1886 (Mt. Pulaski Township, Logan County, Illinois) "Jonathan Combs, grain dealer at Mount Pulaski, came to Logan County in 1869, buying eighty acres of wild prairie on section 23, Chester Township, paying $11.25 per acre. Two-thirds of the township was wild land at that time, the average price being about $7 per acre. Mr. Combs built a frame house 24 X 36 feet and began farming operations in the fall of 1860 [sic?], which has resulted in his present ownership of a well-improved and valuable farm of 320 acres in Chester Township, besides which he owns 240 acres on sections 5 and 8, Laena Township. These farms are leased under his supervision, he having resided in Mount Pulaski since 1877. He has a pleasand and well appointed home, a block of ground, well fenced, and the needful buildings erected by himself. In 1880 he formed active habits of a busy life, attending to the outside business and street buying. Mr. Combs was born March 11, 1829, in Ross County, Ohio, and was reared a farmer. His father, Joshua Combs, was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and was in early life a carpenter and cabinet-maker. He married Sarah BRAUCHER, born in Pickaway County, Ohio, in 1849, to Ann ROSE, a native of Germany, born March 17, 1826. Her father settled in Albany, New York, when she was eight years old, and a year later removed to Ross County, Ohio. They have six living children; Nelson, Mary, Sarah, Augustus, Eliza, and Katie. The three eldest were born in Pickaway County, Ohio, and the others in Logan County, Illinois. Mr. Combs is a Republican, of Whig Antecedents and is a member, along with his wife, of the Universalist church."