Commemorative Biographical Record of Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and 
Lafayette, Wisconsin, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and 
Representative Citizens, and of Many of the Early Settled Families. Chicago: 
Beers, 1901

Lafayette & Grant County ~ Page 449
 
THOMAS COOMBE, a thoroughly honorable and upright man, who is a stock and grain 
farmer of the town of Hazel Green, Grant county, was born in Lafayette county, 
Wis., July 30, 1844.
 
William and Elizabeth (RODDA) COOMBE, his parents, were natives of Cornwall, 
England, the father born in 1803, and the mother in 1813.  Mr. and Mrs. COOMBE 
were married in England, and became the parents of three children before they 
came to this country, in 1841.  The voyage across the ocean was made in a 
sailing-vessel; from New York to Pittsburgh the greater part of the journey was 
made in a canal-boat; from Pittsburgh they floated down the Ohio; came up the 
Mississippi to Galena, Ill.; and from there to Lafayette county, Wis., where he 
was to have work in the lead mines.  In 1851 Mr. COOMBE purchased eighty acres 
of land in the town of Hazel green, two miles west of the village, where he 
made a home for his family in the wilderness.  In those days the Indians were 
still numerous in the Western States, and gave the adventurous pioneer settlers 
no little trouble, and danger as well.  In 1851 Mr. COOMBE went to the gold 
fields of California, by the Isthmus route, and remained in the land of gold 
for three years or more.  Returning to Wisconsin in 1854, he took up the work 
of a farmer, and followed it until his death in 1863, leaving a wife and eight 
children.  Two of his sons were in California at that time.  Mr. COOMBE was an 
active worker in the Methodist Church, and in politics he was first a Whig and 
afterward a Republican.  Mrs. COOMBE lived on the family home until her death, 
in 1896.
 
(1) William, the eldest son, was born in England, and educated in Wisconsin.  
When a young man he went to California, and was killed in the gold mines.  A 
widow and two children, who still live in California, survive him.  (2) John, 
born in England, went to California when a young man, and worked some time in 
the mines.  Turning to the work of a surveyor, he found a calling badly needed 
at that time, and, qualifying himself, was elected surveyor of the county in 
which he lived, and became very prominent.  He married a Miss WATERS, and spent 
the rest of his life in California, dying in 1892; he left a widow, but no 
children.  (3) Elizabeth, born in England, is now the widow of John S. 
WILLIAMS, of Hazel Green.  (4) Blanche, born in Lafayette county  in 1842, 
married William REDD, and lives in Dubuque, Iowa.  To their union were born 
eight children, Mamie, Emma, Charles, Allie, Bertha, John, Stella, and Lucile.  
(5) Thomas is our subject.  (6) Emma, born in Lafayette county in 1849, is the 
wife of Thomas PIERCE, of Georgetown, Grant county.  (7) Jane, born in 1851, 
always remained with her parents until they passed away, and has since lived 
with her brother Thomas.
 
Thomas COOMBE obtained his early education in the district schools of Lafayette 
and Grant counties, and grew up on the farm which came under his management 
when he was only nineteen years of age, his father dying at that time.  He has 
always remained at the old home, and has had charge of its cultivation to the 
present time.  In 1869 he bought sixty acres of land adjoining, which he has 
added to the old homestead, making it one of the choice farms in the region.
 
Mr. COOMBE has always been a Republican, and in religion he supports the 
Methodist Church.  The COOMBE family is one of the oldest and most highly 
respected pioneer families in this part of the State.  All its members are 
known for their kindly disposition and their Christian acts toward their fellow 
men.

Submitted by:  Carol
(carolannh@ticon.net)