1868 - 1935
Lumber Merchant and State Senator.
Thomas A. Combs was born on the family's farm in Breathitt County, Kentucky during 1868 and by 1889 began clerking at his father's general store and sawmill. During 1893, Senator Combs came to Lexington and founded the Combs Lumber Company, serving as the firm's President until his death. In 1903, he was elected Mayor of the City of Lexington and in 1907 a State Senator. He served as a State Senator for the next twenty-four years. He suffered a stroke in 1932, which curtailed his activities.
Senator Combs was a director of the Fayette National Bank from 1905 to 1931, Security Trust Company from 1924 to 1933, and Cleveland Federal Reserve System. He was also a director and large stockholder of the Combs Lumber Company, Lexington Telephone Company, Swiss Oil Company (later Ashland Oil), Marian Coal Company and Lexington Water Works. He died in April 1935.
