His Descendants Who Settled in NJ and PA

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Eighth Generation

568. Charles Thomas HOLCOMBE III. (304.Charles⁷, 148.Charles⁶, 46.Richard⁵, 21.John⁴, 8.Samuel³, 5.John², 1.John¹) b. Nov  6 1877, Gardenville, Bucks County PA,^[xi] occupation Methodist Minister, m. Feb 22 1899, in Newtown PA by Rev Edward Devine, Flora May SNYDER , b. Nov  9 1880, Pt Pleasant, Plumstead Twp, Bucks Co PA,^[xii] (daughter of Silas H. SNYDER and Catharine Emma WOOD ) occupation Housewife, d. Jul 28 1971, Boonville, Oneida Co., NY, buried: Riverside Cemetery, Minetto Oswego Co NY.  Charles died Jul  4 1970, Sunset Nursing Home, Boonville, NY,^[xiii] buried: Riverside Cemetery, Minetto Oswego Co NY.  Rev Holcombe attended Indiana University and Carlise Seminary.  He served in many churches in the Northern New York District of the Methodist Church, where he was District Superintendent for six years.  His churches included ones at Great Bend, Watertown, Pulaski, Minetto, and Hamilton.  After retiring, he was called and served in the Port Richey Church where he was honored for his work.  He was an accomplished pianist and played the saxaphone.

               Rev Charles T Holcombe wrote to many while compiling his genealogy. He cajoled, begged, and pleaded for information.  He also told of himself as he did in the following paragraph written to someone:

                     Should I introduce myself?  Well, I am the son of Charles                 Holcombe and Phebe Betts.  ... I was born and reared in Gardenville, Bucks Co. Pa.  My father died in 1877 three months before I was born.  When I was fifteen mother moved with her three children to Newtown, Pa.  Fifty-three years ago my wife and four children moved to Northern New York where I became a member of the N. N. Y. Methodist Conference. 

                          In another letter to his cousin Edythe Kramer he wrote more:             Conference of the Methodist Church.  In the next forty years I served              churches in six localities, and was a District Superintendent 

                     When I was twenty-one I married a Gardenville, Pa., girl 

                     That would seem to be enough biography.  I should say, though,           that I am just a very humble minister, not too successful, sort of a plodder, small of stature, not too easy to look at, etc, and just now frightfully interested in putting together a genealogy of our people.

                     . . . .

                     Now about the genealogy:  I became interested in this a couple of years ago.  There have been times when it seemed that I had undertaken an impossible task, but I have kept at it and now have a considerable amount of material, and I am quite sure it is going to be a worth-while venture. My first 

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              This man, my grandfather, knew how to care for others in their distress, as is evidenced by his letter to his cousin Comly Michener shortly after his beloved Florence died:

                    I am sorry that you are now walking the lonely way.

                 It is the experience of all married people - - one or the

                 other is eventually left alone.  I have seen it so many

                 times - - heartbreak, loneliness, etc., yet a splendid bravery

                 as the one left alone takes up the journey.  Blessings

                 be yours through all the days.  (May 2, 1959) 

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       Flora: Flora was educated at Taylor University, Ind and at Palms Business College at Philadelphia PA. (Kirk, p. 545)

                              Children:

             787.   i      Edna Bullard HOLCOMBE b. Jul 31 1900, Newton Boro, Bucks Co, PA,^[xiv] d. Mar 31 1978, Oswego, Oswego Co., NY,^[xv] buried: Minetto, NY,  never married, grad of Syracuse Univ.  Edna graduated from Syracuse University and never married.  She lived a large part of her life with her close friend, Lestina (Tina) Bidwell.  She died in retirement while living at Minetto NY, close to where her parents had lived in their later years.  She had accumulated a fair estate of $197,158.18 at her death.  Her will, dated August 1, 1977, appointed Tina and her sister Eda as executrices.

