A Brief History of the Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group

Who are we, you ask? Well, some of us have multiple Combs Lines (including all variant spellings), some of us have none. Some of us are quiet as mice, and others of us post 'til we drop. Some of us are old, some are young. Some are women, some are men. Some are white, some black, some hispanic and some Native Americans. Some of us are Catholics, some Protestant, some Jewish and some agnostic. All of us, however, share three traits:

These three traits have brought us together over the past two years in a way none of us "old timers" could ever have imagined. It has made us "real cousins" -- real in the sense that we have come to care for each other, real in that we have shared our lives -- births, deaths and illnesses, excitement and disappointment - and even (on rare occasions), our anger.

In the beginning, we didn't have a clue as to where we would be today. It seemed simple enough: Apply for a list, maybe sling up a web page and start posting, right?

Well, not quite. <g> We were just getting into the "swing of it," still at the head of the pioneer's trail of on-line genealogy, when "The Maiser" crashed back in May 1997-- except that most of us, including our list administrators, weren't even certain what a "Maiser" was.

All we knew was that if we sent an email to a special address, and typed the word, "subscribe," that we could share our lines with others with common interests - and it was Free!

Five months later, one SPAM sent by one commercial junk e-mailer to all the Maiser Lists, and it was all gone! No more Maiser, no more Combs List, no more shared postings, and all of it just about the time we were all really beginning to know and care for each other, and "on the brink" of hundreds of discoveries (at least).

We did learn what Maiser was: A wonderful man by the name of Larry Stephens at the University of Indiana, had started it all -- and handed it to the rest of us in a manner that was simple, free, and apparently effortless. ()>:

A very responsible man, too -- a man who wouldn't, who couldn't just stand by and watch it all "go down the tubes" after the crash - a man who instead struggled unceasingly to find a way, any way, for all of his work, and all of our work, to be saved and to go on -- which was how most of us learned about Karen Isaacson and Brian Leverich who, like Larry Stephens, seemed "too good to be true" (and ultimately was <VBG).

Karen and Bryan, co-owners of the now-for-profit RootsWeb, Inc. (see below), like Larry Stephens, had long "believed in" on-line genealogy and all it's endless possibilities, and volunteered to "grandfather" the 1,000+ Maiser Mailing Lists -- to take over, at no cost (their new price list required a $24 annual sponsorship for two lists)*

Voilà! One simple move, and we were Back In Business! Back in the limbs of our Family Trees, scuttling up branches far and wide, studying those leaves with a magnifying glass -- Combs who were Tories, and Combs who were Patriots; Combs who were friends of Shakespeare, and Combs who owned Houses of Ill-Repute; Combs who were preachers; Combs who were murderers; Combs who were rich and famous, and Combs who were poor and unknown. In other words, we were back to having Fun!

As a result, our Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group will always thank Larry Stephens, Karen Isaacson and Brian Leverich, from the bottom of our collective heart, for all the countless, untold time and effort that the three have put into the pioneer world of on-line genealogy. Their efforts have gone neither unnoticed, nor appreciated, but will always be one of the most significant eras in our history.

Who else do we have to thank? Well, that's an easy question to answer: Our Ancestors. After all, without 'em, we wouldn't be here, right? And boy, have some of them been interesting:

Winnie COMBS, widow of slain British Loyalist, William RIDGE, and grass widow of Nathan ALLEN (who stole her horse on his way out of town), who told the courts of Surry Co, NC in 1792: "as to any thing I have done contrary to my childrens interest of myself I deny, but what has been done by ALLEN I could not help it as I am but a woman…"

John COMBE of Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, for whom William SHAKESPEARE wrote an epitaph pre-1609: "Ten in the Hundred lies here ingrav'd, 'Tis a Hundred to Ten, his Soul is not sav'd: If any Man ask, Who lies in this Tomb? Oh! ho! quoth the Devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe."

Big Henry FIELDS of Perry Co, KY, natural son of Henry COMBS and Lucy FIELDS, his mother having been charged in March 1851 by the Commonwealth of Kentucky with "keeping a bawdy house," and himself later forced to go to court to prove his paternity…

Mary COMBS of Taunton, Somersetshire, England, who in the eighth year of Elizabeth (1566), on threat of being taken to prison, held up a knife and said: "come no here unto me, but yf thow do at thy perill."

