinois Statewide Marriage Index lists a William Coombs marrying a Sarah C.
Timmons in Fulton County on March 16, 1874], a native of Knox County, born April
8, 1849, and who is the daughter of Stephen and Lucinda Timmons, natives of
Ohio. Mrs. Combs' father was born February 14, 1814, and is still living, and
her mother, born January 8, 1817, died in December, 1862, in Fulton County. She
was the mother of ten children, to wit: Andrew J., Peter S., Annie, Thomas, Mary
E. and Martha J., twins, Sarah C., Margaret E., Joseph N., and George W.
In politics Mr. Combs is a Republican.
Mr. Combs tells with considerable interest and merriment the story of his
Western trip. It seems he started overland for the Pacific Slope in 1852,
driving an ox team. The journey consumed five months and nine days, but they had
no trouble with the red men of the forest. He worked in the mines three years
and was engaged in packing over the mountains, and eventually he acquired a fair
competency, and, what was still better, good health. Mr. Combs is of Irish and
German extraction and his wife is of Scotch and German ancestry.
Contributed by Pat Thomas, extracted from the 1886 Portrait and Biographical
Album of Knox County, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, page 954.