             788.   ii     Charles Betts HOLCOMBE IV. b. May  8 1902, Newton Boro, Bucks Co, PA, occupation Dentist, m. Nov  9 1929, in 1st Methodist Ch Pulaski, Oswego Co., NY,^[xvi]  by Rev Chas T Holcombe, groom's father, Irma Eileen MacCALLUM , b. Dec  2 1903, Fernwood, Twn of Richland, Oswego Co. NY,^[xvii] (daughter of Fenton Elmer MacCALLUM and Flora Amelia BENNETT ) occupation Teacher/Housewife, d. Oct 19 1976, Fayetteville, Twn Manlius, Onon Co., NY, buried: Oct 22 1976, Pulaski Village Cemetery, Oswego Co. NY,^[xviii]  Syr Univ AB 1924 cum laude w/honors.  Charles died Jul  7 1979, Syracuse, Onondaga County, NY, buried: Jul 10 1979, Pulaski Village Cemetery, Oswego Co. NY,^[xix]  Attended St Lawrence, Harvard, U Minn.  Chas B Holcombe, as he signed his name, took great pride in his profession as a dentist in Fayetteville, New York.  He practiced for more than 50 years.  In highschool he excelled in sports including tennis, baseball, and especially in basketball, which he played at the semipro level in Minnesota while attending dental school.  Other facts: won Watertown City tennis championships;  1st Lt. in the Army briefly while living at Pulaski;  member of SAE fraternity at SLU; loved bass fishing and his summer home on Wellesley Island in the St Lawrence.

                               Irma: Irma graduated from the Pulaski Academy and then went to Syracuse University where she joined Sigma Kappa Sorority in which she was an active alumna in her later years. She traveled to Europe before marriage touring in England, France and Italy.  Irma served as a board member of the Elmcrest Childrens Center in Syracuse and enjoyed membership in Philomath, a book club in Fayetteville. Her hobbies included gardening, reading, and home.

             789.   iii   Harry Reuben HOLCOMBE b. Jul  2 1903, Newton Boro, Bucks Co, PA,^[xx] d. Oct  4 1907, Knoxboro, Twn of Augusta, Oneida Co NY,^[xxi] buried: Plot A Knoxboro Cem, Twn Augusta, Oneida.^[xxii]  Little Reuben died in a home fireplace accident in New York State.  His birth record at Doylestown gives his date of birth as September and his first name as Henry.  The father's occupation is listed as "clerk".  His death record in the Town of Augusta records the cause of death as "burns" with the interval of "5 hours" between onset and death.  The headstone was uncovered Aug 14 1997 in the Knoxboro Cemetery, inscribed: REUBEN on the top;  "son of Rev. & Mrs. C.T. HOLCOMBE  1903 - 1907" on the face.  All but the top had sunk into the ground.

             790.   iv    Edward Devine HOLCOMBE b. Feb 10 1905, Penns Park, Bucks County PA,^[xxiii] occupation Baker and shop owner, m. Nov  8 1930, in Methodist Ch, Minnetto, Oswego Co NY,^[xxiv]  by Rev Chas T Holcombe, groom's father, Mildred Deuel ABEL , b. Oct 16 1909, Utica NY,  Sep 27 1959, Minetto, Oswego Co NY by Rev C Holcombe, (daughter of Frederick ABEL and Genevieve DULEY ) occupation Bookkeeper, d. Mar 28 2001, at home, Schenectady, Schenectady Co NY, buried: May 26 2001, North Gage Cem, North Gage, Oneida Co NY.  Edward died Dec  5 1974, Faxton Hosp. Utica NY,^[xxv] buried: North Gage Cem, North Gage, Oneida Co NY.  Edward was graduated from the Dunwoody Institute of Baking in Minneapolis, MN. He moved to Boonville about 1950 and operated his own bakery and coffee shop.

             791.   v     Eda Joslyn HOLCOMBE b. Mar 19 1910, NY, m. Jun 29 1935, in Meth/Epis Church, Hamilton NY,  by Rev Charles T. Holcombe, Oliver J. CALDWELL , b. Nov 16 1904, Foochow, China, (son of Harry R. CALDWELL and Belle COPE ) occupation Educator, d. Feb 16 1990.  Eda died Nov 10 1999, buried: Illinois,  Barnard College, Columbia Univ Masters.

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