THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Letters tell of
family travels—Combs, Hendren,
Souther Families
Thomas Hicks Combs (ca. 1765 -
?) married
Kizziah Hayes (1782-?) on February 3, 1801. Their daughter, Mary Combs
(1807-1894) married John Souther (1803-1889) on December 7, 1824 in
Wilkes
County, NC. Mary and John Souther would eventually settle in the
Choestoe
District of Union County about 1836, but not before they and some of
Mary's
brothers and sisters and parents migrated to Indiana.
Thomas Hicks Combs and his wife
Kizziah
lived in the Brushy Branch section of Wilkes County, NC on Hunting
Creek. One
of their daughters, Nancy Combs (1808-1888) who married Jabez Hendren
in 1829,
did not migrate to Indiana but continued to live on the farm at Hunting
Creek.
In the early 1830's, the mother and father and several of their married
children set out for Indiana. It is said that Kizziah walked the
distance to
Indiana. A letter sent to North Carolina stated that after she arrived
there,
she fell out the door of the house and broke her leg and could never
walk
again, although otherwise she was in good health.
It is interesting to read some
old letters
preserved in family archives to learn of the travels of these couples
who left
Wilkes County to seek their fortunes elsewhere.
A letter written November 29,
1835 was
postmarked in Lewisville, Indiana, Rush County, December 11, 1835. From
a
younger sister of Mary Combs Souther, Elizabeth Combs (1814-1836), who
married
Jehu Hendren in Wilkes County January 9, 1833, the letter was addressed
to
Jehu's father William Hendren in Wilkes County. The Combs and Hendren
families
must have lived close enough together in Wilkes to visit each other,
for the
letter asked that members of the Combs family be given news from
Indiana.
I reproduce here sections of the
1835
letter, which gives information about how those who went to Rush
County,
Indiana to settle were faring:
"…We are well at present,
through the
kind mercy of God. We received your letter the 21st day of this month
(November, 1835) and were glad to hear that you are all well.
"I made a tolerable crop of corn
and
flax. My corn was injured a good deal with the frost. All late corn
planted in
this country is frost bitten. I can pay fifty bushels of corn toward
the mare I
bought. The man says he will wait 'till next fall for the balance, or
take it
in work and allow two bushels for a day's work. Corn is selling for 25
and 50
cents per bushel. Wheat is selling for one dollar and 12 and ½
cents per
bushel. Pork is selling for 3 to 4 dollars per hundred. I have engaged
3
hundred weight at 3.25 per hundred. I have ten head of hogs. I have two
head of
cattle and we get more milk than we can use three times a day. I have a
first-rate young horse. I am a little in debt, but I can pay when due,
I
believe.
A child named William, after his
grandfather William Hendren, had been born since the couple arrived in
Rush
County, Indiana. They have this to say about their child:
"William H. could walk before he
was a
year old, and began to talk tolerable smart. He is a tolerably large
child for
his age.”
Health is important, as they
write in the
letter: "I (Jehu) have been as well as ever in my life since I left
North
Carolina. I weigh one hundred and sixty-five pounds. There has been a
great
deal of fever and ague in this county this year. It is enough to scare
a
fellow."
"We had prospects for a very
great
harvest but the frost destroyed most of it. I expect to move onto my
own land
next fall if I live."
Several of the Indiana relatives
put their
own pages in the letter. Asenath Ellis Combs, who had married William
Combs in
Wilkes County January 10, 1822, wrote in her portion of the letter:
"William and John Souther have gone to Cincinnati to haul goods for one
of
the neighbors for one dollar per hundredweight." Asenath also urged
William Hendren to hurry to Indiana to buy the rest of the Souther
property,
telling what good farm and pastureland it was, and stating the purchase
"would make William Hendren a rich man if he would come and buy it."
She stated Souther was willing to sell it for $300 "and the land is
well
worth $1,000."
Jehu Hendren wrote news about
his brother
in law: "John Souther moved to this country and bought 180 acres of
land
and sold 80 acres to (Thomas) Hicks Combs (his father-in-law). He says
he will
sell the balance and move from this country, for there is too much mud
and cold
and ague for him. He talks of moving to Georgia."
Not long after the letter was
written, John
and Mary Combs Souther did leave Indiana and move to Georgia, for they
had
purchased and settled on a farm in Choestoe District by 1836.
Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator, freelance wirter,
poet, and historian. She may be reached
at email [email protected]; phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708
Cedarwood
Road, Milledgeville, GA 31061-2411
Updated May 3,
2009
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