Ninth Generation

488. Mason* COMBS^1306,1508 was born in 1714 in , Richmond Co., VA. He signed a will on 17 Oct 1780 in , Surry Co., NC. 17 Oct 1780
" For 100 pounds gold and silver to John Pipes all my lands, livestock, personalty. Witnessed by John English, Betse Mosby. John Pipes signs the bill of sale to William T. Lewis on 21 Jan., 1783. It is recorded in Aug. Court of 1784. He died in 1784 in , Surry Co., NC. He had his estate probated in Nov 1785 in , Surry Co., NC.¹³⁰⁶ The inventory of Mason Comb's Estate was returned by John Combs in Nov 1785 and it lists 400 acres of land and notes against John Pipes, Nathan Allan, Jesse Franklin and Wm Combs.

Surry Co., Wills 1771-1827Abstrated by Jo White Linn, Gpc. Inc. 16 Nov 1784 - Nov 1785

(NC State Archives C.R. 092.508.14):

Mason COMBS Inventory Nov 1785 Recorded Wm T. L. Due from Wm COMBS L24.00
Jno COMBS Administrator Nov 16 1784 T and Invitary of Mason COMBS Estate Deseased four hundred acres of Land one still three feather beads and furniture
Eight head of Cattel one maare and a Chist one Table A Loome and three slaws one tin funnal too hoghs one trunk one pot one skillot one Duchovin [dutch oven] five pounds eighteen shillings against Nathan ALLIN a note of hand of Nine pounds against
Nathan ALLAN a note of hand against John PIPS [PIPES] Sr for four pounds & 10 shillings A Note of hand against Jesse FRANKLIN of L 4 pounds 2 shillings & one Cask A crop of corn and some tobaco one Bason 2 piggons & a quart mughs one sotgun 2 aces 2 hoos 1 Maitock 2 ploughs one pair of stillords 1 saddle one little whele 2 pair of cards one Clevis one
Chern 2 Chears and soforth [the remainder is missing]

(Transcribed by George Baumbach) Rec. Nov. Ct. 1785, Surry Co WB2:102.
About 1750 Mason went from the tidewater area of Virginia to the Shenendoah Valley and from there on to Surrey Co., NC (area became Wilkes Co.) 8 Aug 1785 Joseph Porter was a bondsman for John Combs as Administrator of the estate of Mason Combs, deceased. John Combs in Wilkes Co. by 1779, Geo. by 18 Feb 1780, Hicks by 3 Nov 1795. Only Geo and William in 1787.

Mason COMBS, Sr. is first recorded when named in the will of his father who bequeathed to "my youngest son Mason COMBES two hundred acres of Land Lying upon the Branches of Pumans End in the County of Essex--being part of a Devident of Land formerly belonging to Warwick CAMMACK to him and his Heirs for Evermore Which aforesaid Land is allready Laid of…" John COMBS also specified that "my said Wife doe take into her Care and Costodie my daughter Aymee and my Son Mason as also their parts of my personall Estate as aforesaid after the same is devided and the sd. Children and their Estate to remaine with her untill
they shall Arive to the Age of Eighteen years or the Day of Marriage and that then they the sd. Ayme and Mason bee possessed of the same to them and their Heirs for Evermore…" He also appointed his wife Hannah COMBES and John ANDERSON joint executors. (Richmond DB3:300)

Mason COMBS was still a child when his father died, and thus far, we do not know either where he spent his childhood, or with whom. Unfortunately, nothing more is known of Hannah either. What is known is that John ANDERSON, the co-executor of John COMBS' estate, died in 1721 in King George Co VA (a descendant county of Richmond), leaving a will in which he named his "brother in law" William BROWN his executor, and stated, "My Will and Desire is that whatsoever I am justly indebted to Mason COMBS be paid unto him."

For reasons unknown, William BROWN failed to comply with John ANDERSON'S directive, and as a result, Mason filed suit against BROWN to recover his share of his father's estate in Westmoreland Co VA:

31 May 1733 (Westmoreland Order Book, 1731-1739:89) Combs vs BROWN, ANDERSON… In the suit in Chancery between Macon COMBS an Infant by Edward BARRADALL his Next Friend Compt and John [sic] BROWN Exr of John ANDERSON decd Respondt & the sd Respondt is ordered to give in their answer to the sd Complts bill at next Court or be … five Shillngs.

