Henry Coombs - Elizabeth (Surname Unknown) Family Group

What We Know About This Family

An Overview of Their Lives

The Coombs family came early to New England. Many who have researched them believe them to have come from Cornwall or The Jersey Islands. Numerous family members existed, and I have done the best I can to pull together facts from numerous sources.

Henry, a fisherman, married his wife Elizabeth before 1635 when he was was a proprietor of Salem in 1635. Some of their children were born in Salem. The birth dates are in all cases estimated and should be read as approximations. The Coombs had probably moved to Marblehead by 1646 when he purchased about eight acres of land. In December 1648, Henry and others were recorded as having lots of land laid out in the swamp. He sold a cow lease to John Legg in 1653. He was chosen as a way warden in 1656 and had temporary charge of the ferry, near which they lived. In 1662 for reasons unknown, the townspeople sought to replace him in his position with the ferry. Their youngest child was born about 1664. I have seen some speculation that because of the long child-bearing interval, he may have had two wives,but I can find no evidence of that. In 1667, complaints against him were gathered for having made slanderous statements against our ancestor the Reverend Walton. In 1668, he was one of 85 men who signed a petition to the Massachusetts Bay Colony government. On 30 Aug 1669, a jury of inquest found that Henry Coombs had "drowned by accident, being drunk." Administration of his estate was granted to his wife and children in Oct 1669.

Elizabeth outlived him by forty years and saw the marriages of most of her children. In 1670, she conveyed a half acre of land to her daughter, Susannah, and her newly married husband, Francis Grant, our direct ancestors. In 1685 Elizabeth married Stephen Griggs, a seaman who had settled in Marblehead in 1664 at the age of 25. I could not find exactly when they married, but in 1685, Moses Maverick filed a suit against them both for reasons unspecified in the record. Elizabeth's son-in-law, Francis Grant, administered the estates of both Elizabeth and Stephen Griggs in June 1712. Their dates of death are unknown.

Additional Information About the Children: (be sure to visit the Documents section for many details)

• Michael Coombs and his wife settled in Salem.


• Humphrey Coombs married Bathsheba Rayment (Raymond), the daughter of Richard Raymond, a fisherman/mariner and the owner of much land in Salem, and his wife, Judith. At the age of 14, a man was tried with "attempting the chastity" of Bathsheba and another young woman. Bathsheba's father-in-law bequeathed Humphrey a half acre in Salem and 500 of the 1000 acres he had purchased from Joshua Indian.


• Henry Coombs married Sarah Preble and settled in her part of New England in York County, Maine. Sarah was the daughter of Abraham and Judith Tilden Preble. From an article "The Preble Family" in the NEHGR Volume xxii "Sarah Preble was born somewhere about 1659, and was yet in her infancy at the death of her father. She married Henry Coombs and died Oct. 25, 1724, aged about 65 years. Henry Coombs died Feb. 10, 1725, aged about 80, and was therefore fifteen years her senior. Before her marriage she gave birth to a son whom she called ZebuIon. She not only acknowledged this son, but insisted upon his having her maiden name, "Preble." Hence his descendants are said
  to have obtained the name of Preble by " reputation. " It is not known whether Henry Coombs was the father of her child, or whether she had other children after her marriage. In the course of time her son became a man, married Hannah, daughter of Philip Welch, and in turn becoming the father of a family, and to evince his love and affection
  for his mother, gave to his eldest child the name of Sarah." Other sources give us two husbands previous to Henry Coombs 1) Joseph Weare and 2) Abraham Parker. Zebulon Preble was born in 1687 after her first marriage in 1663 and well before her last marriage in 1713. I don't have a marriage date for her second marriage, but I believe she was a widow when Zebulon was born. In the will left by Henry Coombes, we learn that he had bought land from our ancestors David Oliver and his son, David, Jr. He provided for his wife Sarah, and left his estate to clergymen and to his "cousin" Samuel Ingerson. (Samuel Ingersoll was the son of Henry's sister, Mary Coombes and her husband, John). Zebulon received in 1728 from Samuel Ingersoll a settlement of 40 shillings on the estate of Henry Coombs "by virtue of my relation to Sarah, the wife of the deceased, who was my natural mother."


• Susanna Coombes and her husband Francis Grant were our direct ancestors and have their own family group page. They were married about the time of her father's death, and her mother, Elizabeth, conveyed to them a half acre of land in Marblehead, where they remained for their lifetime.


• Elizabeth Coombs and her first husband Edward Humphrey had five children before his death. She then married Thomas Trefry, a prominent Marblehead citizen with Cornish roots and at least two children from a previous marriage.


• Mary Coombs' husband, John Ingersoll, was the son of John and Judith Felton Ingersoll of Salem, and the nephew of Deacon Nathaniel Ingersoll of Salem Village. They made their home in Salem with their five children. Their son, Samuel, was the heir to his Uncle Henry's property in Maine.
• Richard Coombs and his wife, Margaret, had one child, a daughter Brigette. The widow Margaret married a man named John Harris after Richard's death, and they had two sons.


• John Coomes died at about age 26 in Salem.


• Deborah Coomes settled in Scituate when she first married a Mr. Sharpe. They had a daughter Benoni. Her second husband, Joseph Gannet, a farmer, was born and died in Scituate when he was in his early thirties. He and Deborah had five children. Her second husband died, and she with her third husband, Joseph House, had five children.
  

Proof of Relationship

Proof of relationship is lies with the vital records, genealogical articles, and probate administrations.

What Else We Need to Learn

The goal of this project is to trace every line of ancestry to the arrival of its first immigrant to America. The basic information of each couple is considered complete when we know the dates of birth, marriage, and death for both spouses. their parents' names (or whether they were the immigrant), and the child or children in our ancestry line.

The research on this family is complete, but later research may provide more information.