John Combs is my most distant proven ancestor in the Combs line.  His daughter Luremia, married Moses Estes about 1762 in Amelia County, VA.

According to John Combs’ deposition given in 1745, he was about 40 years old, so he was born about 1705, probably in Virginia, but we don’t know for sure.  If he was born in Virginia, his father likely did not own property, because there is no Combs, or anything similar, on the list of 1704 Virginia Tax Rent Rolls of land owners.

Furthermore, I believe John had a brother, one George Combs, who was also born about that same time according to a different lawsuit.  Bless those chancery suits.

Most of what we know about John Combs came in bits and pieces and fits and starts and I’ve had to piece it together like a big jigsaw puzzle with no picture and a few strategic pieces missing.

It has been speculated that our John Combs, was the son of another John Combs, of Richmond, who was born about 1662, probably in Old Rappahannock County, VA and died in 1716/1717 in Richmond Co., VA., appointing John Anderson the executor of his will.  John Anderson is later found as a near neighbor to our John Combs in Prince George, then Amelia, County, VA.

However, John Combes of Richmond who died in 1716 does not mention a son John, nor a son George in his will.  It’s not terribly unusual for the eldest son to be omitted from a will, especially if he already has the family land, but for two sons to be omitted?

The 1715 Essex County, VA Rent Rolls include both Edmund Booker and John Combs of Richmond.  Mason Combs was the son of John of Richmond.  He, along with Edmond and Richard Booker later removed to Amelia County where they are found adjacent to land of our John Combs.  Even if our John is not the son of John of Richmond, he may well be related.  John of Richmond is the son of Archdale Combs, who also had a son, William and also possibly sons Charles, Abraham and Phillip.  Bottom line…we don’t know who our John’s father is.

John Combs in Amelia County

The first actual record we find of our John Combs is a land patent in 1732 on Flatt Creek in the part of Prince George County that would become Amelia in 1734.

Land Grant – John Combs, 400 acres (N.L) Prince George Co. on low side of Flatt Creek adjacent Edward Booker and Farguson’s lines, page 486, 40 shillings.  Sept. 28, 1732

We find John, for the rest of his life associated continuously with the Booker, Farguson, Elam, Cobbs, Jefferson and Anderson families and sure enough, his early neighbors on his Flatt Creek land were:

• Edward Booker (1727 and 1732 grants)
• John Anderson (1728 grant)
• Benjamin Ward (1728 grant)
• Samuel Cobbs (1732 grant)
• John Farguson (1732 grant)
• John Elam (1735 grant)
• Field Jefferson (1733 grant)

This is the original home of Col. Edward Booker, now restored and functioning as a bed and breakfast, located at 11441 Grub Hill Church Road in Amelia County, photo compliments of Google Maps street view.

Field Jefferson, the Uncle of President Thomas Jefferson, owned land between Flatt Creek and Knibbs (Nibbs) Creek adjoining Col. Samuel Cobbs.

Finding the Booker land was a great help in locating the area where John Combs lived.  On the map below, the red balloon is the Edward Booker home.  To the far right, you can see where Flatt and Nibbs Creeks intersect.  Flatt Creek is the creek at the top, and Nibbs the one on either side of the Booker’s house.

Highway 630, shown both above and below, running between the creeks, is Eggleston Road.  We know that the Eggleston land and the Booker land both abutted John Combs land, so John’s land was very likely in-between Eggleston Road and Booker’s plantation.

Here’s a satellite image of the area.  You can clearly see the cleared areas where farming would have occurred.

Joseph Eggleston built the plantation, “Eggleston,” shown below,  on the upper side of Knibbs Creek about 1750.  It’s very likely that John Combs stood in this very building.  He may even have helped his neighbor to build it.  Eggleston still exists today and is on the National Register of Historic places and Virginia Historic Landmarks.

The location of “Egglestetton” is shown in the application for the National Register of Historic Places, below.

You can see the Eggleston plantation today, at 16530 Eggleston Road, in perspective to the Booker plantation, below.  My guess would be that Combs land was the land directly between the two, or to the right, touching both.  The Eggleston plantation sits on only 16 acres today, so you can extrapolate the sizes of the original land grants based on the size of that plot.

So, John lived someplace in this area, likely here.  Four hundred acres would be approximately the amount of land shown below between the bottom of the picture and the three roads.

In the 1742 court notes, we find the following entry:

1742, April 16 – Robert Forguson appointed surveyor from Combs bridge over Flatt Creek into the courthouse, John, Robert and William Forguson, John Combs and Richard Boram to do the same.

Looking at the Amelia County map, there are only two roads in this area with bridges across Flatt Creek that would allow George’s land to be located between Flatt and Nibbs Creeks, adjacent to Eggleston’s and also to Booker.  On the map below, the Eggleston plantation is marked as well as the church Cemetery.

Either the bridge over N Lodore Road or Grub Hill Church Road has to be the Combs bridge.  The N Lodore Road bridge does not go into Amelia Courthouse, but the Grub Hill Church Road does.  This is the only candidate to be John Combs road and bridge.

At court, in January 1747, John Booker requests that the road near his house on way to Richard Booker’s mill be stopped and the old road near John Comb’s be kept open and he agrees to build a bridge over the run near Comb’s house and keep it in repair.

In 1751, the court ordered Samuel Cobbs, Gent, the surveryor of the road which leads from the church to Ferguson’s bridge and his tithes to work on the same together with the tithes at Anderson’s quarter, Robert Ferguson’s Sr’s tithes, William Southal’s tithes, James Ferguson’s tithes and William Ferguson’s tithes…in order to make a causeway on the upper side of said bridge.  Given the map below, I wonder if the Grub Hill Church Road bridges over Flatt Creek was John Combs and the Lodore Road bridge was the Farguson’s.

If the Grub Hill Church Road (609) bridge is John Comb’s bridge, then the land between the church and that bridge must have been John’s too.  Here’s a satellite view of this land between the intersection of N. Lodore Road (636) and John’s bridge on Flatt Creek.

Through the magic of Google Maps street view, we can “drive down” that road today and take a look, just the way John Combs would have done.  This is Grub Hill Church Road moving northeast towards  Flatt Creek.  You can see that this would be very desirable farmland, very nearly flat.

In the distance you can see the tree line where Flatt Creek runs.

Here is John Combs bridge today.  I was extremely lucky to be able to use the road orders plus the remaining historical buildings and the church to piece together enough information to determine where John Combs land was located.  Now, of course, I want to visit.

In 1766, John’s son George Combs and his wife Phebe sell the 50 acres on the lower side of Flatt Creek to William Eggleston, saying it joins Joseph Eggeleston and William Eggleston’s lines, the land formerly belonging to John Booker.  He mentions it is also bounded by John Ferguson, which may turn out to be a really important clue.

John Combs’ Life and Times

Given that John Combs was born about 1705, he was likely married about 1730, just about the time he obtained the land grant.  His wife and the mother of his children, whose name is unknown, is very likely among the families that lived close by, but which family?

For a very long time I believed that she was a Booker, but I have tracked each of the Booker children and there is no unaccounted for child that is a candidate.  Of course, there is always the possibility of missing children, but that is less likely with wealthier families than poor ones.  More to lose.

John Combs is found serving jury duty in Amelia County beginning in 1736, a typical task for landowners.

In 1737, a George March/Marsh Combs appears in Amelia County records.  In 1737, one George Combs was tithed by John Combs, which means he was over the age of 16.  Is this John’s brother, George Combs, or is this someone else? March/Marsh may well be a clue to someone’s maiden name.

In 1755 a chancery suit tells us what George Combs, believed to be John’s brother, was doing in 1740.  We know that Field Jefferson was a near neighbor of John Combs.  This also provides insight into life in Amelia County in 1740.

Amelia Co. Chancery 1755-005 – Combs vs Jefferson (LVA roll 232-492)

January in the year of MCDCCXL (1740) in agreement was made and entered into by and between Field Jefferson whom your orator George Combs has made defendants to this bill and your orator, touching your orator’s becoming an overseer for the said Field Jefferson.  In which agreement it was properly stipulated by…for in consideration of a share of corn and tobacco should forthwith…ownership of the said defendants plantation in the county together with 5 working slaves thereon belonging to the said defendant in order to raise a crop of corn and tobacco.  By virtue of which…and agreement your entered on the said plantation as an overseer accordingly…during the space of two years and about ten months.  That your orator raised considerable crops of corn and tobacco with the said 5 slaves on said plantation for the first 2 years for which the defendant duly accounted and that in the third year he had raised and housed among other things a very large crop of tobacco which he had mostly in bulk and shipped of near a hogshead of the same under mike? And which he fully intended to finish or compleat according to the tenor of the said agreement that about 6 weeks before Christmas in the said third year, the said defendant without any application of previous notice to your orator sent for and ordered his said 5 slaves off the said plantation from under the care of your orator his said crop of tobacco being then in the above condition and unfinished and sent a tenant (one Benjamin Hawkins) to live upon and take possession of the said plantation which the said Hawkins accordingly did and there up your orator being deprived of the assistance of the said 5 slaves and ousted of the said plantation by the said defendant was forced to leave his said crop of tobacco upon the said plantation unfinished.  That your orator however well hoped and believed that the defendant would finish and take a just estimate and amount of his said crop of tobacco and duly pay and satisfy unto your orator his jut share and proportion of the same when he should be thereunto required.  But now so it is may please your worships that the said def and although often in a friendly manner thereto requested by your orator doth altogether refuse to account with your orator ? his shares of the said crop or in any manner satisfying him for the same.  All which actions and doing of the said def are contrary to the natural equity and good conscience and tend to the manifestation injury apprehension? and impoverishment of your orator. In tender consideration whereof and for that your orator is without remedy and in the premises? Of the strict rules of law he having no proof of the quantity of his said crop of tobacco and his evidence to the said agreement being either dead or beyond the seas and in part remote or unknown by the orator and for as much as he can only…as the defendant to set forth upon his oath and declare whether the agreement aforementioned was not entered into by and between himself and the said orator and whether he did not take the said five slaves and at what time from your orator as above set forth, his said crop being unfinished and whether he did not at the same time put a tenant, the said Hawkins, in possession of the said plantation and thereby oust your orator of his employment on the same.  What was the quantity of the tobacco your orator had made ? and left behind him on said plantation?  Whether your orator hath not often in a friendly manner requested the said def to settle with him for his share of the crop and whether he hath ever made him any just satisfaction for rendering him ? and that the def may fully and particularly answer all of the matters.

A note further down on the paper says “ and this complainant doth ? that his share of the aforesaid crop of tobacco for the year aforesaid amounts to 1/6th part to 7000 pounds of tobacco which this defendant prays may be ? to him.”

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For not appearing to answer the bill of complaint of George Combs exhibited against him by the rule of court.

Ordered Field Jefferson on the 4th Thursday of December next

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Feb Court 1755 George Combs vs Field Jefferson Plaintiff – The court this day heard and finds against the said def Field Jefferson to pay to the said George Combs 1176 pounds of tobacco being one sixth part of the tobacco mentioned in the bill.

