Excerpt from Samuel Combest and His Descendants by H Jane Barnes Smith and Patrica Osborn Olmstead (written 1990, currently out of print)

This bio begins with a sketch written by Mary Weaver (Mrs. Charles) of Somerset, Kentucky. Mary wrote this informal account of her great-grandfather and presented it, along with a disply of an enlarged picture, at the 1980 Combest Reunion in Pulaski County Park, Nancy, Kentucky. We are fortunate to have this picture of Samuel D Combest , which is in the possessiion of Mary Weaver at this time.

"My great-grandfather, Samuel D Combest, born in Pulaski County, Kentucky in 1808, was Sam and Sally's fifth child and fourth son. His parents called him "Sammy" and most of his relatives and friends continued to call him Sammy throughout his lifetime. In his later years, younger friends and neighbors called him "Uncle Sammy."

"He was a tall man, although it is not known exactly how tall he was. Four or five of his grandchildren placed his height all the way from 6 ft. 4 ins. to 6 ft. 7 ins. He was highly intelligent and was well educated considering, or in spite of, his pioneer circumstances. He received most of his education at home; taught by his father. He read and re-read all that was available, although his access to books was limited. He was a good scribe and wrote with a goose-quill pen.

"He wrote deeds, wills, and other documents for the people in his area. It was said that he had 'a good head for figures' and thoroughly enjoyed solving hard mathematical problems.

"He was a surveyor, as were some of his descendants. He left his surveying tools to his son William, who gave them to his son, Elmer, also a surveyor. For a time, Samuel was a surveyor for the State of Kentucky. He boutht, or what was called 'patented' numerous tracts of state land that he surveyed, paying twenty-five cnets an acre for some and ten cents an acre for others. This was really a fee to have the deed, or patent, recorded. Later, when there was a recession and times werer hard, he became 'land poor' and couldn't pay the taxes on it. Because of the money shortage, there were no buyers, so he lost most of the land, including some of what is now a valuable business district in Lexington, Kentucky.

"When Samuel D was about twenty years old, he acquired some land on Wolf Creek in western Pulaski County, built himself a log cabin and 'batched' until he married.

"He married Nancy Hammond and they became the parents of eleven children, all of whom lived to maturity. Most of them married and reared families. After Nancy's death, he married Lucy Ann Roy. They had four children; one died in childhood, the others grew up, married, and had children.