One of the hazards of reading through historical articles and news clippings is how easy it is to get sidetracked. Some interesting item pops up, and 20 minutes later, you are still engrossed in something totally unrelated to what you were planning to research. There’s a very thick book in our museum collection titled, “Anthony Coombs and Dorcas Woodin of Rochester, Massachusetts, Their origins and descendants”. Anthony Coombs has been mentioned previously as he operated Rochester’s first blacksmith shop and forge in the area of East Over. I was interested in knowing more about him.
The book is essentially a genealogical history of the Coombs family in New England. The author starts off by saying that more than 30 immigrants with the name of Coombs immigrated to New England and that most did not share our Anthony’s family line. Here is where I went astray. They might not have been related, but they were interesting. One of the first was Hardman Coombs who “was found by a British frigate in an open boat off Sequin Island with five women and no oars”. Boy, would I like to know more about that story. This occurred around 1607 and north of the Kennebec River in what is today Maine.
There was an Isaac Coombs who showed up in Weymouth in 1632; John Coombs who arrived in Plymouth in 1630 and Henry Coombs who was in Salem and Marblehead in 1635. There’s more information on Peter Coombs who was in Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1670-1675. He was a blacksmith and was prohibited from “frequenting of publique houses of entertainment upon the penaltie of law”. He went on to serve in the Salem militia during King Philip’s War.
A connection to the Coombs that I was supposed to be researching shows up related to Maine, and now I’ll digress again. In 1652, Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed Maine under a 1628 charter. Over the ensuing years, Maine’s status was frequently changing. An independent government was set up in 1666, but two years later, it was again under Massachusetts control. In 1691, a Massachusetts charter given by William and Mary designated Maine as a district of Massachusetts, and since Maine was essentially a less crowded part of Massachusetts, quite a few early settlers in our area also owned land there.
An Alistair Coombs, who took an oath of allegiance to the King of England in 1665, claimed a large tract of land in today’s Brunswick, Maine. There is some thought that he might be a relative of Anthony Coombs because between 1730 and 1750, four of Anthony’s sons along with grandchildren bought land in the same area.
Wells, York County, Province of Massachusetts Bay Colony is where we finally meet up with our Rochester Anthony who was born Antoine Coombs in 1661. He appeared in New England along with another Frenchman. In 1688, he married his neighbor, Dorcas Woodin. Because Maine was dangerous during parts of the French and Indian Wars, he sent Dorcas to Massachusetts, first Essex and then Beverly and Wenham, while he stayed in Wells, Maine. He must have visited her often as they had 12 children. In the end they also had 94 grandchildren, 304 great grandchildren, 984 great-great grandchildren and on into the 5th, 6th and 7th generations.
By 1697, he gave up on owning land in Wells and relocated his family to Sandwich where he set up a forge. By early 1700, he and Dorcas accepted the invitation from the town of Rochester to move there and set up a blacksmith shop and forge not far from the gristmill and on the outflow of the Sippican River. They were given 40 acres of land. His forge and smithy were a success, and Coombs went on to be active in town where he held several offices: town surveyor, manager of the Herring Weir at Snipatuit Pond and a tithing man. He was also one of the seven men who in 1703 signed the covenant that established the First Church of Rochester.
In all, Anthony and Dorcas lived in Rochester for 46 years, and in that time, he was involved in 21 real estate deals and at one time owned 150 acres. There are no church records or tombstones found for either Anthony or Dorcas. It is believed that Dorcas died by 1763 at the age of 65. Anthony lived on much longer as he can be traced by his various deeds. It is likely that he died in 1754 at the advanced age of 93 after playing an important role in Rochester’s early years.
By Connie Eshbach