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From: Mary Stewart Kyritsis <>
Subject: [NJHUNTER] Re: Richard Holcomb born 1807 Lambertville
Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 16:46:30 +0300


Hello William,

By chance I have on my bookshelf a little book called
"Holcombe-Doane-Henke Family History 1812-1983", by Mary Alice Henke,
P.O. Box 351, Enders, Nebraska 69027. I can't even remember when or why
I got it as it's not my Holcombs (who do come down from the Holcombe
family of Simsbury CT). However as it's the only Holcomb book I have, I
had a look in it when I saw your message and I think it's your Holcombs,
although your Richard is not mentioned as the line being researched
apparently isn't his. This is from pages 1 and 2:

"The Holcombe descendants in this book are from the lineage of John
Holcombe of Amwell, son of John and Sarah Holcombe of Dulverton,
Devonshire, England.

"John and his brother Jacob were Quakers and came to America ca 1700,
settling in Abington PA. John was born 3-20-1682. On 16 Nov 1705 he
made his first purchase of land in New Jersey. On 28 Feb 1707 he
married Elizabeth Woolrich. They had six children. He died in August
1743, and is buried in Friend Burying Ground, Bunkingham, Bucks County,
PA.

"Samuel, the second child of John and Elizabeth, was born in 1711, d. 26
Aug 1769. He married Eleanor Barker. They had nine childrn.

"John, the first child of Samuel and Eleanor was born 16 Feb 1739, d. 27
Feb 1818, m. Mary Green, b. 26 Aug 1741, d. 18 Oct 1828. They had one
daughter and two sons.

"Richard, the third child of John and Mary, was born 22 Sep 1767, d. 24
Nov 1824, m. Elizabeth Closson in 1792. He was a carpenter, commonly
called "Carpenter Dick". They had eight children.

"Aaron Holcombe, the maternal grandfather of Clinton Holcombe, was the
eighth child of Richard, and the great-grandson of John Holcombe of
Amwell.

"Lambertville where Aaron Holcombe was born, is located in Hunterdon
County in the midwest part of New Jersey. The county was created in
1714.

"Hunterdon County's oldest house is the Holcombe House built in 1711 by
John Holcombe, and bequeated by him in 1743 to his son Richard. It was
Richard who played host to George Washington in 1777 and 1778 at the
nearby Holcombe Headquarters House (this was taken from "The Holcombe
Genealogy" by Jesse Seaver and back issues of the Hunterdon Historical
newsletter)."

On page 5 Aaron Holcombe is given; he was born 23 July 1812 in New
Jersey and therefore might well be a brother of your Richard, b. 1807.
Since Aaron appears to be the son of Richard Holcombe and Elizabeth
Closson, and one of eight children, I would say this might be a good
place to start.

The first 28 pages of the book are devoted to the name Holcombe; then
the Doane and Henke names are given. Mary Alice Henke was born in 1936
and might well still be at the address given above, if you feel it might
be worthwhile getting in contact with her.

One of your questions does appear to be answered: this family does not
go back to that of the Holcombes of Simsbury. In Devonshire there were
in fact many Holcombe families, so this isn't too surprising. By the
way, I did a lot of research myself there some years ago trying to find
proof of Thomas's connection to his supposed father Gilbert Holcombe,
and pretty well satisfied myself that they were not related.

Hope this helps,

Mary

Mary Kyritsis
Kifissia, Greece

> Richard Holcomb was born 3 November 1807 in
> Lambertville, Hunterdon County, New Jersey; do you
> know anything about his parents? I'm trying to
> connect this Holcomb family to the Holcombe family of
> Simsbury, Connecticut who trace back to Thomas
> Holcombe born 1601 Wales or England.
>

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