Combs &c. Families  of Perry Co., KY 1940-1949

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Dear Ellen,

Just received your card announcing the arrival of the baby (Karen), and I sure was glad that you were through the suspence of waiting. Your other letter came some time ago, but it seems that I never get anything done right anymore. I should have written sooner. I am working at the Hotel Laurel so you and Milton needent send money home. You will need a lot to keep things going now that you have a family. I wasn't surprised that the baby was a girl. Most of my father's family were girls. He raised eight girls and only two boys.

Grandpa Ward raised six boys and they were THADIUS STEVEN WARD, WALTER SCOTT WARD, JAMES AUGUSTUS WARD, WILLIAM ANDREW WARD, SAMUEL MILTON WARD, and JOHN DOWNING WARD who was my husband. Sam was the youngest boy. His father came from North Carolina. They were an English family and were from the british Isles. He was an officer on the Union side during the Civil War, and was with General Sherman when he was marching through Georgia. He came to Kentucky when Kentucky was part of Virginia, and married. His Grandfather Ward was a general in the Revolutionary War. His name was ISSAC JEFFERSON WARD.

Grandma Ward was from the British Isles also. She was Scotch Irish, mostly Irish. She was borned in Salyersville, McGoffin County, Ky.,or the eastern part of Ky. when Ky. was part of Virginia. She was married to Grandpa Ward at Salyersville and they moved to Hazard after their six boys were born. Two of their boys were school teachers and helped their father, who was a builder and contractor, two of the boys were surveyors and did office work. They also taught school some. WILL WARD was county surveyor of Perry County for several years. Two of the boys were attorneys. My husband held several offices, and SAM WARD was Judge of Perry County and afterward was Circuit Judge of the district. Grandma Ward's name was ARMINTA PRATHER. She was a grandaughter of JUDGE AUXIER from Salyersville.

All of my people were F.F.A.s. I mean the First Family of Virginia. They all came to Ky. when the eastern part of Ky. was a part of Virginia. My Great-Great Grandfather Combs was a surveyor for the Old Virginia Land Co. He settled at Hazard, but surveyed grants of land for each one of his eleven sons. My Great-Grandfather JESSE COMBS was one of the eleven. I do not know the names of any of the rest. His father made his camp on Broadway Hill where my mother is burried in our old cemetery at Hazard, and killed a deer from the door of his tent the next morning. My own Great-Grandfather Jesse Combs settled at Hazard and lived there until he died. He gave the Court Square and all of the Church lots to the town, and made the first plot of the town of Hazard. It is still a mining town to us, but has about 8,000 population. He had three sons, JOHN, JESSE, and JOSIAH Combs who was my Grandfather who's mother was POLLY BOLEYN (BOLIN) from the British Isles. All of my people on both sides came to Virginia from Edinburg Scotland. They were Scotch Irish and spoke English with a Burr or Brogue. We have been for four generations at Hazard. My uncles both died, and all of the property came to my own Grandfather JOSIAH HARRISON COMBS. He was the first Judge of Perry County Ky., and his father Jesse Combs was the first Clerk of the county. My mother was working for her Grandfather Jesse Combs in the Clerk's Office when my father IRA JESSE DAVIDSON was elected Clerk. He was the second Clerk of the county and held both offices, County and Circuit Clerk. My mother and father lived in the Court House and did the work in both offices.

My mother and father had three girls. My sister ANNIE ELIZA DAVIDSON was about six years old when I was born. My youngest sister was burried in her arms (M.B.note, Malta means buried in her mother's arms). My mother was MARTHA ALEEN COMBS, a daughter of Josiah Combs and his wife Polly Ann Mattingly. Her father was from France and her mother was ALCIE BOLEYN from England. Alcie Boleyn was a sister to my other Great-Grandmother POLLY BOLIN. They have also been in Ky. since my Great-Grandmother was a girl. Both of my Grandparents died at Hazard. My Grandfather was killed and my Grandmother was shot. She lived several years and died suddenly.

Grandfather Josiah was Judge of Perry County and later a Represenitive from the old Eleventh Congressional District at Barboursville. He moved there a while before they killed him.

My father married again after my mother died, and I have several half sisters and two brothers. Most of our family are in Ohio. JESSIE still lives at the old place, and ALLIE is somewhere in the West. I scarcely ever hear from any of the family, but I guess it is my fault because I am always (M.B. note...Malta stops here in midsentence, then picks back up in December). Dec. Too tired to write. I will start my letter where I left off in Sept. You see, I never like to think about my people. They were fine people but they were all murdered. Shot from ambush. I even woke up and found a high powered Winchester against my own side when I was ten years old, just before my Grandfather was killed.

My Great-Grandfather DAVIDSON and his wife CYNTHIA CHADWELL lived near Jonesboro, Virginia. His name was JOSEPH too. My own Grandfather JOSEPH DAVIDSON was a musician. He married ALCIE COMBS after he came to Hazard. My father Ira Jesse Davidson was the only son. They had several daughters. MILTON's GRANDFATHER WARD's mother was a ROARKE. You spoke about the baby's eyes being dark blue. All of Milton's people on his father's side had black or brown eyes, and all of my Ward children did. I had grey or blue-grey changing to a dark blue, steel color when I am sick or worried. Louise has Irish blue eyes like my mother. Leroy has eyes like me. So blue that they look black sometimes. I know that my Father thought my eyes would be weak for a long time. Ever time anyone spoke about the strange color of my eyes, he would say "Malta has eyes in the back of her head", meaning that I could see everything in the house at once. I will be 60 years old in Feb. and I can still thread my needles without glasses.

Well, this is all about my people for the present except that when I was about two years old, a man came to Hazard who called himself FULTON FRENCH. He claimed to be a very poor man, but was never too poor to pay four men five hundred dollars each to kill any member of our family he could get out of the way. He never seemed to gain anything by having them killed. A man by the name of NEWBERRY scared him to death, and he died at Winchester, Ky. He only left one son, MARION FRENCH, or whatever his name, and one daughter. He was a very wealthy man when he died.

I have been sick since Oct. and I hope you will not think hard of me for not writing sooner. I will write you and Milton soon and tell you all of the family news. I will try to send the children something for Christmas. We had a little bit of snow on the last Thursday in Nov. It is raining here now, and looks like we are going to have a cold spell. I have been trying for a month to find someplace to pack the things I have canned. There are still cabbage, beets, carrots, turnips, and all kind of greens in the garden, but they will freeze now. I haven't any place to store them. Love to all of the family, and write.

From your loving mother,

M.B. Note: This is the third letter I have by Malta. According to her grandson, John Ward, she had inherited quite a bit of land in Hazard and Perry County from her Grandfather Josiah, but lost it all as a result of 3 marriages. I don't know anything about her 2nd and 3rd marriages, except one was a DISNEY. Her first husband died relatively young leaving her a widow with small children. She worked at the Hotel Laurel as a cook, and she lived her whole life in and around London, Ky. and died some time in the 1960s. Also, I have not researched Malta's marriages or children, so I know very little about them. It is apparent that she did not have an easy life, was never able to overcome the terrors of the feud, and I am very grateful that she left us this informative history. This letter was written to her daughter-in-law, Ellen, in response to questions about the family history. Ellen was md. to Milton Ward, a son by her first marriage. I've left all original spelling/punctuation.