Combs &c. Counties in Washington State

When Congress established the Oregon Territory in 1848, it included all of the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and parts of Wyoming and Montana. On March 2, 1853, President Millard Fillmore signed legislation creating the Territory of Washington from Oregon extending it east of the Columbia River to the crest of the Rockies, including parts of present-day Idaho and Montana. Idaho included territory that later became Montana and was separated from Washington in 1862. Washington was admitted to the Union in 1889.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the present state of Washington on October 10, 1805. They reached the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers on October 16, 1805, and reach the Pacific Ocean on November 7, 1805. Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Joint Occupation of Oregon on October 20, 1818, and Spain ceded its original Pacific Northwest claims to the United States in the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819. The Hudson’s Bay Company established Fort Vancouver on March 19, 1825 and established Fort Nisqually, the first non-Indian settlement, on Puget Sound, in April 1833. American settlers in Oregon declared a provisional government on May 2, 1843, and the Provisional government of the Oregon Territory created Clark County, covering all of present-day Washington, on August 20, 1845. Congress created the Territory of Oregon on August 14, 1848 (Source of timeline: "The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History", HistoryLink.org).

Early Combs/Coombs Settlers

See King Co, WA for information on early (1859) Puget Sound area settlers Samuel F and Rachel BOYD Coombs.

Also see the Washington State Digital Archives for additional Combs &c. Records that may not have been included on these pages.