27 Nov 1733 (Westmoreland Order Book, 1731-1739:110-110a) Combs agt BROWN Exr of ANDERSON…. Mason COMBS an infant under twenty one years of age by Edward BARRADALL his next ffriend at December Court 1732 Exhibitted a bill to this Court Setting in Chancery against William BROWN Exr of the Last will and Testament of John ANDERSON Decd… setting forth that… father John COMBS Late of the County of Richmond decd by his last will and Testament in writing … give all his personal Estate to be Equally Divided between his wife and six children and the Complainants part thereof payed him at the age of eighteen
years or Day of marryage and of his said will appointed his wife Hannah Combs and one John ANDERSON Exrs who after the Death of the Said John COMBS proved the Said will and returned an inventory of the Testators Estate, that the Complainants part thereof amounting to about Sixteen pounds was by the Consent of Ye Sd. Orators mother putt into the hands of His Said John ANDERSON who is since Dead having first made his last will in writeing and thereon Expressly Desired that whatsoever …. Unto the Complt should be paid unto him and of his said will appointed the Respondt his Sole Executr. Who after the Death of the sd Testator proved the Said will and took upon him The Execution thereof the Complaint being Lately arived to the age of Eighteen years hath Severall times Requested the Rspondt to pay him out of the Estate of the Said ANDERSON his part of Sd ffathers Estate putt into the Said
ANDERSON hands but he absolutely Refused So to Do under Severall … tht the Complt is Remedied… sd. Respondt. Might … Answer … may be compelled to pay the complaint out of the said ANDERSONS Estate So much as Shall appear to be justly Due unto him and that the Court would make Such further Order and …. Now at this Court William BROWN the Respondt putt in his answer in writeing to the said bill thereon confessing it to be true that the Complts part of his fathers Estate was putt into the hands of the said John ANDERSON but what it amounted unto he Know not only that he finds by Sum papers or memorandums Left by the
Said Anderson that the part or proportion of Each of the Children of the Complaints father Due upon account of their Fathers Estate amounts to fourteen pounds Eighteen Shillings & three pence half penny for which Sum the Respondt was ready and willing that the Complaint should have … Considered by the Court they do order and Decree that the Respondt Wm. BROWN Exr of the Last will and testament of the sd. John ANDERSON Decd do pay unto the Complt. The affosd. Sum of fourteen pounds Eighteen Shillings & three pence half penny current money out of the Said ANDERSONS Estate in his hands with Costs als Exo…. (Abstracted by C. Hammett)

"Mason COMBS paid yearly rent to the Estate of Capt. William BRENT in 1746, 1747, 1748, 1749, 1750." (Stafford Co, VA Will Abstracts of 1748-1767, Ruth & Sam Sparacio, The Antient Press, McLean, VA.)
(Stafford WB, Liber O:133) The Estate of Ann PARSON, Funeral Expenses; Tobo [tobacco?] paid Mason COMBS; paid John PEYTON, Ben STROTHER, Charles HARDING; paid George ASHBURY, EE p John WILSER

On p. 37 of The Combes Genealogy, its author stated:

"…Mason Combs shoved off from Stafford, in 1750…After the birth of Wilmot, his last child in Stafford, there is no further reference to him in the Tidewater country, or Stafford. First mention of Mason in the records of the Valley is on May 28, 1751, when he and others are ordered by the County Court of Frederick to keep in repair a road crossing the Shenandoah at a place called the Brush Bottom Ford. (This date is a little before the birth of his last child, in Stafford; but he had come to the Valley the year before, to look the country over, take up land, and later move his family over).
"Next mention of Mason is three years later, regarding the same road. He lived in the vicinity of Brush Bottom Ford, on the north side of the South Fork of the Shenandoah, four miles from Front Royal. It is ten miles (as the crow flies from Strassburg, and twenty-four from Winchester. State Highway No. 12 runs close to the vicinity, which is the first eastward turn of the river below McCoy's Ford. As nearly as can be determined, the locality is less than a mile
upstream from the Asbury school, but on the other, or north side of the River. The Norfolk and Western R. R. runs just opposite, on the south side. It was in this section that Mason's son John and his family lived until around 1780."

Mason COMBS and his family are found in the company of Simon and Judith TOLSON Stacey and their family, also from Overwharton Parish of Stafford County
In 1775, Mason COMBS, Sr. is listed on Surry tax lists with three tithes (yet another son?).

Most of Mason's children in Surry Co, NC, and probably "old Mason himself (as he is referred to in later records), were staunch Tories during the early years of the Revolutionary War, and in Aug of 1780, Mason's son-in-law, William RIDGE (m Winnifred Combs) was killed at the Battle of Hanging Rock in South Carolina. Mason* COMBS and Sarah* Harding RICHARDSON? were married in 1740.

489. Sarah* Harding RICHARDSON?¹⁵⁰⁹ was born in 1706. She died in 1832 in , , KY. There is some unproven information that suggests that Sarah's maiden name
was Mason. Children were:

244	i.	John* COMBS.
	ii.	Josiah COMBS was born in 1738. LDS Family Ancestral File A Study in Comparative Philosophy and Genealogy by Dr. Josiah H. Combs
	iii.	William COMBS was born on 28 Nov 1740 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co., VA. LDS Family Ancestral File A Study in Comparative Philosophy and Genealogy by Dr. Josiah H. Combs William and Mason Jr. went to Russell Co., VA
	iv.	Ann COMBS was born on 28 Mar 1743 in Overwharton Parish, Safford Co., VA. LDS Family Ancestral File A Study in Comparative Philosophy and Genealogy by Dr. Josiah H. Combs
	v.	Sarah COMBS was born on 24 Feb 1744 in Overwharton Parish, Safford Co., VA. LDS Family Ancestral File A Study in Comparative Philosophy and Genealogy by Dr. Josiah H. Combs
	vi.	Mason COMBS1510 was born on 21 Feb 1747 in Overwharton Parish, Safford Co., VA. 1. Mason Jr. witnessed Henry Harrison Combs Marriage in 1788 in Montgomery Co. VA. (Henry was son of Mason Jr's brother John and one of eight brothers.) 2. Mason Jr. and his brother William went to Russell Co., VA.
	vii.	Winnie COMBS was born on 14 May 1749 in Overwharton Parish, Safford Co., VA. LDS Family Ancestral File A Study in Comparative Philosophy and Genealogy by Dr. Josiah H. Combs
	viii.	Wilmot COMBS was born on 5 Oct 1751 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co., VA.1511 LDS Family Ancestral File A Study in Comparative Philosophy and Genealogy by Dr. Josiah H. Combs