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Congratulations to Lois Reynolds Farler, London, Ohio
She was the first to identify Mystery Person #21 as Sam Combs

Former Perry Circuit Court Clerk - Sam Combs was born and raised at Jeff, Kentucky.  His father was known as Preacher Ira Combs, an Old Regular Baptist minister.  Sam Combs attended grade school at Jeff, and high school at Hazard Baptist Institute where he was a member of the H.B.I. Tigers basketball team, that for three straight years battled teams in the Boy's State Tournament.  From H.B.I., he went to Lee's College in Jackson.  In 1933, he was ordained as a Regular Baptist minister.  In 1937, he was appointed Post Master at Jeff, and served until 1940.  In 1937, he was the Democratic nominee for County Court Clerk, but was defeated in the general election by Nancy Ann Eversole.  In 1939, he was elected Perry Circuit Court Clerk and served the public in that office until the 1950s.  In 1949, he started to re-index all the old court orders which dated back to 1844.  His system is still widely used today.  Combs also developed a card index of all circuit court suits.  In his unusual position of being both a county official and a minister, he provided many couples with their marriage license and then performed their marriage ceremony.


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