Combs &c. Families of Madison Co, AL

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Madison County, on the Tennessee state line, was established in 1808 from the Cherokee and Chickasaw Concessions of 1806-1807, and was at the time part of the Mississippi Territory (which became Alabama Territory in 1817), and expanded significantly (gaining non-county area) in 1818. Madison Co was much more closely associate with Tennessee and Tennesseans than Southern Alabamans and, until the expansion of the county seat of Huntsville, most commerce was with Tennessee. Also note that there appears to have been some early migrations from the Warren Co TN area in the 1820s and later both Warren TN and Madison Co AL families are found together in Madison Co, AR, whose own county name and county seat were taken from Madison Co AL.

What appears to be a second Combs Line in early Madison Co, AL are the descendants of John & Sarah MABRY Combs (See Below), with a possible 3rd line from Madison Co, KY (See also Below)

1809 Resided in Huntsville, Madison Co, AL: John Combs (s/o John & Sarah MABRY Combs) & Jean JACKSON (d/o John & Margaret UNKNOWN Jackson), according to their grandson, Carlton Combs who wrote: "…In three weeks after their marriage (15 Jul 1807 Grainger Co TN) they packed 3 horses, mounted them and started for the wilderness part of the state and located in a cane brake on Duck River, in what is now Maury County [TN] and near where Columbia is now situated… The nearest place to them at that time, as I suppose, of the desired sort was Huntsville, [Madison Co] Alabama. Nashville [Davidson Co TN] is nearer now but I think it probably at time were there no Nashville as Knoxville [Knox Co] was then the capitol of Tenn. At any rate his went to Huntsville, leaving mother in this wilderness place with only a niece (Sarah, daughter of Uncle Phillip Combs) with her… they found a home in or near Huntsville and while there on the 17th day of June, 1809 as before stated, I first saw light. So you can see I am a native Alabamian, by accident… They left there… Before the birth of the second child who was 2 years 1 month and 24 days younger than myself and who was born on or near the premises where they built their cabin in the cane brake and near Columbia [Maury Co TN]."

Carlton Combs makes several other references to Alabama (without specifying the county), including the following in reference to the family of George Mabry and Agnes ORE Combs:

"Nelson [Combs, b 17 Jun 1799, s/o George Mabry & Agnes ORE Combs] married Sally TALBOTT, a short thick heavy woman, but of strong natural intellect and considerably cultivated. They also had 3 children. Nelson died at age of about 30 and his widow (I think) moved either to North Alabama or the Forked Deer County in Tenn…Oliver [Combs, b ca 1817, also s/o George Mabry & Agnes ORE Combs] was scarcely grown when reaching Illinois but the country proved too unhealthy for all of them and he too soon after died. Their Mother [Agnes ORE] came out with them and soon died. Their father [George Mabry Combs] died many years before in Alabama…" (See also Grainger Co TN for additional re George Mabry Combs, for whom death records have never been located)

Note: This county has not been actively researched yet and the following are only "bits and pieces" collected thus far, and very incomplete.

Feb 5 1820 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, John & MCNELLY, Polly (Extracted by Combs Researcher Susan Combs Hefner from "Early Alabama Marriages," Family Adventures, P.O. Box 290354, San Antonio, TX 78280-1754. Copyright 1991)

Notes: This appears to have been Polly McNEELY of the Barnett-Dickey-McNealy RW Family of Madison Co, KY and Madison Co, TN (See also below)

11-13-1823 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Phoebe & BEARD, Adam (Extracted by Combs Researcher Susan Combs Hefner from "Early Alabama Marriages," Family Adventures, P.O. Box 290354, San Antonio, TX 78280-1754. Copyright 1991)

3-12-1835 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Unity & MILLER, Abraham

(Extracted by Combs Researcher Susan Combs Hefner from "Early Alabama Marriages," Family Adventures, P.O. Box 290354, San Antonio, TX 78280-1754. Copyright 1991)

19 Jul 1836 The Revolutionary War pension file of David McNEELY, born 10/15/1758 Augusta Co., VA; enlisted age 18; 14th VA Regiment; applied for his pension 30 Oct 1832, Madison Co., AL [sic] where he died 7/19/36; m 1789 Madison Co KY Rebecca DICKEY, b ca 1767, d 19 Sep 1852 at the house of their daughter, Nancy McNEELY Barnett in Madison Co TN [sic].

