Stewart and Sarah McComb’s youngest child was their son James, as Sarah was the youngest daughter but not the youngest child.  James was born about 1844 in County Down, Ireland.  On July 30, 1866 he married his first wife Harriet Simpson in Bramham, Yorkshire, England.  James and Harriet had seven children.  In 1874 James, Harriet, and their three oldest children emigrated to the United States, departing Liverpool, Lancashire and arriving in New York on June 30, 1874 on board the SPAIN.   They quickly moved to the Fall River, Massachusetts area to work in the mills there.

Just a quick word – I have found many variants in the spelling of the last name: McComb, McCombe, McCombs, Macome, McCoomb, McCoombe, etc. and the children of James seem to use more of these variants than other McComb lines do.  It would be confusing to list the different variants for each record of each individual, so I have mixed them just to show examples of what names I used to locate the record, much as I did with the name Stewart in an earlier post.  When doing your own research, spend some time sounding out last names and write a list of variant spellings – if will save a lot of time when searching for that elusive record!  Remember to take regional accents into account – Brady with a rolled ‘R’ and a heavy Irish accent might sound like Brrreedie, hence early census takers may have written something completely different from what you are looking for!

James’ first child, George Simpson McComb, was born in Clifford, Yorkshire on March 5, 1867.  He married Mary Flynn in Fall River, Massachusetts on August 23, 1892.  They had ten children.  Their first child, William, was born prematurely on June 1, 1893 in Fall River, and died shortly after his birth.  The following year, on July 13, 1894, another son was born who they named William J. McComb.  This son is no longer living at home in the 1920 census, and I can find no record of him from this point forward.  Note: William J. McComb died in Fall River on 28 Mar 1911 from heart valve issues (20 Oct 2022).

George McComb was born just over a year later on November 17, 1895 also in Fall River.  In 1930, census records show George married with two children.  His mother-in-law is living with them in Fall River.  Unfortunately, the quality of the record is so poor that the names of all but George are practically unreadable.  It appears as though his wife’s name could be Miriam and her mother’s might be Mary.  Mary’s surname, which would most likely be George’s wife’s maiden name can’t be read.  Nor can the names and ages of the two children.  What can be read, however, are George and his wife’s ages and their ages at their marriage, which allows us to guess they were married about 1923, most probably in Fall River.  Looking for further records, I found George’s WWII draft record, listing Mrs. Helen M. McCoomb at his address as the person who will always know his whereabouts.  I can therefore surmise that his wife’s name was most likely Helen Miriam.  The Social Security death index shows that George died in February 1978 in Fall River and that Helen died in Swansea, Massachusetts on Mar 31, 1993 and was born on 22 December 1899.  Another record that I stumbled across suggests one of George’s daughters was named Anne M., was born in 1925 and died in 1959, and had been married.  I hesitate to include information on her husband, as the record was not a primary source document, but instead an individually transcribed record of cemetery headstones from St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Fall River.  The information appears accurate, giving the correct years of birth and death for George and his wife, and so I include the information for Anne on the assumption she would have been one of the two children in the 1930 census, if it had been readable (as she is buried in the same plot as George McCoomb and M. Helen, his wife).

George and Mary’s fourth child was John E. McComb.  John was born on July 12, 1897 in Fall River. Massachusetts, although his WWI draft registration gives his birth date as July 13, 1897.  His birth record also gives the spelling of his last name as McCombe.  The 1920 census shows John living at home with his widowed mother in Fall River, but by the 1930 census he has married and has four children.  His wife’s name is given as Susan C. and they appear to have been married since 1923, given the ages listed for their first marriages.  Susan is a bit older than John, at age 34 to his age 32, and was born in Rhode Island.  All four children are listed as born in Massachusetts, presumably Fall River, and their names and ages given are as follows: Helen M, age 6; John E., Jr., ages 4 years and 11 months; Joan C., age 2 years and 4 months; and Virginia, aged 10 months.  All four children came to marry and have children of their own.  Another source, from the “Alphabetical index of the births, marriages and deaths, recorded in Providence ..” available at http://www.archive.org/stream/alphabeticalinde08prov/alphabeticalinde08prov_djvu.txt gives Susan’s maiden name as Byron and their marriage date as November 15, 1922 in Providence, Rhode Island.  Susan died in Fall River in February 1971.