John Combs’ daughter, Luremia was born about 1740 or 1742, given that she was married to Moses Estes about 1762, their oldest child George being born in February 1763.  I’ve always wondered why this child was named George and not John.  If they did have a John Estes, he died, although their grandson through George would be John R. Estes.  George Estes never knew his grandfather, John Combs, because John died the year before George was born.  I wonder if John Combs ever knew any of his grandchildren.

In 1745, John Combs gives a deposition in another chancery suit, Blake vs Tabb, wherein John states that he is about 40 years old, that he “assisted Frederick Blake away with his food? whom he removed from Capt. Tabbs plantation whereon he was overseer in cold weather and it snowed that night and snow was on the ground next morning. John “+” Combs (his mark) Sept 19th 1745.”

Based on the rest of the case, Blake was the overseer, not John Combs. The punctuation or lack thereof in these old cases is sometimes distressing.  We also now know that John Combs is not literate and cannot sign his name.  This does not suggest a wealthy or “gentlemanly” upbringing.

In November, 1747, John is appointed surveyor of the road where he lives in place of Edward Booker, Jr.  At that same court session, George Combs sues Robert Ferguson, Jr.

John continues to be in the court records on juries and such until 1750.

In 1749, John tithed 6 people, which could have been a combination of both white and black people.  We know that John owned slaves at this time, because in November, 1749, York, a negro boy belonging to John Combs was judged to be age 9 at court.

We originally believed that all of John’s children were born before November of 1750 when he married a second time to Frances Elam, who may have been a widow herself.   However, now there is doubt.  Don’t you just love genealogy, disproving what you think you knew!

September 11, 1750 (Amelia Marriages C:1) John Combs and Frances Elam. Sur. John Booker. Witness to bond, Samuel Cobbs and William May Cock.

In 1751 John Combs purchased another 50 acres on Flatt Creek from John Booker that was adjacent his own land.

In 1751 and 1752, John is listed in the estate account of Frederick Blake and appraised the estate of Michael Nowland, along with attending the estate sale.

In 1752 John Combs’ negro girl Sue is adjudged to be 12 years old. (AC-COB3:72)

This suggests that Sue may not have been born to John as an owner, because if she were, he would not have had to have the court judge her age unless it was simply to confirm what he said.  Slave’s ages were judged at court in order for them to be tithed, or taxed, when they reached a certain age.

In seventeenth and eighteenth-century Virginia, the term “tithable” referred to a person who paid (or for whom someone else paid) one of the taxes imposed by the General Assembly for the support of civil government in the colony. In colonial Virginia, a poll tax or capitation tax was assessed on free white males, African American and Native American slaves (both male and female), all age sixteen or older. Owners and masters paid the taxes levied on their slaves and servants, including indentured servants.  In 1680, the age that “negro children” were tithable was dropped to 12, “Christian servants” were taxed at age 14 and Indian women the same as negro women brought into the state of Virginia.  White women weren’t tithable, but women of color, both black and Indian, enslaved, bonded or free, were.

John Combes continues to be in the court record through 1754 when he purchased 303 acres in Lunenburg County from James Mathews of Lunenburg.  Although the deed does not identify this land, later processioning records do.  You can read more about this land in the article about Luremia Combs.

In 1754, George Combs was summoned at a witness for Field Jefferson against Benjamin Hawkins, 4 days attendance at court, coming and returning 28 miles.  This is very likely a chancery suit covered in this article and George is probably coming from Charlotte County.  The Fargusons are also summoned for this same case, also as witnesses for Field Jefferson.

In September 1754, the court orders John Combs to appraise the estate of Lucy Clark who is the sister of Edward Booker.  Generally there were three appraisers, someone from the wife’s family, someone representing the largest debtor and someone unrelated and disinterested.

In 1755, George Wainwright brings suit against John Combs for debt, and wins.

On February 26, 1756 the court ordered that John Combs clear the Road from Flatt Creek to the courthouse and that the male laboring tithables of Colonel Harrison be added to those already under his direction. (AC-COB4:32)

Four months later, on June 24, 1756 in the court record we find a presentment of the Grand Jury against John Combs for not keeping the road whereof he is surveyor in repair. (AC-COB4:73)

Given that John bought land in Lunenburg in 1754, but continues to appear in the Amelia County records in 1755 and 1756, he may well have not actually moved.  I find it hard to believe the court would order someone who didn’t live there to clear the road.

In 1758, during the French and Indian War, the House of Burgesses passed an act for the defense of the frontier.  A list of men from Amelia County in included, but John Combs is not among them.  At age 53, he may have been considered too old.

In 1762, John Combs died at about age 57 – clearly not an old man, and apparently with some children still at home.  He died intestate, without a will, so his death was likely unexpected.

28 May 1762. Inventory and Account of estate of John Combs. Administratrix: Frances (X) Combs. Returned & recorded May 27, 1762. Witnesses: Wm. Eggleston, John Booker, Edward Booker. Value: 259/5/1-1/2. Slaves: Negro boy Ned and Negro man Harry. (Will Book 2X:18 Amelia County, Virginia. Gibson Jefferson McConnaughey)

• 15 pigs
• Four basins
• Four dishes
• 11 plates
• 15 spoons
• 1 skimer
• 10 forks and six knives
• 3 trays
• 4 bottles
• 1 butter pot
• 1 iron
• 2 slays
• Loom and harness
• 2 sack bags
• 4 pails
• 4 reep hooks
• Iron pots and hooks
• 1 flesh fork and skimmer
• 1 mans saddle
• 3 wheels
• 3 washing tubs
• 1 grindstone
• 39 pieces of bacon
• 7 joles of bacon
• Some soap and barrel
• 1 barrel
• 1 ? pot
• 10 pounds fat
• 3 old sifters
• 1 gum 1 box
• Part of sides of leather
• 2 sides, bed cord
• 1 old blanket
• Cart and wheels
• 1 gun
• Parcel of old iron
• 2 drawing knives
• 3 augers
• 2 adz
• 1 iron
• 1 hammer
• 3 files, 3 chisels, 1 gouge, 1 hand saw, 1 stock and bit, rule and ? of compasses, 3 gimblets, 1 old lock, 1 pair of fleams, 1 all, 1 parcel of brimstone – from 3 files to here is listed together
• 4 axes
• Hatchet
• 4 iron wedges
• 1 iron sadle
• 5 hilling hoes
• 1 gurbbing hoe
• 1 band hoe
• 4 harrow hoes
• 4 plow? Hoes
• 2 old brass kettles
• 20 barrels corn
• 14.5 barrels wheat
• 9 old casks
• 6 bushels oats
• 1 box
• 1 white horse
• 1 bayhorse
• 1 gray horse
• 1 gray mare
• 3 bells
• Parcel of Harness
• 1 bed rug blanket
• 2 sheets and bed cord, piller and matt
• 1 bed bolster piller
• 3 chest locks
• 1 basket and a parcel fo flax
• 1 trunk
• 3 pair cards
• 1 box and some spun cotton
• 1 basket and cotton
• 1 jug
• 1 bag and wool
• 5 chairs and 1 table
• 7 books
• 3 yards linen
• 1 looking glass
• 1 bed run blanket, pair sheets, bolster piller , cowhide bedsted and cord (one parcel of goods)
• 1 chest
• Two bowls, 1 mug, 1 salt seller, pepper box and shears, 2 pair scissors (one parcel goods)
• 1 candlestock
• 2 flat irons
• 1 sword bayonet cartouch box
• 1 negro boy named Ned
• 1 negro man named Harry
• 1 table cloths and 1 bag
• 1 yearling
• 1 cart and wheels
• Parcel of fowls
• Plow hoe
• Harness
• Two cow hides
• Two slays and harness
• Candlestick
• 5 books
• One pair money scales
• Razor straps
• 2 cups
• 2 galley pots
• Four vials on pepper box
• 5 chairs
• Hone warping bars and boxes and meal tub
• One bedsted and one chest and oaks
• One cradle
• Parcel shoe leather
• Parcel carols
• Parcel corn
• Parcel pork and tub lard
• Parcel tallow and one table
• One hh?
• Parcel beef and one pigeon
• One tub and two hoes
• 5 knives and forks
• 1 frying pan
• 1 side leather and one horse skin

William Eggleston
John Booker
Edward Booker

Signed by Frances Combs, admin, her mark
Ordered recorded May 27, 1762

Amelia County Tax lists exist for the next few years and give us a perspective on the Combs family.

1762 – Combs

• Frances tithes – Thomas Tabb’s List, Raleigh Parish [between Flatt Crk & Appomattox River]
• George – Ditto
• Philip – John Winn & Hampton Wade’s List, [middle & lower end?] Nottoway Parish

1763 – Combs

• Frances tithes – Capt Edmd Booker’s List, Raleigh Parish, the upper side of Flat Creek
• George – Ditto
• Philip – Thomas Bowrey’s List, the lower part of Nottoway Parish

Given that John’s estate was filed in Amelia County, and his widow is clearly living there, it’s unlikely that John ever moved to his Lunenburg land.

Fortunately, two chancery cases filed provide us with a lot more information about John’s family, including the names of his children:

• George was not yet 21 when his father died in 1762, so George was born after 1741. By 1766, when George sold the additional 50 acres in Amelia County that his father had purchased, he had married as his wife Phoebe relinquished her dower. George and Phoebe Combs would move to Halifax County, VA.
• Martha was married to either James Bowls or Bowlins, so she was likely born before 1742 or earlier.
• Lurany, wife of Moses Estes, probably born about 1740-1742.
• Mary Combs
• Clarissa Combs
• John Combs. The only other tidbit about John is that there one document in Amelia County in 1778, but we have no idea if it’s the same John Combs.
• Samuel Combs

Estis et us vs Combs – Amelia Co. Va. Chancery Causes 1764 001 (LVA Reel 234-247)

Humbly complaining Moses Estes and Luranna his wife, James Bowlen and Martha his wife, Samuel, George, Mary, Clarissa and John Combs that one John Combs, your orators father, being in his lifetime seized and possessed of a considerable estate and on the (blank) day departed this life intestate. Soon after the deceased on the motion of Frances Combs, the widow and relict of the said John admin. of all singular the goods and chattels rights and credits which were of the said John Combs at the time of his death. And that said Frances then took into her possession all the estate, that by a certain act of assembly made in the year of our Lord 1705? And in the 4th year of the reign of her ?. The orators have appealed to the said Frances Combs for their proportional part aforesaid but the said Frances refuses unless she may be ordered by the court. Your orators show that they are in some distress in being detained form their rights above contrary to equity… beg for consideration…ask that she be compelled to deliver (writing very faint).

Next document is a summons

Summon Frances Combs, admin of John Combs decd, Samuel, Mary, Clarissa and John Combs children of he said John Combs decd to appear… to answer a bill in chancery filed by Moses Estis and Loranna his wife.

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Amelia court held July 22, 1762

Moses Estes Lorana his wife vs Frances Combs wife of John Combs decd

This cause heard and answered this day and ordered that John Booker, William Eggleston and John Cooke do assign to the def her dower in the lands and slaves of one third part of the estate of her late husband John Combs and that they divide the residue of the estate of the said John Combs among the complainant, children of the said John in equal proportions and assign unto each of them his or her share according to law.

