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Combs &c. Families
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Email From Sam Whitby, Cumbo/Cumbia family researcher [21 Mar 2002]
Dear Combs Family Webmaster,
This morning at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, VA, I checked the Halifax County Virginia Marriage Bond and Register, No. 1, 1753-1889, on microfilm. On p. 55 there was a record of the marriage of Thomas Comba [that spelling] to Agness Wetherford [that spelling], January 12, 1804. Henry J. Cobb was bondsman. The witness name was illegible, but it looked like Charles Cumby.
I had seen the document before, and I checked it again this morning, just to be sure before writing to you. It seemed that you might find this interesting, because you mentioned the marriage on your Combs family genealogy page. It is interesting to me because I am a descendent of Thomas Cumby and his wife Agness [also spelled Agnes]. Thomas's surname has been spelled several ways, including Cumba, Cumboa, Comboa, and Cumbey. Later, it was usually Cumby. I have seen it spelled Combs or Cumbs only in transcriptions that were - to be kind- in error. The variant spellings were due to the fact that Thomas could not read or write, and his name was spelled the way it sounded to various officials who needed to record it.
Thomas and Agness had three children whose names are known to me: Major Weatherford Cumbia, George A. Cumby/later Cumbia, and Catharine Cumby Pritchard. There were at least three more male sons who I have not been able to identify. George Cumby was my great grandfather's father. By the time my grandfather arrived on the scene, the surname of his branch was spelled Cumbia.
I will admit to you that I doubt that there is much if any family connection between the Combs and Cumby lines. Your page was still interesting, and you have obviously done a lot of careful work. You are generous and kind to share the information on the Internet. I hope to check your page from time to time, and I expect it to remain interesting and to perhaps be useful to Cumby family researchers. Maybe the above notes on Thomas and Agness will be helpful to you.
Agness's father, by the way, was Rev. John Weatherford, one of the first Baptist preachers in America. Rev. Weatherford was thrown in the Chesterfield jail for preaching without a license. Patrick Henry represented him, in what was an early religious freedom case.The story is that the Rev. almost drove his jailors crazy with his loud and incessant preaching. The jailors beat him on the hands as he held himself up to the jailhouse window by the bars, leaving scars that remained for the rest of his life.
Sincerely, Sam Whitby