As my daddy used to say, "It's a wise child that knows his own father." Of course this was more true before DNA tests became common. There are several stories of my heritage that should have come with at least some genetic evidence that just didn't show up when I paid to spit in a tube. I came out to be about 70% mixed UK with some Scandinavia and traces of surrounding western Europe. Also, it is all consistent with Appalachia and Ozarks.
My daddy was a Combs, and if you know about Southern people, you know they like to talk family. It is a great pastime to talk about who your people are and trace if you have shared kin. But there was a story, a bit of a mystery, saying that my daddy (and his daddy, and his daddy's daddy) should not have been Combs, but Edwards. It was even speculated that Asbury's daddy may have killed Nancy Edwards husband to marry her.
I never knew what to make of that story. No one seemed to have proof. I was born and raised in California, so I wasn't going to run into the family of Combs' in the same area that disputed our right to the name. Maybe it was true, maybe not, but it was long ago and far away.
Then, in a college class in California I met someone who said her mom was a Combs from North Carolina. Wouldn't it be funny if we were distant relatives? I met her mom when she hosted an end of the year pool party for our choir. The mom was born in the same small town where my dad was born! We started comparing relatives, and..."No, we are not related." and she shut down. She looked at me like dirt and did not say another word to me the rest of the time I was in her home.
This was around 1980, still well before the internet, and I had lost touch with my dad's side of the family. But these days, there are all these additional resources right here under my fingers. And yet, there is still some mystery. Did Zedekiah kill Nancy Edwards husband, marry her, and giver her baby his name?
I have found some factual traces of the tale, but not the whole truth. I'm a story person, and detailed research that doesn't link to the bigger story can feel like sifting sand to me. This is further frustrated by the timeline; the originating events happened during the Civil War so small town records are often spotty. As far as I can confirm, old Asbury Combs was born in 1863. This is speculated as the year that his parents married. Zedekiah Combs was 48 and Nancy Edwards was 16. Her father was Jonathan Edwards and there is no mention of a previous husband that I can find. I did run across one account that placed their marriage four years after Asbury's birth.
Now none of this proves anything beyond a disturbing age difference by current standards. It sure sounds like Asbury was conceived out of wedlock and it is hard to say for sure who his daddy was. I could make up a story about sweet young Nancy being assaulted and Zedekiah defending her honor, shooting the man, and then marrying her to give her son a name. It is hard to say, and I sure would like to know the facts, if they are out there someplace.
I do find it interesting to note that when Zedekiah passed on he was buried in the Edwards family cemetery in Fancy Gap, Virginia, just 21 years after Asbury's birth. This tells me he had a measure of respect or acceptance from the Edwards family. And if Asbury was born a bastard, by blood or by Zedekiah stepping up to care for Nancy, I see no hindrance in claiming the name of Combs.
As far as I have been able to trace, the majority of my ancestors immigrated to America before or during the early years of the United States. They mostly entered through Virginia. My dad's people settled into the mountains around the border of western North Carolina and Virginia. My Mom's people settled mostly around the Ozarks in northwest Arkansas. I have no clue if they left the UK by choice. They were not famous, well educated, or large landowners. History would suggest that at least some of them came as indentured servants or jumped ship.
I found this photo in one of my mom's boxes. I'm not sure who they are, but have been told that they are Combs. It only had a note on the back reading "Haymeadow, 1910" It is the oldest family photo that has come down to me. In the way of family myths, it has a glow about it. Whatever facts may eventually be found, in my eyes I have found no certain dishonor in this story.
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