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Agreeable to the order here unto annexed we the subscribers have laid off and do assign unto the said Frances Combs widow of John Combs decd her dower in the lands and slaves one third part of the personal estate of said John Combs decd and have also divided the residue of the estate of the said John Combs decd in equal portions among the children of the said John Combs decd and do lay off and assign each their part in manner following viz’

To Frances Combs for her dower in the lands of the said John one hundred and fifety acres beginning in William Eggleston line on the upper side of the same Combs plantation thence down the said Eggleston´s line to his corner at the branch and from thence along Joseph Eggeleston´s line to a new dividing line and then with the said line to the beginning in William Eggleston´s line which includes the houses and plantation whereon the said Frances Combs now lives and for the said Frances dower in the slaves of the said John decd assign unto her one negro fellow named Harry and we do further assign unto the said Frances for her third part of the personal estate the sum of 52 pounds ten shillings 9 pence three farthings.

To Moses Eastis and Lurany his wife for his part of the personal estate of the said John Coombs decd the sum of 14 pounds and 17 shillings and 7 pence farthing.

To James Bowls [could be a slightly different name] and Martha his wife for his part of the personal estate of the said John Combs decd also the sum of 14 pounds 17 and 7 pence farthing.

To George Combs for his part of the personal estate of the said John Combs decd the sum of 14 pounds 17 shillings and 7 pence farthing and being his part equal with the other children.

We also assign and allot unto Samuel Combs, Mary Combs, Clarissa Combs, John Combs each of them the sum of 14 pounds and 17 shillings and 7 pence farthing current money for their part of the personal estate of the said John Combs, decd given under our hand this 25th day of ? 1762.

In a second suit, Moses Estes filed suit against his brother-in-law, George Combs, regarding the ownership of the slave named Ned.  In this suit, we confirm that John Combs did have 6 children living when he died (although 7 are listed in the suit above) and that he had not disposed of any of his property before his death.  We then hear the story of Ned.  Poor Ned – I wonder whatever happened to him.

Eastes et al vs Combs – Amelia Co VA chancery 1769-001 (LVA Reel 235-247)

Your orator Moses Estes and ? blank Eastes that in the year 17 [blank] and George Combs of this county seized and possessed of a certain negro named [blank] and on the day aforesaid departed this life without making any deposition thereof leaving at that time blank children and on this day your orator being one and after the decease of the said Combs one George Combs being the heir at law of the deceased claiming the same possessed himself accordingly without any regard to your orators and the other children then living and since has utterly refused to make any distribution thereof not withstanding your oratrices ? from said equity she is entitled to her dividend part that being the ? upon an equal distribution all while acting and doing of the said George Combs is contrary to equity and good conscience and tend to the manifest injury and appression of your oratrices. Your orator cannot compel him the said George Combs to make an equal distribution thereof without the assistance of a court of equity where they are properly reliable to the end therefore that the said George Combs my upon his corporal oath make his answer to all the matters of things hereinto contained as to whether blank Combs father of the def was not seized and possessed of a certain negro slave named [blank] at the time of his death an if he was what has since become of him. Whether the said George Combs is not now in the possession of him and how doth he claim the same. Whether the decd did not have 6 children your oratrice being one of them. Whether the said [blank] Combs did not depart this life without disposing of any part of his estate and if any what part your orator and oratrice pray that the said negro slave in the bill set forth may be so disposed of as for them to get their equal and distribution part thereof and that they may have such further and other relief as shall be agreeable to the court.

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Aug 1763 – George Combs summoned (in the third year of the rein of George the third ) to answer the bill of chancery filed by Moses Estes

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The defendant George Combs by enotes? Taken not allowing confessing or acknowledging all or any of the matters and things in the said complaintants bill. He says that John Combs died and in his lifetime in the parish of Raleigh in the Co. of Amelia being then possessed of the said slave Ned in the said plaintiff´s bill mentioned as of his own proper slave made an actual gift of the said slave Ned to this def. being then an infant under the age of 21 years whereby the absolute right and interest in the said slave became vested in this def and that he this def by virtue of such gift became possessed and is now possessed of the slave as of his own proper slave and therefore this def doth plead the said gift….the def father John Combs died intestate leaving this def his eldest son and heir at law then an infant under 21 years of age and that this def is now under twenty two years of age. His father left several other children now living and lastly this def.

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Order to examine “George Combs, an aged person” in relation to this case. Aug 1765

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George Combs of Charlotte County aged about 60 years being sworn…says that some time about ten years ago John Combs the father of George Combs the def in the dedimus mentioned by the one certain John Baldwin one negro boy named Ned and this deponent sayeth the first time he see the said John Combs after he had bought the said negro he heard the said John say he had bought him for his son George and that he should have him and he further heard the aid John Combs say that several people had been asking him why he chosed to give all to George and nothing to his daughters when this deponent sayeth that the said John informed him that this intent w[a]s that his son George should have all his land and negroes and that the rest of his estate should be equally divided among his daughters. George “+” Combs (his mark) taken October 6 1765

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Ordered to take depositions July 1766

Next document – Deposition of James Ferguson taken November 26, 1766

James Farguson aged about 46 years being first sworn…says that he was in the company some years past with John Combs decd at John Baldwins and [t]hat the said Baldwin asked the said Combs if he knew of anybody that wanted to buy a negro when Combs asked what sort of a negro Baldwin said he would show him and brought to him a small boy named Ned when this deponent asked the said Combs what service such a small boy as this would be to him, when the said Combs answered “None at al but that it might be of service to his son George”, this deponent further sayeth the next time he went to the said Combs, the said Combs had bought the above said negro boy Ned and the said Combs says to this deponent “I have got my boy how do you like him?” when this deponent “I have no calion? to like him, how do you like him?” when the said Combs said “my boy likes him” and calling the negro boy Ned and then calling George saying “come here my son” and taking each of them by the hand said “here a negro for you my son” and taking the negro boys hand and putting it into his son George´s hand says “I give you this negro boy here before your uncle Jamey and Aunt Patty” which was then delivered to him.

James Fergusson signature

Next Document

Deposition of John Feerguson aged about 61 years old

Being sworn…says that he heard John Combs in his lifetime say at several times that he had given negro Ned unto his son George and that once he said the he would send his son to court one of my daughters and that he had given him one negro and would make something of him if he lived. John Fergusson

Nov 26, 1766

Deposition of Parriott Poindle [Prindle] aged about 47…that he has heard John Combs in his lifetime at several times say that he had bought a negro Ned for his son George and that he shall have him at his death for he had worked for to help to pay for him and he shall have him. Parriott “P” Prindle (his mark)

Next document

William Eggleston aged about 35 being sworn…says he was an appraiser for the estate of John Combs decd and that there was a young negro fellow named Ned appraised of the estate of the said John Combs and that no person laid any claim on property on the said negro at [t]he appraisement as he knowed of and he was appointed by the court to lay off the widow of the said John Combs her third of his estate and that [t]he above said negro Ned was then judged to be the estate of the said John Combs decd and that she had her third of the same. William Eggleston (signature)

Nov 26 1766

Next document

Deposition of Edward Booker aged about 35 says he was an appraiser of the estate of John Combs decd and that there was a young negro fellow named Ned appraised of the estate of the said John Combs and that no person laid any claim or property in the said negro at the appraisement as he knows of. Edward Booker (signature)

Nov. 26, 1766

The testimony of George Combs causes me to wonder if all of John’s children were by his first wife as was originally believed.  Piecing this event together, it appears that Ned was bought by John for George about 1755, a full 5 years after John married Frances Elam.  At that time, George said that people asked why he gave everything to George and not his daughters.  Not his “other children,” but specifically his daughters.  However, in the chancery suit after John’s death in 1762, his two eldest daughters were married, so they were clearly born before his 1750 marriage, but three sons are mentioned – George, Samuel and John.  If all of this is correct, then John and Samuel would have been less than 10 years old when his father died.  It’s odd that no guardianship papers were found.

The repeated useage of the name George, as in John Comb’s brother, John Comb’s oldest son and then Luremia’s oldest (but not necessarily first) son suggests that George is a family named in this Combs line.

The Fargusons

From this suit, we find our one and only clue as to a relationship between John Combs and any other people.

We know that James Farguson was age 46, so born about 1720, and was married to Patty, which could have been a nickname for something else, in about 1755 when the purchase of Ned occurred, according to George Combs the elder, probably the brother of John Combs.

If James Farguson and Patty were the aunt and uncle of George (the younger), that means that either James or Patty were the siblings of John Combs or his first wife, whose name we don’t know.

Since the surname is not Combs, we know that James Farguson is not the brother of John Combs, unless he is a half-brother.

There is a James Farguson who continues to be involved with George Combs after he moved to Halifax County.  We find those records in 1772 and 1783.

I decided to do a quick runthrough on the Farguson family to see what I could find…and I’m telling you, the Combs men, meaning both George and John, fought way too much with the Farguson’s NOT to be related.

I surely wonder if James Farguson’s wife, Patty, is a Combs.  That would explain both John and George’s constant interaction with this family. John Combs first wife could also have been a Farguson.

The Farguson family certainly is interesting.  When you look at the six families who obtained the land grants in the 1730s and in essence, cast their lots together, whether intentionally or otherwise, one would presume that they are about the same economic and social level.  Not so.  The Booker family was quite wealthy.  We find them sitting as judges at court and Edmund Booker represented Amelia County in the House of Burgesses.

John Combs seems to have been a relatively respectable “normal” man for that place and time.  This means he owned land, served on jurys, helped to maintain the roads, and yes, he owned a few slaves.  He was not a large plantation owner but owned a respectable size farm.  He was “middle class” for his day.

The Fargusons, on the other hand, were, well, the wild children of the neighborhood.  Every neighborhood has one of those families, and the Farguson’s seem to be the group that was constantly in some kind of trouble.  Usually not terrible, although there is one notorious exception to that – but ever-present and chronic.

Uncle Jamie, or James Farguson was sued so many times for debt, assault and trespassing that I stopped keeping count.  He was also presented to court several times for “profane swearing.”  I don’t know what he did, but at least once he was sent to prison directly from court for his “ill behavior” during the court session. It might be worth mentioning that at this time in history, there was a lot of drinking that went along with court sessions.

James was sentenced to jail several times too, but generally it was only until he paid his fine.  However, in at least one case, he spent at least 20 days in jail because he refused to pay.

1740 – George Combs sues James Farguson

1742, April 16 – Robert Forguson appointed surveyor from Combs bridge over Flatt Creek into the courthouse, John, Robert and William Forguson, John Combs and Richard Boram to do the same.

1743, July 25 – Court Order Book 1, Lodwick Ferguson committed on suspicion of felony.  Prisoner brought to bar and milemus read.  The following testimony given under oath.

(Note that I have omitted many depositions from this case and included only the ones that reconstruct the Farguson family, but you can read additional Farguson Amelia County entries at this link.

