Source: http://www.combs-families.org/combs/records/england/war/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 20:00:50+00:00

Document:
Warwickshire is bordered by the counties of (clockwise from the north): Staffordshire, Derby, Leicestershire, Northampton, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. Within the bounds of Warwickshire, although a separate city and county is Coventry.
Most of the following Combs records pertain to the families of Old Stratford and Stratford on Avon parishes, which bordered Gloucester, were only five mi. from Worcestershire, and less than 15 mi. from Oxfordshire (See Parishes within 15 miles of Stratford).
Stratford upon Avon, a borough and market town, is in the parish of Old Stratford, having separate jurisdiction, though locally in the Stratford division of the hundred of Barlichway, county of Warwick (8 miles southwest of Warwick, and 94 northwest of London, on the road through Oxford to Shrewsbury. Old Stratford Parish also includes the chapelry of Bishopston, the hamlets of Clopton and Luddington, and the township of Drayton.
The source for all references to the Middle Temple is Combs &c. of the Middle Temple.
Except where otherwise noted, the source for all references to Visitations is Combs &c. Visitations.
22 Jun 1377 - 17 Nov 1558 Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Early Proceedings, Richard II to Philip and Mary. C 1/1377/1. Adrian QUINYE of Stratford-on-Avon, mercer, v. John COMBES, gentleman.: Detention of deeds relating to a messuage land, and a barn in Stratford-on-Avon.: WARWICK. ibid.
William BLAND has not been identified, but the IGI "soundexes" the surnames BLAND and BLOUNT so it would seem possible that this William BLAND is a.k.a. BLOUNT.
1565-1613 State Papers Domestic: Supplementary. SP 46/57/fo 210. The Papers of John ASTWICK of Flamstead, co. Hertford, 1565 - 1613. (ff. 68-278): "Edward PECOK to his kinsman, J. ASTWICKE: to speak to Francis COMBES of Hempsted [Hemel Hempstead, Herts], George NEALE of Hemings Ende, William PRESTON of Chilwicke and Thomas CARPENTER of Hardingeb..."
According to Wakefield (8), this is William COMBE I, second son of John COMBE II by 2nd wife, Katherine QUYNEY (no source given for marriage, but see Adrian QUINEY suit), who died in 1610 (he does not state where, but references the will as PCC Wool 52), and whose will includes a L10 bequest to "the poor of Broadway." In Broadway, Worcester, the birth of a William COMBE, son of John, is recorded in 1551. Wakefield appears not to be aware of the fact that four years earlier, in 1547, is the Broadway marriage of a John COMBE and Alice WYMMARKE. Whether William of Broadway is William of Stratford has not yet been determined (pending acquiring his will).
Thomas COMBE the elder gives no indication of the ages of his children, but according to the NEHGS source, Thomas COMBE the younger was abt 25 years of age when William SHAKESPEARE died in 1616, thus born ca 1591 [agrees with visitation]; yet, it is stated both that Thomas COMBE the younger was the son of Mary SAVAGE; and that Thomas COMBE the elder had married Mary BONNER (Young) by 1589 - obviously "facts" in conflict. Presumably Thomas was at least 20 years of age by the time of his admission to the Middle Temple in 1608 (assuming he had come to the Temple from University), thus born bef 1588, and an IGI extract indicates he was christened 9 Feb 1688 [1688/9?] at Stratford-on-Avon (Not researched). The mention of Sir Henry RAYNESFORD, and further records below, indicate a strong connection between the Stratford Combs and those of Hemel Hempstead, Herts where the 1634 Visitation indicates that Francis Combs m Barbara EWER whose sister, Mary, m Sir Francis RAINSFORD of Clifford, Warwickshire. See also Combs-Willis Connections and George WILLIS Letters mentioning the Combs a number of times.
A.D. 1642-1660 C 3/438/39. CLOPTON v. COMBE: Warwick.
1650 C 5/390/39 DODINGTON v. COOMBE: Warwick.
1653 C 5/24/74 RANDOLL v. COMBE: Warwick.
Katherine COMBS, d/o William and Katherine BOUGHTON Combs, married Thomas STEPHENS, s/o Edward and Anne CREWE Stephens of Little Sodbury, Gloucestershire, the latter the d/o Thomas CREWE of Northampton who appears to have been probable "somehow kin" to Mr. Arthur CREWE who m Elizabeth COMBS of Soulbury, Bucks and Sparsholt, Berks, d/o John & Elizabeth LOVETT Combs and and granddaughter of John and Margaret ARCHDALE Combs.
1657 PROB 20/570. COMBE, Thomas: Old Stratford, Warw., esq.
1678L C 10/132/19. COMBE v. COMBE: Warw.
1678 C 10/135/13. COMBE v. COMBE, FISHER, SMITHE, BEST & CALAY: Warw.
1697 C 3/482/37 SMITH v. COMBE: WARWICK.
Excerpted by Combs Researchers Denise Mortorff and Joe Kendalll from Salzman, L.F. ed., THE VICTORIA HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK. London. V.3. pub. by A. Constable. 1904, p. 264.
Extracted by Combs Researcher Leslie Owens from "The Registers of Stratford on Avon, in the country of Warwick Burials, 1558-1623," London, privately published for the Parish Register Society 1905.
Introduction to the first publication of the works of Shakespear by Nicholas Rowls (Shakespear's first editor and biographer), published in 1709 and entitled "Some Account of the Life Etc. of Mr. William Shakespear"
"The Kinship of Thomas Combe II, William Reynolds and William Shakespeare" by Christopher Wakefield, The Laverock Press, Newnham, first published in NOTES AND QUERIES, October 1961, Revised November 1961, Printed in Great Britain.

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