• General Notes

  [pitts.FTW]
  
  [Br²derbund WFT Vol. 5, Ed. 1, Tree #0725, Date of Import: Apr 16, 2002]
  
  Source: Samuel Combest and His Descendants
  
  Wyatt met an untimely death at the hands of so-called "bushwhackers" in 1863, when he was murdered at his doorway on July 8th by pro-Union men. It being Civil War times, feelings were strained and actions harsh between sympathizers on each side. There is an account of his death in "The History of Andrew County, Missour" pg.229, but included here are the combined accounts of Claude Boyles, grandson (born 7 July, 1893), who lived with his grandmother, Mary Burbage, and Harriet Combest, daughter of Wyatt.
  The family lived in Northwest Missouri near the town of Union Star. Wyatt was a Confederate sympathizer in what must have been a pro-Union neighborhood, although he had never been known to say or do anything detrimental to the cause of the Union.
  At that time, there were groups of men who rode at night and made raids back and forth across the border between Kansas and Missouri. Some were honest men and others were desperados playing both sides against the other. These night riders were generally called by the name of "bushwhackers" and they spread much terror throughout the region.
  The bushwhackers had made several calls on Wyatt Combest. They would appear suddenly, late at night, masked, and call for him to come out, threatening to kill him if he did not change his convictions. Once they went so far as to put a rope around his neck. Evidently he was a man of strong convictions and refused to give in to their demands.
  On the final, fatal evening, Wyatt left home to escape their threats, but returned and hid in the well. When it became dark, he left the well and entered the house. Apparently he had been observed by someone as, later, several men rode up shooting and telling for him to come out, shouting threats that they were going to kill him this time. Wife Mary or daughter Fannie Combest (it is not known who) opened the door and said that he was not at home. The leader of the gang replied that he knew better and that if Wyatt did not come and talk to them they would shoot her.
  Wyatt stepped to the door immediately and said that he wasn't going anywhere with them and if they were going to kill him they could do it right then. Whereupon one of the bushwhackers shot him in the stomach and he fell in the doorway, mortally wounded. The party then rode away in haste.
  The bullet which passed through the vest he was wearing and through his body struck a small gold-colored pitcher that sat on a low shelf of the wall across the room. The bullet broke one side of the pitcher and was found inside. Claude Boyles says that he saw the pitcher, bullet, and vest many times.
  Daughter Harriet, who was about five at the time, remembered hearing the shot and seeing her father fall.
  The cold-blooded murder of Wyatt was greatly deplored by the law-abiding people of the county who considered him to be an orderly and reputable citizen.
  Wyatt's widow, Mary Shepherd Combest, with their two sons John and Charles Jackson and three daughters Fannie, Harriet, and Mary (born only four days after the sudden death of her father) traveled to Illinois as soon as possible.
  She loaded her five children into a covered wagon and, with daughter Harriet holding the baby, sitting in a small rocking chair, they journeyed at least 400 miles by primitive roads.
  Mary Shepherd Combest then married Samuel Stonner and had another daughter named Cora Stonner. It is not known what happened to Mr. Stonner, but Mary returned to Missouri and was widowed again after her marriage to Gilbert Burbage. Gilbert was born 1823 and died in 1908. Mary died at the age of 93 on the 17th of July, 1929 and is buried at Flagg Springs Cemetery near Union Star, Missouri. She was a woman of her times, pioneer through and through.

Details of Wyatt's family with Mary Shepherd