Thomas Whitworth said he had in a small trunk belonging to his daughter, about 35 pounds, chiefly consisting of gold pieces, which were as he believes, double doubloons, and said money was stolen from the trunk and that he has strong reason to believe that Lodwick Fergerson stole the same.

James Fergerson, brother of said Lodwick, came to his house and asked him to go to Lodwick’s father, which he did, and said Fergerson with sons John and Robert wanted to compound with him and offered to enter into bond payable to Whitworth for payment of what money he had lost if he would discharge the prisoner and say he had gotten his money.

Thomas Whitworth, Jr., said…that Lodwick had been committed to the prison for an examination.  Fergerson offered to compound with him on behalf of his father, telling him he could make up about 22 pounds of the money and he would have bond and security for the rest, for he would rather do anything than be hanged.

John Harrison said when Fergerson was in prison, he, Fergerson, desired him to tell his brother John to help him, for he expected to die.  Lodwick told him that he had borrowed 8/14/0 from Samuel Martin, that old Fergerson, father of the prison John Ferguson, Robert Fergerson, brother to him and John Gillintine were to become liable to pay Whitworth the money he supposed Lodwick had stolen from him, if Whitworth stay 2 years.

Prisoner to be tried at next general court held at the capitol in Williamsburg next October.  Prisoner requests bail and court considers that prisoner must give 200 pounds and his securities 100 pounds each against his appearance at next general court.  Robert Fergerson, John Fergerson and Robert Fergerson Jr. securities.

I find no further records of Lodwick, so I wonder what happened to him.  Was he hung in Williamsburg?

1743, December – John and Elizabeth Fergerson vs Thomas Burton.  Jury sworn.  Verdict: By evidence of John Willson and James Robertson that “Thomas Burton did say he never wanted for f***ing the plaintiff’s wife when he pleased.”  (Yes, that really was the f word in the court notes.  I always wondered how long ago that was in use.)

1745 – George Combs sues Robert Farguson

1745 – James Farguson sent to prison for 20 days

1746 – George Combs vs Robert Farguson in trespass

1746 – James and Robert Farguson sued for debt together

1746 – John Farguson sued Benjamin Hawkins

1746 – John Farguson is on the same road crew as John Combs

1747 – John Farguson sued Benjamin Hawkins for slander

1748 – James Farguson for trespass

1748 – James Farguson – treason for speaking against the King and refusing to keep the peace

1749 – Robert Farguson to keep an ordinary at his house

1750 – James Farguson – profane swearing

1751 – James Farguson – profane swearing

1751 – James Farguson’s to the bridge which is on the same road as Winterham, the name of the Edward Booker plantation

1751 – James Farguson – assault and Battery – sent to jail with a fine of 10s until paid with costs

1753 – James Farguson – assault and battery

1753 – Bridge over Flatt Creek near James Farguson’s out of repair

1754, April – James Farguson ordered into prison for his ill behavior during the sitting of this court.

What the heck is “profane swearing?”  I mean, I think I know, but maybe not.

I couldn’t find Virginia’s statute, but here is Maryland’s from 1723.

“If any person, by writing or speaking, shall blaspheme or curse God, or shall write or utter any profane words of and concerning our Saviour, Jesus Christ, or of and concerning the Trinity, or any of the persons thereof, he shall, on conviction, be fined not more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both fined and imprisoned as aforesaid, at the discretion of the court.”

So, I guess damn is swearing, but profane swearing would add God in front of that.  Got it.

Another researcher, using detailed tax and tithe records, found Lodwick and James both listed as tithes of Robert Farguson.

Based on all of the combined information, here is the Farguson family reconstruction as best I can tell.

• Robert Farguson, wife Mary
• Sons James, Robert, Lodwick and John.
• James Farguson is the Uncle of John Combs’ son, George, so James either is a sibling or married to a sibling of John Combs or his first wife.

So, I have to wonder, what did John Combs and his wife tell their children about their irreverent uncle, James Farguson, who was always in some kind of trouble? Was he the family member that everyone uses for a bad example?

“Don’t cross your eyes like that…you’ll wind up like Uncle Dufus.”

You have to admit, life was certainly interesting, much more so than one would expect.  This is not exactly the southern plantation stereotypical lifestyle of Tara, sitting around in white dresses under parasols drinking peach brandy and sweet tea.

John’s Final Resting Place

So, after all of this, where is John buried?  Well, we simply don’t know, but let’s look at the possibilities.

First, there are a lot of early Eggleston burials in the Grub Hill Church cemetery located not far from the Eggleston property.  In fact, it’s certainly possible that this was the original Eggleston cemetery.

The Booker family reports that there was a family cemetery on the Booker plantation, but the current owners say there is no cemetery there now.  Likely, there were no marked graves and over the years it disappeared and either returned to nature or became farmland.  There are no Farguson burials or pre-1900 Ferguson burials, so that family may have left entirely.

Grub Hill Church, the oldest church in Amelia County, was built around 1754 and rebuilt in the 1850s and it lies in very close proximity to these plantations.

It’s very likely that John Combs attended this church, as it was the only church at that time and Anglican church attendance was required.  Given that, he may well be buried in this churchyard.  It is the closest cemetery to his homestead, or, he’s buried in a lost family cemetery.  The church reports that they have burials into the 1700s.  John’s first wife, mother of his children, is a candidate to be buried here as well, as is his second wife, Frances.

Slavery

As I write each one of these 52 ancestors articles, I feel like I really get to know that ancestor on a personal basis.  I try my best to learn what their life was like – how their community worked, where they went to church, and any tidbits I can find about their home life.  I try, as best I can, to see their life from the perspective of the time they lived, not from my cultural and social vantage today.  Often, the only glimpse we get inside their daily life is an estate inventory or sale – where the cumulative efforts of their life work are sold with the proceeds divided among their heirs.

After my step-father’s death, my mother had an auction before she left the farm and moved to town.  It was the equivalent of an estate sale and it was exceedingly painful to watch.

In colonial America, because our ancestors lived so long ago, there are no family stories or memories about John Combs or anyone in this timeframe to be passed down through the family.  He is my 5 times great grandfather, or 7 generations upstream from me.  Oral history stopped at about the 4^th generation.  Anything we find has to be through public documents such as deeds, court notes or chancery suits.  That’s the only way we find out about rowdy cousin Jamie Farguson.  It’s also the way we find out about things like slavery.

Because slaves were treated as property, because, at that time, that’s what they were – there are often, but not always, records of transactions involving slaves.  In some cases, sales are recorded in court or deed books.  That’s not the case in Amelia County in records relevant to the Combs family.

We discover in three ways that John Combs was a slave owner.  First, two slave children that he owned, Sue and York, were presented to the court for their age to be determined.  Second, he was tithed at one point with too many people for them to have been family members – so it’s likely that at that point in time he owned 5 slaves over the age of 12 or 16.  Lastly, when he died, there were two slaves in his estate, Ned, a boy, and Harry, a man.  The chancery suits fill in a few blanks.

If we think our genealogy is difficult, try having only the first name of a slave ancestor and if you’re exceedingly lucky, an owner’s name.

John may not have owned slaves until 1749, just prior to his marriage to Frances Elam.  His son George is too young to have been tithed to him, so it’s likely that John Combs had 5 slaves that year over the age of 12.  One of them was York.  The others may have been York’s parents.  Sue may have been one of those slaves too.

We know that John bought the child, Ned, about 1755 for his son George.  I’d like to think that they were playmates, but even if they were close, the expectation that as they became older, that one would serve the other, for the rest of his life, or until sold, was clear.  It was not a friendship of equals, if it was a friendship at all.

My heart goes out to Ned.  He was called a boy in 1762 in John Combs estate, and that was several years after John had purchased Ned.  George Combs refers to Ned as a “young boy” when he was purchased.  Ned was obviously separated as a child from his parents and anyone else that might have been his family.  We don’t know the circumstances.  His parents could have been dead.  What we can probably say without fear of being wrong is that Ned was without parents or even parent-figures.  Ned was a black child in bondage, alone, except for the white child he had been given to.

Ned’s saving grace was that he did have value based on the labor it was expected he would be able to produce as an adult – and for the time being – as a playmate for George Combs.  In many cases, the fact that slaves were so valuable is what literally, saved them.  For example, indentured servants, who were only bound for a period of time, often 7 years, were sometimes literally worked to death – because they had no residual value to their masters.

Slavery, meaning bondage for life, bothers me…a lot – both in practice and in principle.  Indentured servitude does not.  It may have been rough, but people signed up for that willingly.  Slaves had no choice in the matter and no opportunity for freedom other than through the generosity of their masters or groups like the Quakers who bought slaves with the intention of freeing them.

I’m so very thankful that John Combs wasn’t involved in slave trading.  We pretty much know who those slave-trading families were.  Wealth went along with slave trading – and so did being inherently heartless.  The fact that John owned (at least) four slaves, even though not a lot by Virginia standards, bothers me.  The culture of slavery bothers me.  That fact that “everyone else was doing it” does not justify the behavior.  In fact, “everyone else” was not participating, but certainly the wealthy Virginia landowners were.  John owned a relatively small tract of land and his slaves would have been working alongside himself and his family members.  There were no overseers.  In fact, John’s brother George was an overseer for Field Jefferson – which also bothers me.  Clearly the family, as a whole, had no problem with slavery as an institution and participating in that institution.

It’s easy to make excuses, like, “If I don’t buy them, someone else will.  They’ll still be slaves anyway.  They’d be better off with me.”  While that might have been true, it still doesn’t justify slavery.  Nothing does.

I try very hard when I write these summaries of my ancestors to not judge their lives or what they did.  I try to view these people in historical context, and although slavery is a dark blot and stain on the history of our country as a whole, it is a fact of life and it was accepted as normal at the time.  It happened and it’s over.  Some even say that the slaves here and their descendants represent those who were lucky enough to live.  Before slavery offered a lucrative option for what to do with war captives in Africa, they were killed. In the colonies, the same was true of Indian wars and war captives.  Before white traders got involved as middlemen, both African and Indian slaves were captured and killed or sold, by a different tribe of their own people.

While slavery was awful, and those caught up in its tentacles were clearly victims, it wasn’t sure and certain death.  Was it better than death, for the Africans who survived the Middle Passage and went on to have descendants, and for the Indians captured as children and raised as slaves?  Probably, because without our slave ancestors, we descendants would not be alive today.  And there was always hope for a better tomorrow.

Yes, I said we.  I am mixed race – a combination of European (white), Native American from multiple lines, and African.  My white ancestry and ancestors have been much easier to find than my ancestors of color.  That’s because the black ancestors were enslaved and the Native ancestors were annihilated in a variety of ways.  Most people don’t take well to invaders taking their land and slaughtering their families.  The only alternative to death was assimilation – and my ancestors did, as quickly as possible.  It was a matter of survival.

