Children and Descendants of John and Sarah LUTTRELL Combs, Jr.

John and Sarah had six children, all documented extensively in wills and numerous Fauquier Chancery suits. All six were born by 1780 as they are listed in their father’s 7 Oct. 1780 nuncupative will. It would appear that Nimrod, Behethilon, and Helen(d) were born prior to their parents marriage since he refers to them as alias Luttrell in his will. It is not known when John and Sarah married but was probably around 1775/6 since they had three children born after their marriage and John died 6 Oct. 1780. Nimrod appears to be the eldest as he was born by 1767/8. Helen’s daughter Lucy was born c1791 so Helen was likely married by 1790 at the latest and born by 1775 at the latest but probably a few years earlier. Behethilon Cummins was age 74 (b c1776) in her 1850 census record. Given this scenario, they would have had to marry by 1776 since they appear to have had 3 more children by 1780.

There are four Fauquier chancery suits that provide documentation for the children and grandchildren of John and Sarah Combs: 1839: John Combs &c v James K MARSHALL &c (LOVA Chancery Record Index # 1839-016); 1836: Nimrod Combs v admr of Sarah Combs decd (LOVA Chancery Record Index # 1836-015) 1852: Behethilon Cummins v Nimrod Combs (LOVA Chancery Record Index # 1852-013); 1868: Sampson Barbee &c v William Payne (LOVA Chancery Record Index # 1868-047)

1. Nimrod Combs alias LUTTRELL (b c1767/8)

   See updated separate report on Nimrod and his family

2. Hetheland aka Behethilon Combs alias LUTTRELL (b c1776, d after 1850)

   Hetheland Combs alias Luttrell per her father’s 1780 nuncupative will and Behethilon CUMMINS per her mother Sally’s 1833 will and three chancery suits. She was age 74 (b c1776) per her 1850 Fauquier Co. census records and probably one of the children born out of wedlock since she used the alias Luttrell. On 24 Dec. 1793, she married Willis CUMMINS who also signed the 1823 agreement by the heirs to equally divide the estate of John Combs decd after their mother’s death. Willis was deceased by 1833 when Behethilon was named a defendant in a suit by Nimrod Combs and when she also became the plaintiff of her own 1833 suit against Nimrod Combs and others petitioning the court for an equitable division of their mother’s life estate from their father. She is not found in the 1860 Fauquier Co. census.

   The chancery suits identify two of her children: John C CUMMINS who wrote his grandmother Sally’s 1833 will and was named therein as her grandson and executor, and Hethy’s daughter Fanny CUMMINS who gave a lengthy deposition. One Elijah CUMMINS was a witness to Sally’s will. A more careful examination of the depositions might provide the answer about whether Elijah was also a son.

   Deposition of Fanny CUMMINS who deposed she was the d/o of Hethy Cummins and that John C Cummins was her brother. She was asked several questions about what her grandmother had said with regard to what she wanted to leave her children. With respect to Sally’s son John, deponent said she heard her grandmother say “she had given them more than she had to divide among her other children that she never should die reconnected [?] without she fixed it so they could never get any more, this I heard her say repeatedly…” With regard to Fanny’s Aunt Hopper, she deposed she heard her grandmother say “that when Aunt Hopper left this country, she had then given her all that she ever expected to give them, and when she came in about five or six years ago she gave her all she intended to give her…” With respect to Fanny’s Aunt Payne’s children she deposed she heard her grandmother say ”they had sold ___ to a man who wanted her dead and they never should have one cent more of her property.” With respect to Fanny’s Uncle Nimrod, deponent said her grandmother said “he wasn’t capable of attending to his own business and wanted it fixed…” so some person could keep Nimrod from the poorhouse. That person would have to have a great deal of patience. With regard to her daughter Sally Cooper, her grandmother said her daughter Cooper was afflicted and not able to work and she [Sally] wanted security for her daughter’s benefit and not to go for Mr Cooper’s debt….” Deponent also heard her grandmother say that “what she had was very little and she had worked hard for it and got it honestly and intended that her three living children should have the profit of it.” Deponent also stated that her Uncle Nimrod told his mother that the will left ½ of her estate to Hethy and the other half to him and Sally Cooper. Fanny’s version of Sylvanus Waller’s attempt to get Sally to write a new will is somewhat different than how Mr. Waller deposed. Deponent, in response to a question, stated that she and Julia Cooper were with their grandmother more frequently than any other granddaughters. She says she made her Negro clothes and her own clothing. She said Julia had been living with her grandmother until her own mother became sick.
   (Source: Nimrod Combs v admr of Sarah Combs decd, 1836-015, p. 103-7, Library of Virginia Archives, Chancery Court Index: Fauquier County, original images from case file, abstracted by Sue Elfving for Combs &c)

   Behethilon also deposed on 5 Sept 1838 in a suit by John Combs and others [all children of Nimrod Combs and Elizabeth MARKHAM] against James K Marshall for their share of the estate of Capt. James Markham decd. by right of their deceased mother Elizabeth MARKHAM Combs. See the Nimrod Combs Family Report for more information. John C Cummins also deposed in this case and spoke of his being in the War [War of 1812].

