Jason Giles McCombs, prominent lawyer, ex-judge of the County Court of Sequoyah County, and a leading and influential citizen of Sallisaw, is a native Mississippian, born in Tate County, October 15, 1863, a son of William F. and Margaret Caroline (Jackson) McCombs. the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Alabama. The McCombs are of Scotch-Irish lineage and in America are descendants of three brothers who came from Scotland at an early date, one going to the North and the other two drifting to the South, where one of the latter located in North Carolina and the other in Texas. The father of Jason G. McCombs was reared in North Carolina and Mississippi and was living in the latter state at the time of his enlistment in the Confederate army for service during the war between the states, in which he met a soldier’s death on the battlefield of the second engagement at Corinth. Mrs. McCombs later married Larkin W. Echols, who was a planter and resident of the vicinity of Huntsville, Alabama, in which city Judge McCombs was reared in the home of Mr. Echols’ mother.

Jason Giles McCombs received his preliminary education in the public schools of Huntsville, Alabama, and after some further preparation entered the University of Alabama, from which institution he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1880. Later he pursued a law course in the same institution, being given his Bachelor of Laws degree, but did not at once enter upon the practice of his calling, but instead went to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where for nine years he was assistant cashier of the Merchants Bank, now the Merchants National Bank. His health tailing him, he resigned his position, and after traveling for a time located, in 1893, at Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he was soon admitted to the bar. Not long thereafter, he was appointed by United States District Judge Charles B. Stewart, to the position of United States commissioner at Tahlequah. His duties in this capacity required his holding court in portions of what are now Cherokee, Adair and Sequoyah counties, and in 1896 he located at Sallisaw, where he has since resided. He held the position of commissioner until January 1, 1900, and at that time engaged actively in the practice of his chosen profession.

From the time of the organization of the Democratic Central Committee in Indian Territory, Judge McCombs has been active in the councils of his political party. He was one of the organizers of this committee and up to statehood and after, until 1912, served as a member thereof. He was a member of the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention, in which body he served as a member of the corporative committee, of which, as chairman, he wrote the corporative part of the constitution which was adopted. Among other positions held by Judge McCombs was that of city attorney of Sallisaw, in which he acted for several years, and in 1912 his friends prevailed upon him to make the race for the county judgeship. He won the nomination of his party for this office, and in the election that followed was successful over his opponent, but served only one term, when he retired to again devote himself to the general practice of his profession. He is known as one of the leaders of the Sequoyah County bar, a man thoroughly versed in every department of his profession and a supporter of its highest ideals and best ethics. He is a Master Mason and a Pythian, and a communicant of the Episcopal Church.

In 1885 Judge McCombs was married to Miss Lillie Marcum, a daughter of Col. Tom Marcum, of Muskogee, one of the most distinguished legists of Oklahoma. Mrs. McCombs death occurred in 1899, at which time she left two children: Lillian, who is now Mrs. W. V. McClure of Muskogee, Oklahoma; and Thomas Marcum, a literary and law graduate of the University of Oklahoma, who is associated with his father in the practice of law at Sallisaw, under the firm name of McCombs & McCombs. In 1904 Judge McCombs married for his second wife Miss Jessie Rigsby, of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, but a native of Illinois. One daughter, Margaret Caroline, has been born to this union.