For me, it’s particularly difficult when I read about slavery among my ancestors, because I know I have family on both ends of the stick and I feel very strongly about equality and freedom of choice.  Not only am I mixed race, having endured discrimination on both sides of that fence, especially as a child, too dark to be white but too white to be “of color,” but I am a female who grew up in an age where discrimination against women in various forms was accepted as the status quo.  It too was institutionalized, cultural and considered “normal.”  And it too was and is wrong, unjust and indefensible.

When I write these summaries of my ancestors, I’m limited by the records we can find that reflect the various stages of their life.  John Combs may not actually have been identified in his lifetime by being a slave owner, especially as compared to his neighbors with large tracts of land and lots of slaves.

For all I know he was a pious man and loved his slave family as his own family.  But we have no letters from John, no diary, no account books, nothing.  All we have is the dry court order books, tax lists and the chancery suit following his death.  And in these records, the theme of being a slave owner runs through each one.  I can’t shake it, and when I think of him, that’s really what I think of.  I wish I knew more so that I could have a better rounded picture of John Combs as a person, but I don’t.  All I really know is that he owned land and owned slaves, and that fact permeated every aspect of his life, even after his death.  It’s the elephant in the room I can’t seem to see around.  Today, it’s the aspect of his life that defines him, perhaps because there are records of slaves and there aren’t records of other things.  Regardless of why – it’s still what defines him because that is the information we have.

This certainly makes me pause to think about what will be left of my lifetime to represent me in another 250 years, assuming I have any descendants and anyone is interested.  It won’t be court orders, that’s for sure, but if they mine Facebook, they’ll discover that I take pictures of flowers in my garden, have 3 websites/blogs (will they know what a blog is?), that I have a special penchant for cats, have a fur family, including a grand-puppy, and that I’m a quilter.  Of course, it goes without saying that they’ll know I’m a genealogist too, with grandchildren.  They’ll be able to get to know me at least somewhat through my postings and my blog listings, although assuredly the blogs will be long gone so they would only be looking at the first paragraph or so posted on FaceBook and one of the photos.  They will probably be pulling their hair out, wishing that somehow, those blogs had been preserved in time.  I feel their pain!

I wonder what kinds of things we do today that won’t be considered culturally and socially acceptable in another 250 years, and how my descendants will think of me.  I’m guessing my 52 ancestors article title would be something like, “Roberta Estes, Mis-Behaved Cat Loving Genetic Genealogy Blogger, Quilter and Gardener.”  But then again, that’s from my perspective today.  Not to mention that my Facebook page omits several aspects of my life.  My 30+ year career, my college degrees, my husband and children, etc.  It’s more complete for me than the information we have about John Combs, but it’s still woefully lacking.

I’m sure there are many aspects of John Combs life that we are missing too.  John Combs might have looked at his article title, “Slave Owner,” with pride because owning land and slaves was the measure of success in Virginia in his lifetime.  Given that John started out as a man without an education, unable to even sign his name, he would likely have been very proud of his achievements – rising to the status of landowner, slave owner and juror.

John’s DNA

The one aspect of John we’ve yet to investigate is DNA.  In this case, we have a serious problem, because we only know what happened to one of his sons, George.  John’s sons, John and Samuel disappear, but they may have survived.  We don’t know.

John Combs’ son George married Phoebe, whose surname is unknown and they moved to Halifax County.  They had daughter Judith who married Jesse Dodson, Polly who married Bolling Hamblett, Larcenee who married George Shelton, Phebe who married Thomas Yates in 1788 and then moved to White County, TN, and one son, George, who married Elizabeth Yates in 1809.

To test George’s Y DNA, we would need to find a direct male descendant of his son George who married Elizabeth Yates who carries the Combs surname.  The problem is, we don’t know what happened to him.  And for all those couples who have hundreds of Ancestry trees, there isn’t one, not one, for him.

Our other possibility would be descendants of George Combs the elder, who was born 1701-1705, likely the brother of our John Combs.  He lived in Charlotte County, but we don’t know what happened to him either, or if he had sons.

Looking at the Combs DNA project, we can see that indeed, there is one person who descends from Archdale Combs, haplogroup I-M233.  Judging from the number of markers utilized, the original Combs DNA project was, unfortunately, not at Family Tree DNA.  All of the other companies have discontinued their Y DNA testing business. Based on this information, I checked at www.Ysearch.org and discovered that indeed, these testers are haplogroup I-M233.

So, if our John Combs is somehow descended from Archdale, this would be his Y DNA haplotype and haplogroup.  The problem of course is that making that determination with almost no evidence a very broad step, more like a leap of faith, an assumption with a lot of maybes and it’s a very large leap I’m not comfortable making.

Furthermore, even if our John was proven to descend from Archdale on paper, that doesn’t mean the DNA matches.  One should always, if possible, confirm by testing at least two descendants of the male ancestor in question, meaning through different sons.  Of course, in the case of our John, we can’t even find one son’s descendants, so we’re left waiting for future developments.

The next avenue I tried was to contact the Combs DNA project administrators and ask if Family Finder folks were welcome.  Many Y DNA projects don’t want to deal with autosomal matching.  Fortunately, the admin was very gracious and it says right on their project site that they welcome autosomal folks.  That’s the good news.  The bad news was that we did not match the male who tested from Archdale – assuming he has taken the FF test, which I can’t tell.

Lastly, I used Family Tree DNA’s new search function to see if I could find anyone in their data base who descends from our John, or George.  If they haven’t taken the autosomal test, this would be a great opportunity.  Unfortunately, no luck there either.

Three strikes and I’m out – for now.

I’m hopeful that someone who descends from John Combs or his brother George Combs will read this and perhaps they too will be curious.  If so, please let me know.  I have a scholarship for the first proven male Combs descendant!

Collaboration

I can’t end this article without saying something about collaborative research.

Combs researchers are very fortunate that for several years, through 2010, there was a very active research group whose work is, thankfully, preserved on the Combs-Coombs website.  I am both a contributor and a benefactor and I am very grateful for all of those who have contributed, coordinated and preserved these Combs records.  I wish all of my surnames had a site like this.

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Lazarus.

I’ve always loved that name.  It’s just so interesting and different – and thankfully, not another John or William.  I have so many of those names that I can’t keep them straight.  But Lazarus is much more unique and he turned out to be a very unique individual as well, as I came to know him through various tidbits of his life.

Lazarus holds a special place in my heart.  Lazarus was my first official “find” in genealogy, you see.  Well, his marriage record anyway.

One evening, many, MANY years ago, I took advantage of a free seminar the Mormon Church was offering on searching for your ancestors.  They said to bring what records you did have, so I gathered up my family group sheets, all half a dozen of them, and off I went.  I was a bit nervous, as I knew nothing about the Mormons, except they “did genealogy,” and I was, you know, raised Baptist.

Was lightning going to strike me as I stepped into the Mormon church???  And if so, was the bolt from the Mormons or the Baptists, or both?  Or worse yet, was someone going to try to convert or recruit me??

I decided to risk it.  I later learned that my concerns were entirely unfounded.

After their little talk, they had several volunteers available to help.  One very nice lady sat down with me and looked at what I had brought along, and then suggested that we look on the “reader” for “something.”  Ok.

She did, and said, “hey, look at this.”  Now, genealogists among us know those as the Fatal Words of Addiction.

And this is what we saw…..

Oh my gosh – it was THEM – reaching out from more than 100 years ago and touching me…my heart just stopped.

Sure enough, she had found an index entry for the marriage record of Lazarus Estes and Elizabeth Vannoy, in Claiborne County, Tennessee.  And yes, I was hooked, hopelessly hooked.  We ordered the film, and then another film, and another film….and the rest, as they say, is history.  I developed tendonitis in my right arm associated with cranking microfilm machines.  All “old” genealogists are now laughing…and remembering.

Lazarus Estes was born in May 1848 in Claiborne County, TN, to John Y. Estes and Rutha Dodson.  They lived in a place known as Estes Holler, right off of Little Sycamore Road, just past Pleasant View Church (below), where they probably attended, then past a couple of cemeteries, and across Little Sycamore Creek which they would have forded at the time, because there was no bridge then.

Lazarus was born where two generations of Estes’s had lived before him and several would live after.  Estes families still live in Estes Holler today, and it’s still called Estes Holler – right across the ridge from Vannoy Holler.

Some years later, I went to visit and meet Uncle George, Lazarus’s grandson, in person.  I wanted to see Estes Holler for myself and visit Lazarus’s grave.  Uncle George and his wife, Edith, who is also my cousin on two different lines, were the most gracious hosts.

George took me in his truck “up the mountain.”  Here we are, in the back of George’s truck, in the livestock pen.  The livestock pen?   If I said, “don’t ask,”  would that do?  Let’s just say trucks are sometimes a bit rough there.

Uncle George, who is really my cousin, but “honored” as an uncle, remembered when Lazarus was buried, standing by his grave as a child during the funeral.  George would take me to visit the same cemetery, to stand by the same grave, some 70 years later.

When I got to Claiborne County, Uncle George had a little surprise for me.

This is a picture of Lazarus Estes and Elizabeth Vannoy Estes, my great-grandparents.

I remember being utterly mesmerized by this picture – staring into the eyes of my ancestor.  It’s hard to see Elizabeth’s eyes, but Lazarus is looking right at me, across the years, almost 100 years after his death – piercingly.

In the family history center, before I went to Claiborne County, I eventually found Lazarus on a census roll.  I ordered the roll and then waited for 2 weeks for it to arrive.  Today, we just sign on to Ancestry.com and look.

John Y. Estes and Rutha Dodson hadn’t been married long, and Lazarus was their first child, named for Rutha’s father, Lazarus Dodson.  Lazarus is shown here as 2 years old, born in 1848, and I’m inclined to think this this is more correct than the 1900 census which shows that he was born in 1845.  By 1900, when Lazarus is more than 50, age can be misremembered or approximated, but pretty much everyone is going to know if their only child is 2 or not.  Furthermore, this census was taken in September, and if his birthday was in May, he would have just turned 2.  His mother was likely pregnant with her next child.  As icing on the cake, cousin Debbie found a Bible that we think belonged to his daughter after a death in the family a few years ago, and Lazarus’s birth year is given as 1848, so 1848 it is!!!

By 1860, Lazarus has 4 siblings and was 12 years old.

After that, life in Claiborne County got complicated – and downright ugly.  The Civil War erupted in January 1861 when 7 southern states seceded from the Union.  Claiborne County found itself in the middle of the conflict.  The first shots were fired in April, and although Tennessee wasn’t one of the first states to secede, they did after April, 1861, aligning themselves with the South, along with their neighbor state, Virginia. However, Kentucky, their other neighbor to the north permitted slavery but did not secede.  This created a dividing line between the states which just happened to be at the Cumberland Gap, not far from Estes Holler.

Cumberland Gap was just a few miles up the Old Kentucky Road and the Gap was a critical and strategic location to control the entrance to the north from the south and vice versa. In 1863, slaves were freed via the Emancipation Proclamation, but the war didn’t end until 1865.  No one in Estes Holler owned slaves.

The war was brutal on both sides, and fighting took place in and around Estes Holler.  People in that region were still digging cannon balls out of their land in the 1980s.

