Fayetteville, Ark., Tuesday, July 13th, 1886. Levi Combs, aged 90 years, 4 months and 4 days has passed into a proverb that truth is stronger than fiction; and how often is this exemplified in the history of both men and things. There has long lived in Favetteville one whose personal history runs back into the “dim and dimmer” past, till we reach the time of George Washington and the beginning of our government The subject of this sketch was born during the presidency of George Washington, and consequently lived under every administration of the federal government from Gen. Washington to President Cleveland!
How strange it must seen to those who knew the deceased so intimately and well, to think that only a few days ago
they took by the hand, looked into the living face and felt the pulse beat of one who came down from this remote
past. This venerable patriarch saw a great many strange sights and had to do with a great many strange things during this most splendid century of the world’s history through which he lived. How interesting the history he might have written.
He was born near Salisbury, North Carolina, March 9, 1796. His parents dying when he was an infant, he was
adopted into the family of a kind hearted gentleman whose name was John Arrington and grew to manhood in his native state. In 1817 he was married to Miss Sarah Arrington, youngest daughter of the gentleman who raised him.
About the year 1822 this young couple moved to Tennessee which was then the “far west” and which had been born into the union as a soverign state the same year (1796) that the subject of this sketch was born. After a residence here of eight years, he again sought a home further to the northwest; this time locating in the rapidly developing
state of Illinois.
However, he only remained in his new home three years, and then came to Washington county in the territory of Arkansas. This was in 1833. He bought land 5 miles southwest of Fayetteville and made him a home on which he lived 37 years. In 1858 while living on this place his wife died, aged 68 years having been born in 1790, six years before her husband.
After the death of his wife he still lived on the homestead til 1870, when he sold his farm to Hiram Miller. After this he had no permanent home till he came to live with Dr. Putman, one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Fayetteville. This was in 1875 and hence for eleven years he lived as one of the family, and, in fact, [was] treated as a father by the amiable doctor and his good wife.
If only a cup of water given in the name of a disciple brings its blessing, how rich will be the reward of Dr. P. and his family, who through all these years have been the sta of this aged pilgrim. To such in the end the Master will say: “Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and you gave me drink: I was a stranger
ye took me in: inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren ye have done it unto me.”
The deceased was converted in N.C. in the beginning of his long and eventful life, and gave his best years to the service of God. His Bible and his
religion were his greatest consolation; and as his body bent with the weight of years and his eyes were dimmed with
the mists of time, his faith grew stronger and his hope brighter. After coming to Ark. he identified himself with the Christian church and lived in its fellowship for more than forty years. For many years he exercised his gifts in exhortations and in preaching the Word. As his powers began to fail, he had to give up active service and for several years before his death was denied the privelege of attending church altogether.
His health had generally been good and his death was the result of natural decay. He gradually grew weaker and weaker until the heart that had beat through 90 years finally stood still, and the grand old pilgrim, wayworn and fatigued, slept like a little child on his mother’s bosom. In his last years he fully realized the wish of Edwin Waugh in his “Life’s Twilight,” and beautifully expressed in this stanza:
“Then let me with untroubled breast
Awhile in shadow lie
Before I lay me down to rest
And bid the world ‘good-bye’.”
N.M.R
Fayetteville, Ark, July 21, 1886
— Fayetteville Weekly Democrat, July 31, 1886, page 1.
Additional Information
Levi Combs was born March 9, 1796, to Bennett and Dorothy “Dolly” Combs in Roanoke County, Va., almost a year before President George Washington left office.
He married twice, first to Sarah Arrington in 1817, and they had four children who lived to adulthood: Joel, Elizabeth, Frances and Alfred. After his first wife died, he married Sarah Elizabeth Cloer, and they had one daughter, Lily May.
Among the children, only Lily outlived Levi Combs; Elizabeth died just a month before he did, and the rest died at earlier ages. Levi is buried at Black Oak Cemetery.
The abbreviation at the end, N.M.R., is that of the author, the Rev. Nathaniel M. Ragland, a longtime minister of the First Christian Church.