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 of Muhlenberg Co., KY

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Muhlenberg was organized from Christian & Logan in 1798. In 854, McLean was est. from Muhlenberg, Daviess and Ohio.
Index to Muhlenburg Co., KY Records
Early Combs &c. Records for Muhlenberg (1799- 1850) 
Later Combs &c. Records for Muhlenberg (1851-????)
Combs &c. Cemetery Records
Muhlenberg Biographies and Research Reports
(Muhlenberg KY) " John COOMBS was born January 13, 1840. He was the son of Asa COOMBS, who settled in Muhlenberg in 1848, near Rockport, Ohio County. He was a sergeant in Company H, Eleventh Kentucky Infantry (Federal) and served with that company during the greater part of the war. After its close, he took up farming until he was elected jailer, when he moved to the county seat. He filled that office from 1882 to 1890. He continued to live in Greenville about ten years longer, filling in the meantime various town offices, after which he returned to his farm, where he remained until he retired from active life, when he again took up his residence in Greenville. He married Mary J., daughter of B. T. CASEBIER, who was an influential farmer in the eastern part of the county. Their only son is Joseph Edward COOMBS, a merchant of Greenville." (A History of Muhlenberg County", by Otto Rothert, Chapter XXV)

Notes: John COOMBS was the son of Asa & Nancy WELSH (Stewart) Coombs who m in 1829 in Nelson Co., KY. Nancy WELSH was the half sister of George Winston WELSH whose biography follows.
(Boyle Co., KY) " George Winston WELSH was born in Lincoln County, Ky., September 9, 1809. His grandfather on the paternal side was James WELSH, a native of the North of Ireland, who married a representative of the prominent (Scotch) DOUGLASS family and immigrated to this country at a period somewhat antedating the Revolutionary war. He established himself in the neighborhood of Harrisburg, Penn., where he passed his days in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. He had a large family of children all of whom removed to Kentucky early in life and became identified with the pioneer growth and development of that now prosperous State. Thomas, Joseph and John located at Stanford, Lincoln County, about 1790 and engaged in mercantile pursuits. James, about the same period, settled at Lexington, whence he removed to Jefferson County, where he died; Edward passed his life at Lexington engaged in teaching; William became a tanner and resided in Barren County and Andrew engaged in farming operations in Jefferson County. Two daughters married; one into the DARBY family and the other the GUTHRIE family and also became identified with the early settlement of Kentucky. Of these sons, John was the father of the subject of this sketch; for his first wife he married Sarah, daughter of William WITHERS, who ended his days near the mouth of the Salt River. Of this union were born two daughters; Sarah, who married John MERRIFIELD of Bloomfield [Nelson Co] Ky., and Nancy, who became the wife, first of William STEWART of Bedford, Penn., and secondly of Asa Combs of Nelson County, Ky. For his second wife John WELSH espoused PAMELIA, daughter of George LEE, of Lincoln County, Ky., and a member of one of the pioneer families of that section. It is related of this lady that she used to take her turn standing guard in the blockhouse that formed the citadel of safety against Indian attacks in her younger days. The result of this marriage was five children, of whom four attained years of maturity, viz: Joseph, who died in Georgia; Elizabeth, widow of James NICHOLS and mother of Joseph W. NICHOLS, cashier of the Farmers and Drovers Bank of Louisville; George WINSTON; and John WELSH, who has been dead for many years. The father of this family, having pursued the occupation of a merchant and latterly a farmer in Lincoln County, finally removed to Hardin County, where he died in 1823 at the age of fifty-four, surviving his wife ten years. The opening years of the life of GEORGE WINSTON WELSH were passed in Lincoln County and upon the removal of his parents to Hardin County he accompanied them. His opportunities for obtaining an education in that undeveloped country were at that time very limited, his entire book training having been received within the short period of eighteen months. After the death of his father, in 1823, he returned to Lincoln County and soon after engaged in the business of a cabinet-maker, a vocation which he abandoned soon after and opened a general store in that county. In the spring of 1832 he went on horseback to Palmyra [Marion Co], Mo., where he engaged in trade for a time, passing the winter of that year in Tallahassee [Leon Co], Fla., whither he also went on horseback. Soon after he began farming in Illinois where he remained until 1836, when, being unable to outgrow the attachments and memories of his native county, he returned and opened a store at Hustonville [Lincoln Co], Ky. There he remained in trade until February, 1852, when he transferred his enterprises to Danville [Boyle Co], Ky., where he has continued in active business since. MR. WELSH has now attained the ripe age of seventy-eight years but is still in possession of all his faculties. For a period of fifty years past no citizen in this locality has been so closely identified with the moral, religious, commercial and material growth of this section nor more uniformly enjoyed the respect and confidence of his friends and associates. Politically he was originally a Henry CLAY Whig, and has remained faithful to the traditions and principles of that party and of its natural successor, the Republican party, throughout a long life. During the trying period of the civil war, which was so closely associated with his section and State, he remained true to the Union cause and murmured not, though the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation deprived him of much of what he had been taught to believe was his rightful property. He never aspired to public position and has uniformly declined many flattering offers of preferment in that direction. With the business life of Danville no man has been more intimately identified for forty years and many of the worthy institutions and business enterprises of that place were either conceived and founded by him or received from him the most liberal encouragement and support. He was the chief organizer of the First National Bank of Danville in 1865 and president of that institution for fifteen years. