William A. McCombs, farmer secs. 1 and 2, Sheridan Tp., was born May 16, 1825, in Columbiana County, Ohio. His father, Archibald McCombs, was born in Washington County, Pa., in 1769; was of Scotch extraction, and died in 1875. The mother Catherine (Jeffries) McCombs, was born in 1803, of English and Welsh descent, became the mother of 11 children, and is still living, in Wood County, Ohio. Mr. McCombs is the third child of his parents, and was married February 6, 1851, to Catherine Patterson. She died October 22, 1860, leaving six children, all of whom are living; Elizabeth Ann, John William, Nicholas A., Caroline A., David M., and Archibald. Mr. McCombs was married March 17, 1861, at Uhricksville, Tuscarawas Co., Ohio, to Mrs. Susannah (Jackson) Parish, widow of Abraham Parish, to whom she was married in 1852. He died in 1856, leaving two children - Dorothy and James. Mrs. McCombs was born March 29, 1826, in Ponteland, Northumberlandshire, England, a few miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her father, James Jackson, was born in England, about 1803, and died in Erie Co., New York, in 1855. Her mother, Dorothy (Familton) Jackson, was born February 22, 1805, in the village of Duns, about half a mile from the field of Chevy Chase, Northumberlandshire, Eng. She died in her native county, December 2, 1833. Mr. and Mrs. McCombs have had four children - Robert L., Sarah M., Etta M., and Nora B. The last child died when six months old. Mr. McCombs became a soldier in the late war, enlisting in Camp Meigs, Ohio, in Co. G, 51st Ohio Infantry, for three years, but was discharged on account of disability at the end of 18 months. He is a democrat in political faith, and belongs to the Methodist Church.He came in 1865 to Mecosta County, and entered and proved a claim of 80 acres under the homestead law, and purchased 120 acres additional. Of this, 160 acres are under first-class cultivation, and exhibit a degree of thrift and industry eminently creditable to the proprieter. He was a pioneer in the township of Sheridan."