I put in a DAR
Supplemental Application (supplemental to my original application for Patriot
Nehemiah Newan) for John Trimble a while back and received an AIR which is
DAR-ese for Additional Information Required. They pointed out that Margaret
Trimble Combs, daughter of Patriot John Trimble and wife of John Combs, was
lacking a precise death date. When I looked at what I submitted, sure enough,
they were right and I could do better!
I narrowed down
Margaret's death date by following John and Margaret's participation in the
Methodist Church and then Margaret's disappearance from their list of
congregants. 1849. That's when she died. And she was missing in the 1850 census
too, which was the source document I originally submitted. So her death date
was between October 1849 and February 1850.
But where was she
buried? John, her husband, was buried in Percy Cemetery and a nice stone was
still there stating his death date. Margaret was probably buried there too, but
there was reportedly no stone.
John Combs was wealthy
and prominent in the Methodist Church giving land for it and presumably
supported it with donations. It would be reasonable to suggests that Margaret
was buried in the plot adjacent John and that there had been at one time a nice
big stone like his. Yet no photo of it was in Mom's tombstone file or on Find A
grave.
So off Mom and I went to
see if we could locate John Combs' stone and see if Margaret was there but had
been overlooked.
John Combs stone.
That's John's stone there on the right and see that small stone leaning against the tree? Check this out, below!
Right, it says Margaret!!
Here's the line-up with Margaret's stone in the foreground and John's off in the back, left.
Here's the photos of what
I found. You can see John Combs' stone and then look! There's the top of a
stone within five feet of his, leaning against a tree that says
"MARGARET". I'm willing to bet the farm that it's her stone!
Of course that's not
going to satisfy the DAR genies but it satisfies me.
And here's the wild and crazy part. In the wide view
photo up top, you'll see a house right in back of John's stone. That's my Grandma
Kelly's house and they were grandma's 3rd great grandparents. WOW! John and
Margaret were within 100 feet of me as I played on Grandma's lawn as a kid!