The file includes mention of William A Combs, d 9/30/1846; and John COOMBS [sic] d 5/15/1847, age abt 57. See above 1820 marriage of John Combs to Polly McNELLY [McNEELY?] and see below the 1841 marriage of Martha A. BARNETT to William A. Combs, the latter apparently the same who died 30 Sep 1846. In 1850, William A.'s widow, Martha BARNETT Combs, aged 27, is listed (with children Mary L., John N., and Susan H.) on the Madison Co TN Census in the household of Hugh & Nancy McNEELY Barnett (her parents?) who m in 1808 in Logan Co, KY. Only one early Combs marriage (to HEATHERLY) has been found in Madison Co KY, and no early Combs by surname; however, John MILLION, brother of Sarah Ann MILLION Combs, was a resident of Madison Co, KY as was another brother, Cuthbert MILLION, whose daughter, Elizabeth, m in 1823, probably in Stafford Co, VA, a John M. Combs (See Combs &c. Bible Records). It is not yet known if he might have been the John M. Combs who follows.

2-27-1841 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Nancy & BURDINE, Newton M.

(Extracted by Combs Researcher Susan Combs Hefner from "Early Alabama Marriages," Family Adventures, P.O. Box 290354, San Antonio, TX 78280-1754. Copyright 1991)

Aug 3 1841 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, William A. & BARNETT, Martha

(ibid.)

Apr 27 1842 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. COMBVS, Thomas & GOLDEN, Carolina

(ibid.)

SW: Combs

Missing from 1850 census

5-2-1844 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Maria H. & GOOCH, William M. Capt.

(ibid.)

2-4-1845 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Martha & GOLDEN, Chadrach [Shadrach?]

(ibid.)

Missing from 1850 census

9-2-1851 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Mary M. & CHAPPELL, Robert W.

(Extracted by Combs Researcher Susan Combs Hefner from "Early Alabama Marriages," Family Adventures, P.O. Box 290354, San Antonio, TX 78280-1754. Copyright 1991)

2-8-1854 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Elizabeth & KERR, William S.

(ibid.)

2-8-1854 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Elizabeth & TEER, William S.

(ibid.)

2-13-1855 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Narcissa & TOONE, Lewis

(ibid.)

3-28-1858 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Mariana F. & BEARD, William Thomas

(ibid.)

Notes: Not found on 1850 census, but note earlier Combs-Beard marriage.

Jan 5 1859 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Newton & COLE, Lucinda Frances

(ibid.)

1859 -1860 Huntsville, Alabama City Directory
(Originally published in 1859 by Coltart & Son)

Combs, Mrs. Martha, bs Wm. S. KERR'S
Combs, Miss Sarah, bds Wm. S. KERR'S
KERR Wm. S., carp. h c M. & C. RR. and HOLMES
POLLARD Wilson, bds Wm. S. KERR'S
COLLINS John, carp, bds Wm. S. KERR'S

(Excerpted from Old Huntsville Magazine)

Notes: William S. KERR m 1854, Elizabeth, d/o Martha Combs (1850 Census)

2-7-1861 Madison Co, AL Marriage Records. Combs, Artemis & TOON, John W.

(Extracted by Combs Researcher Susan Combs Hefner from "Early Alabama Marriages," Family Adventures, P.O. Box 290354, San Antonio, TX 78280-1754. Copyright 1991)

1891-1895 Blackwell Post Office, Madison Co, AL
Combs, J. J. - Postmaster
(http://www.cntnet.com/oldhvill/p361.htm)