Compiled by Teresa
Martin Klaiber 2023
Martha
J. Cotton was born November 1854 in Kentucky, the daughter of John Cotton and
Martha Eldridge[i]. The family lived near Bruin. When Martha was five the family appears on
the Carter County, census and by the age 10, in 1870, the Elliott County,
Census.
Martha
married James Frank (Franklin?) Perkins 15 February 1872 in Lawrence County,
Kentucky.[ii] Perkins was the son of Virginia “Jennie”
Perkins who died 27 April 1914 in Lawrence County[iii]. Martha and Frank had six children: Amanda
married a cousin; Mary Jane married George Washington Jordan; James M. Perkins;
Rosa L. married Frank Turner; Nora married William Johnson; and Nancy Ann
married Frank Kane Lucas.
The
Perkins family resided in the Twin Branches area of Lawrence County, Kentucky. Jesse
Hicks and his wife Elizabeth sold James F. Perkins land on Cherokee Creek of
Big Blaine 11 December 1878. The deed
does not cite how many acres but involved a note.[iv] By 1880 the family had 40 acres noted as
tilled and 205 acres of woodland and a
horse according to the Agricultural Census.
Martha
purchased seven acres on the waters of Cherokee in Lawrence County from John
and Ann Arrington 27 February 1886.[v] The deed shows the boundary was near the
Perkin’s house while another corner was near Jesse Hicks.[vi] By 1893 John Arrington was deceased leaving
Ann a widow.[vii]
James
Frank Perkins died about 1893. By 10 May
1895 Martha and heirs were cited in a commissioner’s sale in a court case
involving S. W. Moore vs. L. F. Kelley.
Martha’s land were described as laying north of the land being sold in
the neighbors court case.[viii]
By July, the same year, the Sheriff posted
properties to be sold to satisfy owed tax. Among those listed was 200 acres of
Martha Perkins, joining John Arrington for tax in the years 1893 to 1895.[ix]
By
the time the sheriff’s sale was announced, Martha had been remarried six months
to John “Jack” Combs. The couple married
6 January 1895 in Lawrence County, Kentucky. John and Martha had two more children
together: Cora who later married Reuben Harrison Lucas and Lewis Combs who
married Julia Stephens and was killed after being hit by a train.[x]
John
Combs was older than Martha and had several other marriages. Being in ill health he wrote a will providing
for Martha in Lawrence County, Kentucky in January 1903.[xi] He bequeathed Martha $150.00 while leaving a
dollar to each of several of his children including Angeline Arrington. It is an interesting will dividing furniture
among some of his children and leaving his real estate to only one son with the
stipulation that Martha be paid and to pay her two youngest $25.00 per
year. The will was proven and filed 19
May 1903.
The
1910 census tells a rather sad story.
Martha, aged 55, is living on Bolts Fork Road, in Boyd County. To make ends meet she is washing for private
families. Within the household is
daughter Nora, Cora and Lewis along with two grandson’s Homer age 5 (born Ohio)
and Frank age 2.
When
son Lewis Combs moved to Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio circa 1917, Martha and
daughter Nora Perkins Johnston, now divorced, moved with him. They resided on Sidney Street which is just a
block away from I 70 at this writing. Tragedy struck in 1923 when son Lewis and
grandson James Edward Turner, along with two others, were killed when their
automobile was struck by a train in Muskingum County, Ohio.
On
August 9, 1930, on a trip to West Virginia, Martha was involved in an automobile
accident in Huntington, West Virginia leaving her with a fractured leg, right
arm and internal injuries. She returned
to Columbus where she died 10 December 1930.
The doctor wrote on the death certificate that the contributory cause of
death was from injuries received from the accident.[xii]
The
Ashland Daily Independent posted a short notice on 12 December 1930 simply
stating “The body of Miss Martha Combs, 76, who died at her home in
Columbus, Ohio Dec. 10, arrived in Ashland at 2:20 this morning and was sent
out to Garner where burial will be made at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Her
family came from Garner and she has been taken back to the old home for
burial.”
Martha
was laid to rest next to son Lewis and near the grave of son-in-law George
Washington Jordan (married daughter Mary Jane Perkins) who had died in April in
Cabell County, West Virginia, buried in Klaiber Cemetery.
[i] M
Law, KY 1848
[ii]
KY L M 5 p 170
[iii]
Buried Hensley Cem., Law., KY
[iv]
KY, Law, Dbk N p 322 & Bk Q p 192
[v] KY
Law dbk Q p 192
[vi]
Jesse Hicks and wife Elizabeth are thought to be buried on Clay Jack, Boyd
County, KY
[vii]
KY Law Wb 1821-1914 page 301
[viii]
Big Sandy News 10 May 1895, page 2
[ix]
Big Sandy News 19 Jul 1895
[x]
Earlier blog post http://easternkentuckygenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/04/lewis-combs-whispers-from-grave-klaiber.html
[xi]
KY Law Will book page 232
[xii]
OH Div of Vital Death Cert 71968