   The Cummins family has been carefully researched and the papers of John C Cummins are held at the Alderman Library, U. of Va, Charlottesville.

3. Elizabeth aka Betsy aka Betty Combs

   Elizabeth Combs married John HOPPER in Fauquier on 27 Jan 1800. She is named both in her father’s 1780 nuncupative Fauquier Co. will and her mother Sally Combs’ 1833 Fauquier Co. will. Elizabeth was left a legacy of $10 by her mother if she were still living at the time of her mother’s death. She would have also had a legacy from her mother’s life estate. She was included in the list of complainants in Nimrod’s suit against the administrator of Sally Combs and a co-defendant in her sister Behethilon’s suit against Nimrod Combs and others.

   Very little is known about Elizabeth. There were no depositions or answers from her in the chancery papers. It was stated she removed from Virginia and had not been back for five or six years before her mother died. According to researcher Ann Cummins, Elizabeth Hopper removed to Pulaski and then Grant Co., Ky. She gave her son Lawson Hopper a Power of Attorney in 1836 to act as her agent in Virginia.

4. Heland Combs alias LUTTRELL aka Helen (born by or before 1775, d between 1823 and 1827)

   Helend Combs alias Luttrell was named in her father John Combs 1780 nucupative Fauquier will and seems to be one of the children born before her parents marriage. She was not named in her mother Sally’s 1833 will because she was deceased by that time and Sally only left legacies to her living children. Helen, as she is most often styled in chancery records, married Benjamin PAYNE, probably by 1790 or a little earlier because she had a daughter Lucy who was born c 1791. She died between 1823 when the heirs of John Combs bound themselves to each other for an equitable division of their father’s estate and 1827 when her children petitioned the court for the sale of negroes devised to their mother by the will of John Combs. Besides the chancery suits that document the children, there is an 1820 deed of conveyance from her husband Benjamin Payne to his son-in-law Sampson Barbee [husband of daughter Lucy] and his son Sanford Payne. He places in trust for his wife and children until his wife’s death all her interest in her father John’s estate, her interest in her grandmother Seth Combs’s life estate, and a possible interest in her aunt Mrs. Calmese’s estate who had died without issue. This instrument states that Seth Combs was lately deceased. Mrs. Calmese was the daughter of John Combs and Seth BULLITT and she had married Marquis CALMES. See above record chronology for an extract of this conveyance.

   Chancery court records document the seven children of Benjamin and Helen. They were: Sanford PAYNE who married a Fanny, Lucy PAYNE who married Sampson BARBEE, Elizabeth PAYNE who married James Combs, Hethy PAYNE who married Elijah THORNBERRY, Jane PAYNE who first married Silas BRYANT, was widowed, and then married Thomas STEWART, Benjamin PAYNE Jr., and William PAYNE who was apparently the youngest child and born after 1806.

   In 1827, the six children of Helen Combs and Benjamin PAYNE filed suit against their infant brother William Payne and petitioned the court for a sale of negroes inherited by right of their mother. The orators state Helen Combs, the daughter of John Combs of Stafford County who by will acquired title to negroes Easter, James, Lewis, and Spencer who were allotted to Benjamin Payne. The court appointed a guardian ad litem for William who was not yet age 21.

   The records in this suit document their mother Helen was deceased by 1827 and it names the children of Helen Combs and Benjamin Payne as: a daughter married to Sampson Barbee by 1820), a son Sanford Payne, a daughter Jane married and widowed by 1827 to Silas Bryant), a daughter married by 1827 to James Combs, a daughter married by 1827 to Elijah Thornberry, a son Benjamin Payne, and an infant son William Payne (not yet age 21 and therefore born after 1806). Records from other chancery suits involving the heirs of Sally Combs provide all the names of the daughters (Source: Sampson Barbee &c v William Payne Index Id: 1868-047)

   In 1833, these children and their spouses were named as complainants in Nimrod Combs v admr of Sarah Combs decd and as defendants in Behethilon Combs v Nimrod Combs & others: Benjamin PAYNE admr of Helend Combs decd, Sanford PAYNE, Sampson BARBEE & Lucy his wife, James Combs & Elizabeth his wife, Elijah THORNBERRY & Hethy his wife, Thomas STEWART and Jane his wife, Benjamin PAYNE Jr., and William PAYNE. 

   Chancery papers in the suit by Behethilon Combs contains answers by Thomas and Jane Stewart and Elijah and Hetty Thornberry who state they believed the Bill’s allegations to be true and they were entitled to a 1/7^th share each of their mother’s interest. Sampson and Lucy Barbee and James and Elizabeth Combs sold their interest in 1828 to William E Alexander. Sanford Payne sold his interest in 1828 to Henry A Barron.

   Daughter Lucy was born circa 1791 and she married Sampson BARBEE by 1820. They settled in Marion Co, IN by the mid-1830s and can be found in that county’s census records. Lucy may have been the eldest child.