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers National Bank of Danville in 1879 and is at present holding the office of vice-president. For a quarter of a century he has been a member of the board of directors of Centre College, Danville, and of the Theological Seminary, and is the president of the board of directors of the female college in that place, of which he was one of the founders in 1859 and of which he has been a liberal patron since. It was largely through his energy and activity that the right of way was obtained for the Cincinnati Southern Railroad through to Danville, which has done so much for the social and material development of that town, and it is not too much to say that Mr. WELSH has always lent liberal encouragement to all movements of a progressive and elevating character in his locality and in a generous and unostentatious way assisted them all. Now, in the evening of his life, it is deemed but fitting and right that some permanent record should be made of his life-work and character on behalf of his family and numerous friends. Mr. WELSH was married in November, 1834, to Mary, daughter of Capt. James BREATH, of Madison County, Ill., formerly of New York. The golden wedding of the couple was fitly celebrated in 1884 and they are still in the enjoyment of a happy married life. Of the eleven children born to them, seven reached mature years: Elizabeth, wife of Camillus W. METCALF, of Atlanta, GA.; Adeline, wife of G. E. WISEMAN of Danville, KY.; George W., JR., for ten years a merchant in Danville and now cashier of the Farmers National Bank of that place; John Edward, engaged in mining in Colorado; Mary Louise (deceased), who became the wife of John GREENWAY of Lexington, [Fayette Co] Ky.; James B., engaged in mercantile life at Kansas City, Mo., and William L. WELSH who is in trade at Danville, Ky." (Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 4th edition, 1887)

Notes: Sarah WITHERS was the daughter of William and Hannah ROSSER Withers of Stafford and Fauquier Cos, VA. John and Sarah WITHERS Welsh m 29 Aug 1796, Lincoln Co., KY. Asa COOMBS and Nancy WELSH (Stewart) m 4 Nov, 1829 in Nelson Co., KY and may have resided in Hardin Co., KY before removing to Muhlenberg. Asa was the son of Edward & Rebecca (WINK?) Coombs of Bedford Co, PA and Nelson Co., KY (See also the biography above of John COOMBS, son of Asa and Nancy, and the Christian Co., KY biography of George B. COOMBS, son of Edward Wink and Mildred MASON Coombs of Nelson and Christian Cos, KY)
The Biography of George B. COOMBS (son of Edward Wink & Mildred MASON Coombs) has been moved to Combs &c. Families of Christian Co., KY.
(Muhlenberg Co., KY) GEORGEGORDON, Muhlenburgh [sic] County, was born December 1, 1831, in Stockport, England. He is the first of nine children (four sisters and one brother living in England) born to Joshua and Hester (Combs) Gordon, of Stockport [Cheshire], England. Joshua was the son of John GORDON. They were all weavers from grandfather. George GORDON sailed from England, August 23, 1856; landed in New York, October 2; went immediately to Fall River, [Bristol Co] Mass., where he took charge of forty-eight looms. In April, 1857, he moved to Perry County, Ind., and took charge of seventy-five looms at Cannelton; there he remained most of the time for nine years. January 11, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, Fifty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, commanded by W.O. Gresham; was discharged in December, 1862, at St. Louis, on account of disability, caused by a fall; was at Shiloh, seige of Corinth; at the seige of Memphis, and the battle of Davis Bridge on Latache River, Tennessee. He was discharged as sergeant. He returned to Cannelton where he resided until April, 1865, when he went to Gallatin, [Sumner Co] Tenn., where he worked until July of the same year. In 1863 [sic] he was compelled to leave Owensboro, because of his being a Yankee. On leaving Gallatin, he with his family proceeded to Cincinnati, where he worked for Gould, Pierce & Co., till January; then took charge of the building of Looms for Brommull. In April, 1868, he moved to Milan, Ind., and took charge of woolen-mills. In November of the same year he moved to Owensborough [sic], where he was general superintendent of the woolen-mills until 1870, when he went to Cannelton, Ind., for five months; thence to Casaville, where he ran a factory one winter; thence to Owensborough, where he took one-fourth interest in the mills for a short time. He then engaged in the saloon business for four years and a half. In April, 1876, he moved to where he now resides in Central City, Ky.; purchased Central City park grounds and engaged in the hotel and saloon business. In June, 1881, he made a trip to England and returned in the following November. Mr. GORDON has lived a very eventful life. During the war he was on several occasions employed as a spy; he boarded the tug Pink Barble and ascended the Cumberland as far as Nashville, Tenn. On the return trip the tug was taken by the Confederates at Dover, and the men blindfolded and transferred to Tennessee River. Mr. GORDON was married July 31, 1857, to Agnes GIBSON, of Cannelton, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and a daughter of Daniel and Margaret (DUNCAN) Gibson, natives of Cannelton and Lenox, Scotland, respectively. To this union were born six chidren, two living: Lucinda (FITZGIBBONS) and George E. Mr. and Mrs. GORDON are church members, he of the Episcopal and she of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. GORDON was formerly a member of the I.O.O.F. (Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 2nd ed., 1885, Muhlenberg Co.)