One of the houses in Estes Holler, still standing, was used as a Union hospital.  The locals know which house and where the bodies are buried too.  The area looks a lot more cheerful today!

The soldiers scavenged the countryside for food, constantly, since the thousands of men stationed at Cumberland Gap, whether from the Union or Confederacy, depending on who was holding the Gap at the time, never had enough food.

Lazarus would have been 13 when the war broke out.  He would have been 17 when it ended.  Those four years were living hell for the Estes family, their land constantly embattled and the sounds of cannon and gunfire echoing in the holler a regular occurrence.

Lazarus’s father, John Y. Estes fought for the south, as did neighbors, Sterling and John Nunn.  I was dumbstruck when I discovered this fact, especially since no one in Estes Holler owned slaves.  John Y. Estes was eventually captured and served time in a northern prison camp, being paroled at the end of the war.

Did the family know John had been captured?  Did they think he was dead?  How were they notified, if they were notified?  Sometimes, POW camps, on both sides were a fate worse than death, often followed by death.

The family, back in Claiborne County, had all they could do not to starve to death – and Lazarus, as the oldest male child, a teenager, was likely in charge.

The soldiers took the family’s one cow.  The baby of the family needed milk to drink.  Lazarus’s younger sister, Elizabeth, then 12 or 13, had been taking care of the cow as one of her chores, and she decided that she was simply going to go and get the cow.  As soon as it got dark, she slipped through the woods to where she knew the soldiers were camped.  The cow knew her voice and scent, and as soon as she found the cow, she simply slipped the bell off the cow and led the cow home, under cover of darkness.  She was the family hero and the family told that story in Tennessee and where Elizabeth eventually lived in Texas –  for the next 150 years.  Her descendants told me that story when I visited Texas in 2005!  It’s a family legend.  Another version of the story says it was the family horse that she recovered, and a third story says she did both!  In one version when she retook the horse, she snuck through enemy lines.

Her grandchildren tell of how Elizabeth, in the photo below, would regale them for hours with stories of life in a remote place called Tennessee during the Civil War when Rebel soldiers would come into their house and take everything.  She told about how the family hid, afraid they would be harmed.  She shared stories about the hardships on the trail in the covered wagon as they came to Texas and about the wagon rush when they opened up Indian Territory to homesteaders.  Maybe land is why all of Lazarus’s siblings wound up living in Texas.  In the end, only Lazarus remained in Tennessee.

This is Lazarus’s sister Elizabeth Estes who married George Vannoy, the brother of Elizabeth Vannoy that Lazarus married, celebrating her 95^th birthday in Nocona, Texas.  I think she looks a lot like her brother, Lazarus.

Lazarus is lucky that he was not captured and conscripted, on either side, during the Civil War.  Rutha probably depended heavily on Lazarus, as her next oldest boy wasn’t born until 1855.

John Y. Estes was finally discharged and released as a POW on March 20, 1865.  He probably walked home, begging food along the way, like so many other bedraggled soldiers, probably fearful of what he would find at home when he arrived.  Would there even be a home left?  Was his family alive?  All of them?  Part of them? Which part?

Shortly after arriving home, on October 9, 1865, John Y. Estes stated that he was moving and gave six head of sheep, one horse, fourteen head of hogs, one cow and calf, two yearlings, the corn crop, all the fodder, and all the household and kitchen furniture to his son Lazarus.  But John didn’t move.  Lazarus would only have been 17 or 18 at that time.  What precipitated this unusual transaction to an underage, unmarried boy with no household of his own?

Lazarus Estes married Elizabeth Vannoy sixteen months later, on February 6, 1867.

The 1870 census shows us a nuclear family, the way families worked in Tennessee.  Newlyweds just built a cabin by their parents.  In this case, Lazarus and Elizabeth lived beside both his and her parents.

Now, the census can be deceptive, because the Esteses and Vannoys actually lived across the holler from each other, but that tells us that there was only one unoccupied house between them so the holler didn’t have as many people living there that it does today.

Still, they lived very close.

Lazarus lived on this V where Nunn Road and Vannoy Road leaves Estes Road.

You can see where a house used to be and a little cemetery – but that is NOT where Lazarus is buried. It is where some of his adult children are buried….and no, I do not know why.

In this picture, taken from across the road, you can see the location of the cemetery on Lazarus land, just about dead center, with a man inside and a truck to the right behind a big cedar tree.  Lazarus’s house sat to the left of the cemetery probably just inside or just outside of the picture.

There is an untold story involving the cemeteries in Estes Holler that I suspect involves a family feud of some sort.  In part, I think this because even in the 1970s, the two families living on opposite sides of the only road in Estes Holler would claim they “weren’t kin” to each other, when they clearly were.  They did not WANT to be kin to each other….so they weren’t…end of subject.  Although both families were very nice to me.  Feuds in Appalachia outlive the fueders and the descendants don’t even know WHY they are feuding, just that they are.

The “Upper Estes Cemetery” which is likely on the original John R. Estes land, eventually owned by son Jechonias, was not used by Lazarus who descended from Jechonias’s brother, John Y. Estes.  Furthermore, while Lazarus had a cemetery on his own land that included a grave for the unknown school teacher that Lazarus buried, he himself was buried in Pleasant View, then known as the Venable Cemetery, as was his wife and mother and his children that died in his lifetime.  Pleasant View is the cemetery at the end of Estes Holler, past the Cook cemetery, beside Pleasant View Church, although Lazarus was never reported to be terribly religious.  To me, being buried away from Estes land almost sounds like a protest of some sort.  I’m clearly missing some piece of the puzzle and I doubt anyone living has that piece.

We know there was some kind of problem and although the chancery court records tell us tantalizingly little – they do tell us something.

In 1888, George Estes, son of John Y. Estes, filed suit against his uncle Jechonias Estes regarding the boundaries of some land that Jechonias had sold to George in 1887.  Lazarus was the security for George, his brother, so his allegiance is clear.  From the May 1893 chancery docket, we know that Jechonias cross-filed and the court found that no one was entitled to anything from anyone, except the lawyers who put a lien on the property for payment of their fees. Jechonias had died in 1888, is buried in the Upper Estes Cemetery, and George Buchanan Estes along with his younger brother, John Reagan Estes, subsequently left for Texas where their father, John Y. Estes, was already settled.  However, at least three of George Buchanan Estes’s children are buried in the Upper Estes Cemetery.

This is actually the land behind Lazarus’s house, or where his house stood, but the ridge between Estes Holler and Vannoy Holler looked much the same.  I think that John Y. Estes lived in that clearing on the hillside.  The old Upper Estes Cemetery would be to the right about 3 or 4 photo-lengths, also on the hillside.  Of course, in Estes Holler, everything is on a hillside.  You can see the Upper Estes Cemetery, below in the clearing.

Uncle George took me up the mountainside in his truck so that I could see the holler.  It’s a beautiful place, often bathed in the blue/grey mists that give the Smokey Mountains their name.

There is a steep wagon path, or put in modern terms, a 2 track Jeep path, over the ridge between the hollers at the end because it’s a mile or two to the front where you can go around – and then of course a mile or two back on the other side.

The people who live there know every nook and cranny well – but to outsiders, it’s a confusing labyrinth of intertwined mountains, paths and valleys and very, VERY easy to become disoriented and lost.

This is the land where Lazarus was born, lived his entire life, and died.  He probably never went further than Knoxville, about 50 miles away.

This photo is labeled as Lazarus, but I’m not entirely convinced – although the woman does look something like Elizabeth.

In this photo, Lazarus and Elizabeth look to be maybe 35 or 40, so this would have been taken in about the 1880s.  Lazarus, if this is him, has full facial hair, so he doesn’t even look like himself, compared to the other photos.  Furthermore, it looks like a caterpillar is crawling up one side of his nose.  I have my doubts if this is Lazarus, and I actually think it may be a photo of his father, John Y. Estes.

Update: Two subscribers offered expertise, for which I’m very grateful.

Therese overlayed the photo of the middle-aged couple onto the photo of Lazarus and Elizabeth as seniors in Photoshop and says:  “I’m sure they’re the same couple, you can take it to the bank. 😉 Even accounting for the different head angles and posture, their features lined up really well. Lazarus still had the same light-colored, slightly downturned eyes, straight brows, and the same mole or scar on the left cheek, which had grown some by his later years (Along with his ear lobes!! Too bad the ears and nose never stop growing.) The “caterpillar” appears to be some discoloration of the photo itself. The wrinkle between his brows also lines up well, although it became more pronounced with age. His shoulders appear to have atrophied some, which is to be expected. The hairlines and marionette lines for both Lazarus and Elizabeth in the two photos are also perfect matches. He even kept the same part in his hair. Elizabeth’s deep set eyes, thin lips, and square chin were little changed through the years.”

Jan says, “The sleeve of her black-striped jacket did not come into fashion until 1890. The pouf at the upper arm area grew to outrageous proportions over the next 7-8 years. With that in mind, I believe the photograph was likely take in 1890-93. It was certainly taken after 1890, making Lazarus at least 51-52.

By 1880 things had changed a bit in Estes Holler, to put it mildly.

I don’t think things were ever “right” after the Civil War.  John Y. probably witnessed the unspeakable and many men in this area fought for the Union, so he may not have been well accepted back in Estes Holler.  That deed he signed just a few months after his release tells us that something was amiss.  Perhaps his wife told him that his son, Lazarus, had taken care of all of the “man things” on the farm for the past several years while John Y. was gone.  We’ll never know.

On June 20, 1879, John Y. Estes signed papers granting James Bolton and William Parks permission to make a road across his land in order to enable Bolton and Parks to have access to their own lands. That same day, Lazarus and Elizabeth sold the men acreage and obviously, John’s land stood between that acreage and the road.  As long as the land was within family, access to the road didn’t matter, but now being sold, it did.

In the 1880 census, a year later, Ruthy is shown in Claiborne Co. with children Nancy, Rutha and John Reagan Estes, as divorced. Back then, no one ever got divorced – it was rare as chicken’s teeth.  Not to mention, this couple was 60 years old.  They had already tolerated each other most of their adult lives.  What precipitated a divorce?

John Y. Estes is shown in Montague Co., Texas, living with the S. C. Clark family as a lodger.

The Texas Estes family tells the story that John Y. Estes walked to Texas, twice – implying of course that he walked back to Tennessee once.

John Y’s last child was born in 1871, so I’m wondering if he didn’t go to Texas and return home, sign that deed, and go back to Texas by the 1880 census.  To the best of my knowledge, he never returned to Claiborne County.

And once again, Lazarus was left to take care of things.  His mother had children from the ages of 9 to 22 at home and the only son was the youngest, John.  Someone had to plow and farm and put food on the table.

The 1880 census showed Lazarus and Elizabeth with 4 living children and his occupation was a huckster.

Now that’s a very interesting occupation.  I asked cousin George about it, and he knew exactly what that meant.

Lazarus became an entrepreneur, of sorts, although not the same kind of “entrepreneur” his son, William George Estes would become.  Lazarus had a wagon and once a month he would hitch up his oxen and go to Knoxville.  It took him two days to get there and then he would sell whatever people from Little Sycamore in Claiborne had to sell or trade.  Then, he would load the wagon up with supplies and come back home.