   Son Sanford was probably born by 1799 at the latest. His wife’s name was Fanny.

   Daughter Elizabeth married James Combs by 1827, the son of Nimrod Combs and Elizabeth Markham. They appear to have left Virginia but it is not yet determined where they removed.

   Daughter Hetty married Elijah Thornberry by 1827. They removed to Licking Co., OH, where they are buried in the Maple Grove Cemetery, Alexandria, St. Albans Twp. Hetty was born 1802 and died in 1872. Elijah and Hetty were in Licking Co. by the 1840 census.

   Maple Grove Cem, Alexandria, St. Albans Twp.

   Thornberry, Elijah, died Dec. 10, 1871, aged 70y 1m 16d -Dear father we miss thee-
   Thornberry, Martha H., July 14, 1844 - Sept. 10, 1897 [named Martha Helen]
   Thornberry, Diana O., mar.21, 1847 - Jan. 1, 1928
   Thornberry, Hetty, wife of Elijah, died July 11, 1872, aged 70y 1m 5d [third side of this oblisque style stone, inscr.]
   (Source: Transcriptions of Maple Grove Cemetery by Robert M Sizelove Sr. for use in USGenWeb Archives (Licking Co, OH Cemeteries)).

   Daughter Jane married Silas Bryant and was widowed by 1827. She then married Thomas Stewart by 1833. In 1834, Thomas and Jane Stewart were styled as being of Prince William Co

   Son Benjamin Jr. [no information available after 1833]

   Son William, the youngest child, was born after 1806.

5. Sarah aka Sally Combs (b btwn 1776-1800)

   Sarah was born after her parents married, probably between 1776-1800. She is identified in her father John’s 1789 nuncupative will and also in her mother’s 1833 will. She is not found in the 1850 Fauquier census so she may have died as it is known she was not well at the time of her mother’s death. No marriage has been found for her and her husband John COOPER; however, their marriage is documented by Fauquier Co. chancery suits involving the heirs of John and Sarah. According to a deposition (see above) given by Sarah’s niece Fanny Cummins in Nimrod Combs v admr of Sarah Combs decd, Sarah was not able to work because of an affliction. Sarah’s mother Sally wanted her bequest to her daughter Sarah to be placed in the hands of her grandson John C Cummins to be held and used for her daughter’s benefit and not be used by her husband to pay his debts. Sarah must have known her son-in-law because John C Cummins, the executor, had to petition the court to obtain an injunction against John and Sarah Cooper because Cooper had placed Sarah’s inheritance in trust to another individual to secure his debts (John C Cummins v John Cooper & wife Id: 1838-024). 

   Several of John and Sarah’s children depose in Nimrod Combs v admr of Sarah Combs decd. Those identified are daughters are Julia Cooper (age 21 in 1834), Elizabeth Abbott, Peggy Cooper, and Angelina Cooper.

   The Cooper children were quite close to their grandmother. Their daughter Julia Cooper helped to take care of her grandmother until her mother became sick. Julia witnessed the writing of the will and deposed as to her grandmother’s wishes. Julia later conveyed her legacy to her mother, Uncle Nimrod Combs, and Aunt Behethilon Cummins. Sarah Cooper’s other daughters Elizabeth Abbott, Peggy Cooper, and Angelina Cooper also deposed. These daughters have not been researched further.

6. John Combs (b by 1780, d between 1823-1833)

   John was the youngest son and possibly born shortly before his father died in 1780. He was named in his father’s 7 Oct. 1780 nuncupative Fauquier Co. will. His grandfather John Combs stated in his 1785 Stafford Co. will that John, son of his son John deceased, was not yet christened. John married Artemisia B RALLS per Fauquier Co VA Marriage Bonds (John COOMBS & Artemesia B. RALLS, 4 Jan 1817 d/o Kenaz RALLS). We know this is the John Combs who married Artemisia as she is identified, both as complainant and defendant, in the two chancery suits between the heirs AS the relict of John Combs decd and the representative of John’s infant children. Fanny Copper (granddaughter of Sally) deposed that John’s mother Sally Combs did not like Artemesia and did not intent to leave her or the children any more than they had already received which she felt to have been more than their fare share anyway. John died sometime after 1823 but before his mother died.

   The children of John Combs decd as named in the chancery suits were Thompson, Sarah, Wm, Amey, and Jane Combs, infants. Since John and Artemisia married in 1817, none of their children were yet of age. Artemisia appears not to have remarried. John was a little older (at least age 37) than most men when they marry for the first time although it is possible he could have had an earlier marriage but no children. The records are quite clear that his children were those had by Artemisia.

   Artemisia, age 60, is found in the 1850 Stafford Co. census living with son William, 29 (b c1821/2), and daughter Emma [Amey] 27 (b c1823/4). She (age 65) and William (age 38 and married) and Emma (age 36 and unmarried) returned to Fauquier Co. by 1860. No information is known about the other children.