Biography of George Washington Combs (Extracted from "Memoirs of the Lower Ohio Valley" (1905)) "George Washington Combs, M.D., the oldest physician of Ridgway [Gallatin Co], Ill., was born about a mile and a half south of that place on Feb. 23, 1838. His grandfather, Andrew Combs, was born in Penn., of German parentage, married in his native state, and at a very early date removed with his family and two brothers to Kentucky. His children were Jesse, Thomas, Priscilla, David and Jonathan. Jesse was a soldier in the War of 1812 and fought at the Battle of New Orleans. Both parents died while the children were still young. Jonathan, the youngest of the family, was born in Muhlenberg Co., Kentucky, Feb. 22, 1806. In 1826 he want to Mt. Vernon [Posey Co], Ind., then to Gallatin Co., Ill. He died in 1871. He married Isavilla DOLAN, the daughter of Patrick, a native of Ireland, and she was born in either Virginia or Tennessee. Jonathan and Isavilla had eleven children: Milton, Mary Jane, William, George W., Trenton, Martha, John, Thomas W., Calista E., Alice and Samuel. William lives at Dexter [Stoddard Co], Mo.; Dr. Combs at Ridgway; Thomas and Samuel also live at Ridgway; and Calista, now Mrs. F. DRONE, lives near Ridgway; Alice is a Mrs. MOORE, of California; and the others are deceased. Dr. Combs is a Republican and member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (elder). On April 28, 1868, he married Miss Hannah, the daughter of John F. and Eliza (GLASS) Hemphill of Pope Co., Ill., and the following are the children born to this union: John M., Mary Jane, Milton H., Fuller, Eliza, Agnes, Anna, Samuel, Ella, and George. Fuller is a teacher at Helena [Lewis & Clark Co], Mont.; Agnes a Mrs. CAMPBELL of Toledo [Cumberland Co], Ill.; Anna a Mrs. GAHM of Thompsonville [Franklin Co], Ill.; Samuel lives in Gallatin Co.; Ella and George are at home; the others are deceased."

There are errors in this biography, the primary error being that George Washington Combs' grandfather was Thomas Combs, not Andrew Combs. It appears that George W. may have confused generations in that: Thomas Combs, b bef 1771, resided by 1791 in Nelson Co., KY (tax lists) where he m 25 Dec 1793, Sarah ANDERSON, daughter of Unknown and Arabella UNKNOWN Anderson (Ash) (Sturgeon). By 1796 Thomas had removed from Nelson Co., KY and is first found on Muhlenberg Co., KYb tax lists in 1799. By 1807, he was deceased when his widow, Sarah, appears in his place on that county's tax lists. On 23 Apr 1809 in Muhlenberg Co., KY, Thomas' widow, Sarah ANDERSON, married (2) James WALKER. On 10 Dec 1810, Muhlenberg Co., KY court minutes appointed Sarah WALKER guardian of "Andrew Combs, Susannah Combs, John Combs, Thomas Combs. David Combs, Precilla Combs, and Jonathan Combs, orphans of Thomas Combs, deceased." [Andrew a.k.a. Anderson]. George W. (a) makes no mention of the three eldest children, Anderson, Susannah and John ; and (b) adds Jesse. Thomas Combs is thought to have been the brother of David Combs, d 1801, Nelson Co., KY, who may have been father of Jesse Combs who removed from Muhleberg to Posey Co IN bet. 1825 and 1830. An Andrew Combs is found in Nelson Co., KY from 1791-1800; however, he disappears after 1800 and has not been traced, although possibly the Andrew of either Shelbyor Woodford Counties, KY in 1810?