We don’t know that this was Lazarus’s wagon, but it was in the Estes pictures and although we don’t know who is sitting in the wagon, we do know that the ox’s name is Jim Bow.

In the field just across Little Sycamore creek, at the end of Estes Holler, Lazarus would park his wagon and everyone could come and visit to pick up their order or just to see what he had.  I guess he was a peddler of sorts.

Today, this homemade bridge is the entrance into Estes Holler, crossing Little Sycamore Creek.  There was no bridge then.

You can see, across the bridge and to the left that there is an open field.  Lazarus would pull the wagon into that field and set up shop, so to speak, according to Uncle George.

You know that word traveled like wildfire up and down the holler that Lazarus was back, and everyone wanted to see what he had brought, what was available, how much their goods sold for….and maybe more importantly, the news….what was the news.

I can see his wagon parked here, can’t you?  Is that his old wagon wheel?

However, this family had another little problem that no one probably discussed – at least not out loud.

Imagine my surprise to find this in the court records:

On Oct. 4, 1886, Lazarus Estes was granted $26 by the court for “conveying Joel Vannoy to the hospital for the insane.”  Joel Vannoy was Lazarus’s father-in-law.

That hospital was opened in Knoxville in May of that year.  You know, right about now, I’m tempted to say something like, “Well, that explains a lot.”  However, that’s probably inappropriate, because this really is very sad for everyone in the holler.  Lazarus was the one to take care of things, probably the same way he did for his mother during the Civil War.  Lazarus always seemed to be the one to “take care of things.”

So, in addition to his own mother, Lazarus now was taking care of his mother-in-law as well who had older children and grandchildren living with her.

Lazarus was one busy man.

In this photo, Lazarus looks to be about age 40-50, which would have been about 1890.  I cannot imagine wearing those long dresses in the Tennessee summer heat, but they did.

The 1890 census is missing, of course, so we don’t see Lazarus again until 1900.

In 1900, Lazarus and Elizabeth are living in-between Lazarus’s mother Ruthy and his son, William George Estes who married Ollie Bolton in 1894.

William George has been out of work for 6 months.  I’m guessing Lazarus is once again, “taking care of things.”

Uncle George and the Texas family both tell us that Lazarus’s mother, Ruthy was bedfast for years, 22 years to be exact, with arthritis.  That means she would have been afflicted from about 1881, or about the time John Y. left for Texas.  Uncle George told me that Lazarus and some other family members had to go “up the mountain” and carry Ruthy “down the mountain” on a litter.  Lazarus and Elizabeth took care of her from that time forward.

The 1900 census also tells us that Rutha had 8 children and 6 were living.  Two of Ruthy’s adult daughters had died 2 days apart in 1888.  The family story says that there was smallpox in the holler and no one would bury the bodies, except Lazarus, so he buried all that died, alone.

Lazarus was no stranger to the cemetery.  The census tells us that he and Elizabeth had 10 children and 5 were living.  That wasn’t quite right.  They had 11 children, but one birth was twins who both either died the same day or were stillborn.

Lazarus and Elizabeth visited the cemetery far too often to bury children; in 1872 to bury twins, in 1873 to bury three year old Ruthy, in 1884 to bury 17 year old Phoebe, and in 1875 to bury 9 year old Thaddeus.  Of course, they buried Lazarus’s sisters 2 days apart in 1888 and his uncle as well.  Lazarus’s grandfather John R. Estes died in 1885, nearly 100 years old.  It’s hard to grieve that passing – more like a celebration of an amazingly long life.

So, you see, there was one more thing that Lazarus did, that he took care of for the family.  He hand carved gravestones.

This one was for twins, Elihu and David.

And this one for his namesake.

These stones were for his brother, George Buchanan Estes’s children, buried in the Upper Estes Cemetery, where the land dispute would split the family in the 1880s and 1890s.  Maybe it was because the children were buried here that there was such a connection to this land.  George Buchanan Estes’s father in law, Rev. David King is also buried in this cemetery.  The Upper Estes Cemetery was located on Jechonias’ land, the original Estes land in Estes Holler.  This is probably where John R. Estes and his wife, the original Estes settlers in Claiborne County, are buried as well.

Lazarus and Elizabeth would bury yet one more child, Martha, in 1911, in Pleasant View cemetery before their four remaining children would bury them.

In 1902, William Norris, who had married Lazarus’s daughter Martha a couple of years earlier bought land from Lazarus.  I wonder if William and Martha Norris bought Rutha Estes’s old house.

In 1903, the family would bury Lazarus’s mother, Rutha, in Pleasant View Cemetery (then called Venable Cemetery), beside the church where Lazarus and Elizabeth would be buried next to her just a few years later.

Lazarus hand carved her stone too.  The photo below shows the area where Rutha, Lazarus and Elizabeth all rest together.

The last census where Lazarus was enumerated was in 1910.  He is still farming.  His two youngest sons are living with him and his sister Rutha, age 50 is also living in the household, probably since his mother, Rutha’s, death. The census tells us Lazarus and Elizabeth have been married 45 years.  They’ve surely seen a lot together, especially given that they also knew each other as children.

They live one house from William Norris and Martha Estes, their daughter, who would die the following year, probably in childbirth.

In about 1915, there was a “small family issue” with William George Estes, Lazarus’s son.  William George and Ollie Bolton Estes, his wife, had left Estes Holler sometime after the 1910 census to live in Fowler, Indiana.  It seems that Ollie’s cousin, 20 years her junior, visited in Indiana, and Ollie came home and found William George “in the act” with her cousin.  As you might imagine, all hell broke loose, and they could probably hear the ensuing ruckus all the way to Estes Holler in Tennessee.  Ollie reportedly horsewhipped William George, nearly killing him.

Ollie was reportedly pregnant at that time, and the situation caused her to go into labor and lose the baby, or twins, the stories vary.  Long story short, Ollie and William split.  Their two sons, William Sterling (my father) and Joseph “Dode” somehow got lost or abandoned in the shuffle and not knowing what else to do, wound up hopping a freight train, at about ages 10-13, and making their way back to their grandparents in Estes Holler – arriving hungry, dirty and full of tales about their parents.  Lazarus was furious.

Shortly thereafter, William George reportedly also showed up back in Estes Holler, not with Ollie, the wife he left with, but with her young cousin instead, whom he would eventually marry.  The family story tells us that Lazarus was having none of that behavior, and he threw William George, along with the young cousin, out of Estes Holler, “for doing Ollie wrong” and told him if he came back, he’s shoot him.  To my knowledge, William George Estes holds the distinct honor of being the only person ever thrown out of Estes Holler – and that’s saying something!

Part of this story I know to be true, but I can’t vouch for all of it.  I do know that William George Estes was not entirely disowned, meaning he did have some inheritance, and he went back to visit his sister, Cornie, in the 1940s and 1950s, long after his parents were gone.

Apparently Lazarus knew his time on earth was limited and did not want to leave the fate of his land and possessions to chance, or to an executor, especially given the extenuating circumstances, so he took care of things himself before he passed over.

Lazarus created this deed leaving his land to daughter Cornie Epperson, but instructing Cornie and Worth, her husband, to pay Lazarus’s other heirs, William George and the heirs of his daughter, Martha, who had died in 1911, although William George received less.  On the second page, Lazarus reserved a life estate for he and his wife of half an acre and also states the condition that Cornie and Worth allow him to pasture a cow and horse on the property as well.

You don’t think of having problems finding death dates in the 1900s, but we had fits establishing in which year Lazarus died.  Cousin Debbie has a Bible that says he died in 1916.  His wife, Elizabeth died in October 1918 and is listed as a widow.  Cousin George, Lazarus’s grandson, who was at his funeral said he died in 1918.  Normally I’d say that the Bible is probably the most reliable, but in this case, we have a deed signed by Lazarus on March the 7^th, 1918 – and as far as I know, the dead can’t sign deeds.  The death date we have, however, and it was on July 7^th.  So, by process of elimination, Lazarus died on July 7, 1918.

As fate would have it, I’m not at all sure that Lazarus didn’t carve his own headstone, or at least part of it – the name.  I know that sounds morose, but for the man in the family that took care of everything, it’s somehow fitting.

Elizabeth’s stone, next to his, has no carving, at least none that remains today.

In the 1980s, George Estes and I bought new stones for both Lazarus and Elizabeth, because you could barely read Lazarus’s stone at all, in the 1980s.

The old stones were left in place, and the new stones put at the foot of the graves, shown below.

Lazarus and Elizabeth Vannoy Estes had the following children:

• Phebe Ann born December 21, 1867, died August 21, 1884, not even a month after her younger brother Thaddeus died. I wonder if he was ill and she was caring of him. Phebe and Thaddeus’s are the only markers in this family that are not hand carved.

• Ruthy Jane born January 11, 1870, died Sept. 4, 1873
• David born and died April 6, 1872
• Alexander born and died April 6, 1872

Ruthy Jane, David and Alexander have hand-carved stones in the Venable Cemetery, but they are no longer readable.

• William George Estes born March 30, 1873, died November 29, 1971, Harlan County, KY, married Ollie Bolton, Joice Hatfield and Crocie Brewer. Children who lived past childhood were Charles Estel, William Sterling, Joseph “Dode”, Margaret LeJean, Minnie May, by wife Ollie, then Virginia by wife Joice, then Evelyn and Josephine by wife Crocie.

• Thaddeous Estes born Sept. 22, 1875, died July 28, 1884

• Cornie Estes born June 22, 1878, died February, 14, 1958, married Worth Epperson and had children Edna, Bill, Edith, Catherine “Katy”, Kermit, Lucy Mae, William “Bill”, Everett and James “Bert”. In the photo below, Cornie and worth are celebrating their 60^th wedding anniversary.

Cornie and Worth were buried in the lower Estes Cemetery, on Lazarus old land, which was, of course, their land.

• Martha A. was born Oct. 25, 1880 and died January 10, 1911, married William I. Norris and had children Jesse, Otis, Etta, Glen and Mae.

Martha’s stone was hand carved too.  I had to dig part of it out.

• James Columbus “Lum” Estes born March 25, 1883, died Nov. 15, 1924, married Creola “Thole” Greer and had children Myrtle, Heady “Hettie”, Charlie, Molly and Clarence. Lum and his brother, Charlie, married Greer sisters. James lived his entire life in Estes Holler and is buried in the Lower Estes Cemetery, on Lazarus’s land. He died of peritonitis because he “ruptured himself” picking apples and did not “get it taken care of.” The death certificate says he had medical attention for 3 days, but by that time, the damage was done. His death from peritonitis must have been awful.

