Combs, William R., Papers, 1846-1868 (C3942)

.2 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

The papers of William R. Combs, a Baptist preacher in Kentucky in the mid-nineteenth century, consist of a journal describing his preaching and pastoral obligations, which was also used for financial transactions, recipes, and cures. The papers also include sermon texts, essays, and legal papers.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Combs Papers were donated to the State Historical Society of Missouri by his great-great-grandson, McCormick Wilson, on 17 April 1995 (SHS Accession No. 3052).

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

William R. Combs left Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Fort Wayne, Indiana, in March 1838. He was licensed to preach as a Baptist minister in Fort Wayne in October 1839. He left Fort Wayne for Georgetown, Kentucky, in May 1843, where he attended college for three years. After college he pastored in Louisville, Kentucky, (1846-1847), Danville, Kentucky, (1847-1851), and Cave Run, Kentucky (1851-1854). Combs married Fannie Orr on 25 December 1851. He may later have moved to Butler County, Missouri.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The William R. Combs Papers consist of a journal and miscellaneous papers that primarily document Combs's work as a Baptist preacher in central Kentucky in the mid-nineteenth century. The papers consist of a Journal and Miscellaneous material.

The Journal is arranged in three sections. The first contains ten pages of cooking recipes and medicinal recipes for humans and animals as well as financial records for various transactions (purchases, wages paid, receipts). The second section consists of a diary of forty-eight pages chronicling Combs's ministry as a preacher and pastor in various churches in central Kentucky from 1846 through November 1854. The diary lists sermons preached--where, when, number attending and numbers added to the church; weddings and funerals; and meetings and revivals attended. The third section, beginning from the back of the journal, includes a list of scripture texts suitable for different occasions, financial accounts, medical recipes, marriage certifications, topics preached at the Fourth Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, work records and wages paid to individual hired laborers, and loans of lumber.

The Miscellaneous material comprises partial or complete texts of five sermons, two historical essays, a recipe for hog cholera, a land deed and indenture for Butler County, Missouri, a selection from Arthur's Home Magazine (October, 1868), and a copy of Farm and Fireside (June, 1889). The folder also includes five photocopied pages from The Wilson Family: Somerset and Barter Hill Branch by Harry Herndon McLean, a genealogy of the Wilson family, into which a daughter or granddaughter of Combs married.

FOLDER LIST

f. 1Journal, 1846-1868
f. 2Miscellaneous, 1847-1889

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.

  • Baptist Church
  • Baptist Church--Clergy--19th century
  • Baptist Church--Kentucky
  • Combs, William R.
  • Dunnica, William F.
  • Folk medicine
  • Kentucky, Cave Run
  • Kentucky, Danville
  • Kentucky, Louisville
  • Preaching
  • Sermons