John COMBS of Surry Co, NC who in May of 1788 was charged with the theft of a "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…"

Carlton COMBS of Nemaha Co, NE who wrote in 1885 " If I had 1000 votes and had a legal and just right to use them, all would count in favor of giving women the ballot in the earnest hope that rum would be sent to the bottomless pit…"

Lucretia COMBS of the Parish of St. Jude, Surry-Wilkes (Surry Co, NC), in 1770, "Being moved & seduced by the Instigation of the Devil," thus charged with "the heinous crime of fornication…"

John COMBS of Richmond Co VA who wrote in 1716: "Butt if in case my Son Archdell should bee soe unkind as by force to Caus his mother my said Wife to Leave as Disposessed the house and Habitation I now Live…"

James R. COMBS of Piedmont, Mineral Co, West Virginia, who following an accident in 1892, told his physician: "Save me doctor…I will find some way to make a living for myself and family" whereupon three surgeons amputated his left leg at the knee joint, his right leg above the knee and his right arm below the elbow, and James R. COMBS then did exactly as he had said, going on to raise and nurture successfully a fine family.

General Elijah and Nicholas COMBS of Perry Co, KY who, sometime before 1838, had "hard words" over slaves as "the General did not care for such treatment of others…"

Jeremiah & Byram COMBES of Surry Co, NC, who, with the STACYS, CODYS and others, were termed: "Torys and known enemies to their country, and farther it was reported that Abiram and Jeremiah Combs was at the murder of a certain Bradley of Mecklenburg County of the State of North Carolina…"

General Leslie COMBS of Fayette Co KY, a hero of the war of 1812 who wrote in his will: "I have done everything in my power for my children, my friend, my town, county, state and country, but I desire no ostentation shown at my funeral - Let me be buried in a plain wooden coffin, by the side of my wife and boy in the Lexington cemetery."

Widow Ollie COMBS of Knott Co KY who stood up to a strip-mining bulldozer by lying down in front of it, later told the judge: "I've never been in trouble, never been in jail. I just want to live out my life in my hollow and be left alone."

Asberry and Cleveland COMBS, brothers of Breathitt Co KY, both killed by gunshots "causing instant death by Republican party."

And so many more, too many by far to include here* and somehow, over the last couple of years, every single last one of those Combs has become "our Combs" -- all of ours… Every Combs family, no matter how their name was spelled, no matter when or where they lived - all have become ours -- ours to treasure, ours to bemoan, ours to place in one or another family tree.

And not just in our own filing cabinets, but on the Web -- there for everyone: this year, next year and unto Eternity - all our work, all our efforts, for all our ancestors and all our descendants, including the yet unborn.

Thus last, but by far from least, we have ourselves to thank: Each and every member of the Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group, each and every one of us who is subscribed to our Combs Mailing List, who contributes to our Web Pages - whether our contributions have been small or large, we thank ourselves, too -- as we hope others will thank us in years to come…

May the Future Continue to Bring Us Closer to Both Our Elusive Ancestors and Each Other, and Our Dedicated Goal of Continued Free Research on the Internet.

Update 6 Jul 1999: Until last month, when we discovered that the folks at RootsWeb apparently believed Our Combs were not Ours at all, our Group had assumed we would probably live out our days there. Instead, we now find ourselves with our own Truly Free Web Site and Mailing List - far, far away from the arms of RootsWeb. The separation was neither easy, nor pleasant, but definitely all for the best. For more details, see Why We Left RootsWeb.

Sincerely and Affectionately,
The Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group

The Combs &c. Group was left with no choice but to protest. We had always been non-profit, had always stated unequivocally that our tens of thousands of hours of shared research would never be used commercially, and thus, despite our Group having been one of the most supportive in the Cooperative in the past, only upon having left RootsWeb, have we become Truly Free and our List Archives safe.

© 1997-1999 Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group (formerly Combs &c. Rootsweb Research Group), All Rights Reserved.