• Charlie Tomas (sic) born December 9, 1885, died October 2, 1927, married Nannie Greer and had children George Lazarus, Grace, Jessie, Lyde Waylen, Robert Tipton and Betty Louise. Charlie and Nannie obtained their marriage license in Claiborne County, not realizing they would not be able to marry in Hancock County. So, they married at the county line, in the road. She stood on a horse step. Charlie died of typhoid fever when he was 42. His death certificate says there was no doctor in attendance, which is not unusual in that region, although typhoid typically takes about 4 weeks to either kill the person or for them to begin to recover. George said that two of his sisters contracted typhoid too at that time, but they both recovered. His father died. Uncle George would have been 16 and Buster would have been 7. Charlie bought the farm in Hancock County, very close to the Lee County line that was still in the family when I visited Uncle Buster, his last living son, in 2005. Buster was living in the house his father had built with his own hands.

I particularly like this picture above of the two boys, Charlie and Lum (James Columbus) Estes, taken sometime in the 1890s.  I love their homespun shirts and pants.  You know these were their “good” clothes, yet they are barefoot.  I don’t think most of the children had shoes, and what shoes there were, were shared among family members in case someone had to go outside in the particularly cold winter months.  Of course, outhouses were all outside, so I’m guessing several trips a day were made.

Charlie, below, as an adult with Nannie Greer.

Charlie was Uncle George’s father.  Uncle George took me to see the house that Charlie built the family, in Estes Holler.  It’s where George lived until he was 10 years old, when they moved back to Hancock County where Charlie’s wife’s “people were from.”

The land in Estes Holler, however, was sold to Charlie’s brother, Lum, when they moved to Hancock County, as reflected in the deeds, for $1.  These brothers were close their entire life.  Charlie was brought back and buried in the Lower Estes cemetery, on Lazarus’ land, near his brother, the day after he died.

Estes DNA and the Cousin Wedding

Estes is my maiden name.  I have always been an Estes.  I always will be.  I probably identify with my surname like most men do.  It’s mine, I own it, it owns me – and I’m very attached to my lineage.

You can understand, then, why I very much….one might say desperately….wanted to prove the Claiborne County Estes lineage to the proven ancestral Estes lineage from Kent, England.  And I don’t mean I wanted to prove it from someone 5 or 6 generations back – I mean I wanted to prove it from the current Estes family members.

Now, not that I’m saying that I had any specific reason to suspect that there might be a “problem.”  I’m not saying that at all.  Just because I’ve got a moonshiner between me and thee, Abraham Estes, immigrant, and a few other colorful characters too, is not reason to think that maybe, just maybe, “something” might have happened along the way.  Just saying, of course.  And of course, it also has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve spent more than 30 years working on Estes genealogy.  Nope, nothing to do with that either.

Unfortunately, by the time DNA testing has come upon the scene, Uncle George had passed on to the place where genealogists have all the answers.  He had no children, so that possibility was gone.  However, his younger brother, Uncle Buster was still living.  I always loved visiting with Buster.  He always came and joined in the party when I went to visit Uncle George.  He had a very dry wit, was always joking with someone and loved, just loved, a good prank.  Sometimes, it was difficult to tell when he was kidding and when he was serious.

Buster was also deaf as a post – so it’s not like you could call him up and ask him a question.  Nor was he a letter writer.  So, you just had to get in the car and go and visit Buster – 500 miles and 3 or 4 states away, depending on how you count that last winding 2 miles up the mountain on the Tennessee/Virginia border.

Now, I wish, just desperately wish, I had taken a picture from WITHIN the car when I pulled in Buster’s driveway during my last visit.  Buster was in his 90s.  He lived high up in the mountains, on the old home place, where you had to cross the state line once or twice on a twisty two-track road to get to his house.  You couldn’t see his house till you had missed it and had to turn around, but he could see you coming for 2 miles.  And that was long enough to get his gun and have it loaded, ready and leveled.  After all, no one had any business up there in “them mountains” that didn’t live there or wasn’t the postal service.  He just knew you were up to no-good – and most of the time he would have been right.  Buster was absolutely no nonsense, and everyone knew it.  I doubt he ever had to use that gun, because everyone knew unquestionably that he would.

That day, I pulled into the path to his house and pulled up, stopping maybe 20 or 30 feet before getting to his house.  He was sitting on the porch, the shotgun already on his lap and leveled.  There were only 2 things to do.

One – back the hell up and leave, or two, get out of the car, start walking toward him, smiling and waving.  Buster understands friendly gestures.  And I hadn’t come that far to turn around and leave, at least not without getting shot at, at least once.  Most people give warning shots.

My cousin, on the other hand, riding shotgun, pardon the pun, started muttering things about this not being such a good idea.  She slid down behind the dash as I got out of the car and started my friendly advance towards Buster.  About half way to the house, he lowered the gun, put it down and got up and walked out and gave me a huge hug.  I went back and got my cousin, and we went in and had a lovely visit with Uncle Buster, his Beagles and Chihuahua, Baby.  I still regret not bringing one of his puppies home.

Now, I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to anyway.  Uncle Buster was one of the handsomest men I’ve ever met.  Even into his 90s, that man was not just handsome on the outside, but a lovely person inside too – and fun – such fun to be with.  Here’s Buster at about age 85.

That’s Buster’s “official” picture, but I like the candid shots better – not to mention he didn’t look like himself without a hat.

Now Uncle Buster gave me an unexpected gift during that visit.  And no, I’m not talking about DNA – although he willingly gave that too.  He got a box of photos out from the bottom of a cupboard and in that box, we found photos that I never knew existed of John Y. Estes, our ancestor.  Buster thought Uncle George had already given them to me.  I don’t think George, his brother, had them, or he would have.

So Buster and my cousin and I spent a lovely afternoon at his kitchen table going through old photos and scanning them.  Here’s one of Buster on a plow in his younger years.  No tractors back then.

Buster told me stories that George hadn’t.  Stories about the family, about who did what to whom, and when, and why.  Stories about when his only son died in the Air Force and about his wife, before she passed over too.  And little tidbits here and there, like he thinks he recalls being told that my great-great-grandmother, Rutha, had red hair.  Buster’s parents knew Rutha, of course.  She may have had red hair, but according to 23andMe, I don’t carry the red hair gene.

As the morning wore on, the neighbors started spontaneously arriving, some on foot, some by car.  They saw my Jeep on the road too, and they knew it was a “strange vehicle” and with out-of-state plates, so it didn’t take long for their curiosity to get the best of them.  Buster wound up having a homecoming party and he didn’t even know he was expecting company.  Finally, we decided to go into town for lunch, so Buster could introduce me and my cousin to the rest of the “folk” at the one restaurant in all of Hancock County.  Buster was clearly tickled to have company.

I looked at Buster and Uncle George both and I saw my father, or the ghost of my father.  I just wanted to be positive.  I had to know – for sure.  I learned a long time ago, you can look at someone and see anything you want to see.

After we got past the shotgun on the porch incident, getting a DNA sample was a piece of cake.  I really struggled with how I was going to explain DNA for genealogy and why I needed it, to Buster.  It was, of course, complicated by his hearing loss.  I was all prepared with the best explanation I could come up with, along with drawings – and I finally decided to bag the explanation altogether and just to ask him to DNA test as a favor to me because I needed to prove I was really an Estes.  Sometimes, that’s the most effective approach.

He was perfectly willing.  However, he wanted something in return.  He wanted to go and visit his sister together.  Now, I had never met his sister, in all those years I visited Uncle George.  She was busy with her family and not interested in genealogy or meeting distant family, so I was a bit hesitant, but I could tell Buster really wanted to go and visit with her, so off we went.

Buster’s wife had passed away in 1991 and Buster had always had a “girlfriend,” never anyone he was terribly serious about, but someone to go and have lunch or dinner with and to visit with from time to time.  In fact, I think Buster might have had several girlfriends.  He certainly could have.  A man in his 70s and 80s who has enough money, a farm, can drive, has a (relatively) new truck and doesn’t want anyone to take care of him is a hot commodity anyplace!  And he was good looking and a respectful gentleman to boot!

We arrived at Buster’s sister’s house.  I was a bit hesitant, but Buster walked right in, put his arm around me, and told her that he wanted to introduce her to his new wife.

Ummm….I was not prepared for this.

You could have knocked me over with a feather.  You could have knocked her over with a feather too.  I’ll never forget the look on her face.  Buster was in hog heaven. She was not amused.  I was in shock, but recovered before she did.  Let’s just say that visit did not go well, as far as I was concerned.  Buster thought it went swimmingly!  My cousin was mortified.

Here’s how it all went down.

Buster – “I want you to meet someone.”

Sister – “I heard you were in town with someone for lunch.”

Buster – “Yep, I was.  We went to the courthouse.”

Sister – “What were you doing at the courthouse?”

Buster  – Long pause, deep breath, big smile….

Buster – “Gettin’ married.”

Sister – Shocked, horrified look, mouth falls open.

Buster – “Yep, we just got hitched.  What do you think of my new bride?  Ain’t she beautiful?”  Kisses me on the cheek.

Sister – trying to recover….immediately looks at my hand and sees a wedding ring …talking to Buster, ignoring me, like I’m not there…

Sister – “I heard she was from out of town.”

Buster – “Yep.”

Sister – now looking at me…”So what brings you here?”

Nothing like being direct.

Buster – “She came here to marry me.

Sister – hands on hips, getting agitated

Sister – “Well, how do you two know each other?”

Buster – “This is Bobbi, our cousin.  Don’t you remember her???”

Sister – “WHAT????  YOU MARRIED A COUSIN???”

Buster – looking at me… “Well, we ain’t gonna have any more kids, I don’t think, are we?”

Me – shyly… “Well, I was kinda countin on it.”

Sister’s mouth fell open again….

I finally started laughing, uncontrollably, so hard I couldn’t talk.  The more I tried to stop, the worse it got.  So did Buster.  We left.  I told him he was bad for doing that, in between guffaws, when I could speak.  Tears were streaming down my face I was laughing so hard  I could barely get my breath.  Buster shook his head yes, said he knew, and kept right on laughing too.  I bet she never forgave him – or me.  My cousin was even more mortified, having been the honorary maid of honor at the mythical wedding.  Thankfully, by this time, she was laughing too.

I laugh to this day thinking about that entire bizarre situation.  Buster’s sister was NOT amused – and I heard tell that Buster’s girlfriends weren’t either. His sister called them right up and tattled on him.  So had the girls at the restaurant in town.  You can’t do anything there without everyone knowing about it.  He probably “paid” for that little trick for years!  But knowing Buster, he probably thought it was well worth it and was right proud of himself!

However, at the end of the day, my cousin and I returned to Middlesboro with a DNA kit complete with Buster’s DNA (and signature), scanned photos, including many I had never seen, and another chapter is a set of stories that never seems to end in the Estes family.  We had a lovely day, my Jeep was undamaged, which is not always the case in these remote locations, and we had not been shot at.  And amazingly, my cousin still travels with me.

I couldn’t have been more grateful – for the DNA and the wonderful memories, old and new.  And my cousins, I love my cousins – the amused, the unamused and the co-conspirators.  My life would be so diminished without them.  There is nothing in this world as uplifting and bonding as laughing so hard you cry with your cousins.

And Buster, bless his heart, God love his soul, as they say down south, may he Rest in Peace – at least till his sister catches up with him.

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