George and Mary’s fifth child was James F. McCombe.  James was born on May 18, 1899 in Fall River.  In the 1930 census, we find him married and living with his in-laws, along with his infant son.  We know, then, that his wife Clara’s maiden name was Berry, and that they had been married for shy of two years in 1930.  Their son James, Jr. was just seven months old, so born in 1929.  The SSDI shows that James, Jr. was born on September 4, 1929 and that he died on November 5, 1998 in Georgia.  James, Sr. is not listed in the SSDI, so presumably he died prior to its inception.  As I can find no death in the SSDI for Clara McCoomb either, it’s very possible she remarried before her death.  I would need either her birth date or her new surname to look for her death record in the SSDI at this point, as it lists only the surname held at death, and not all surnames for any given individual.

Everett F. McComb was the sixth child and was born on December 3, 1900 in Fall River.  The 1930 census shows him married to Edna, and they have no children, despite having been married for about five years.   Everett died in December 1968 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.  Edna remained in Portsmouth until her death in December 1984.

Leo McComb was born next, on September 18, 1902 in Fall River.   Leo is still unmarried and living at home in the 1930 census so I will not include his wife or children here.  He died in Swansea, Massachusetts on May 27, 1987.

Marion McComb was born on June 12, 1904 in Fall River, Massachusetts.  She, too, was still at home in 1930.  I have no definitive record after this, so cannot be certain of her marriage or death date.

Mildred McComb was born in Fall River on February 4, 1906.  She was the youngest child still living at home in 1930, and was also unmarried at that time.  She later married, had at least one child, and died on April 14, 1976 in Fall River.

The youngest child of George and Mary was Ethel McCombe.  Ethel was born on July 25, 1908 in Fall River.  She was not living at home in the 1930 census, but I did find her in Fall River, at the Union Hospital where she is listed as a pupil, along with almost five dozen other young women.  Given the times, it is reasonable to assume she was a nursing student at the hospital.  Ethel’s death was located using a combination of two methods, as I had no record of her marriage.  First, I went to the SSDI, and using her first name and birth date, and the likeliness of her being found in or near Fall River performed a search.  This gave me a death record for Ethel M. Byington in Fall River, who was born on the same day as Ethel McCombe.  This was still not of itself definitive, so I continued searching and found a transcription for a headstone in St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Fall River for Maurice F. Byington (1906-1960) and Ethel C. McCoomb, his wife (1908-1988).  The years for her birth and death match those given in the SSDI (only the year is given for the transcription record), but the middle initial did not match.  No middle initial was given on the birth record or any of the census records, so that was no help.  But Ethel McCoomb is not a common name, and how many Ethel McCombes could there be who were born in 1908, anyway?  According to the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910, as accessed through the NEHGS site there was only the one (in Massachusetts).  So, here’s what I knew:

1. Ethel McCombe was born in Fall River on July 25, 1908.

2. An Ethel C. McCoomb married a Maurice  F. Byington, and this Ethel was also born in 1908.

3. An Ethel M. Byington who was born on the same day as my Ethel McCombe died in Fall River on August 16, 1988.

4. Maurice’s Ethel also died in 1988 and was buried in Fall River.

5. Ethel McCombe (under any spelling) is not a common name.

I find it reasonable to conclude, then, that Maurice’s Ethel and the SSDI’s Ethel is the same person, and further that this is in fact the same Ethel that belongs to my family.  I may never know if her middle initial is M or C, as the M might have stood for her maiden name of McComb, but I’m certain that Maurice Byington was her husband! They had at least one child, who never married (having followed a different vocation).

© Deborah Ray and archivecookie.com, 2010.