COMBS and Printing File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Matt Combs. matt_combs@juno.com USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations.
_________________________________________________________________________ John Slidell COMBS "grew up at the printer's case", apprenticing under his father John Joseph COMBS. He has always listed his occupation as printer in the census records. He died while in the employ of the Cumberland Evening Times in 1909. He also worked for the Piedmont Independent in Piedmont, WV, and was editor and publisher of the Mountain Democrat Newspaper in Oakland, Garrett Co, MD. As you can see, he also moved around in the newspaper trade. He was a member of the Typographical Union. I have copies of the Mountain Democrat "banners" with John S. Combs name prominently at the top of every paper. This paper is available at the main Oakland Library. The COMBS married with the SEABERs in the Westernport area. Charles W. SEABER, brother in-law was foreman of the Times composing room. I located his grave in Rose Hill Cemetary and it had a unique carving on the large stone. I couldn't figure out what it was until I later found out he also worked for the papers -- it was a printing press, with paper going through the rollers. John Joseph COMBS also learned the printing trade from his father. In John Slidell COMBS' obit it states J.J. was founder of the Romney Review. I have yet to find this paper. The "History of Hampshire County, WV" by Swisher and Maxwell lists a John G. COMBS as part owner of the Virginia Argus, a democratic newspaper in 1857. They held it for 3 years and 9 mos. I think the John G. is John J. since he is the only COMBS "printer" around that time. I can't find any other references to the Virginia Argus. In JJ's second wife's obit, he was listed as being employed by the South Branch Intelligencer. In the 1900 Census, he changed his occupation to list as "editor" instead of "printer". JJ had a son, James Ream COMBS who bought the Piedmont Independent after he was injured in a train wreck. He reportedly built up that newspaper to the highest daily circulation in Mineral County at the time. Another son Theodore Sutton COMBS reportedly had some printing experience as well, although it is only mentioned in family researcher correspondence (so far). At the time of John Joseph COMBS death, he was the oldest living printer in the United States. He lived to be about 90 or so. He was one of the oldest and longest residents of Hampshire County at the time of his death, and his death was "picked up" by newspapers across the state (as stated in his wife's obit). John Joseph's father was William Henry Harrison COMBS. He was reportedly an employee of the Philadelphia Gazette run by Ben Franklin. There are some researchers transcribing the Piedmont WV Herald and Independant newspapers. The transcriptions are at the Genealogical Society room on Bowen Street. A person down state in MD transcribes them, and another volunteer indexes them. They have been immensely valuable to me. A neat thing about the COMBS/SEABERs running the Piedmont papers was that they often "filled in" with local interest stories. These often referred to the COMBS family. I highly recommend these transcriptions for anybody with Piedmont, WV or Westernport connections. Submitted by Matt Combs matt_combs@juno.com