From Log Cabin School in Kentucky's Feud Country to the Sorbonne . . . and Beyond

From Log Cabin School in Kentucky's Feud Country to the Sorbonne . . . and Beyond Josiah Henry Combs 1886-1960 It seems a "fur piece" from a log cabin school in Eastern Kentucky's "pure feud belt" to a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the famous Sorbonne in Paris, France, and it is, but this only begins to indicate the journey and achievement of Josiah Henry Combs in his pursuit of the good life. Born in Hazard, Kentucky, January 2, 1886, while the French-Eversole feud raged, he grew up at Hindman, Knott County, Kentucky. He came of a singing family, especially on his mother's side, and, as he later put it, "great singers on my mother's side," he said. "You could hear them sing folksongs from mountain top to mountain top." He attended Professor Clark's school at Hindman and was one of two in the first graduating class of the Hindman Settlement School where he was encouraged to revere his folk heritage. At old Transylvania University he was further encouraged to study and record the "lore" of his people, especially by Professor Hubert G. Shearin. By the time he graduated in 1911, he was already writing and collecting and publishing the results, and this was long before the famous British collector, Cecil J. Sharpe, made his pilgrimage to Southern Appalachia in search of traditional British ballads. Unlike Sharpe, Josiah Combs did not limit his collecting to British traditional, but collected whatever he found among the folk-songs ranging from "Barbara Allen" to "Whoah, Mule." From 1911 to about 1918 (when he volunteered for service in World War I), he published books, brochures, articles, lectured, and gave "concerts" of his folksongs accompanied by his "dulcimore," and taught in various schools in Kentucky, Virginia , Tennessee, and Oklahoma. He was probably the first folklore scholar to "perform " his material. Although overseas, he never got out of England and to the Continent until the war was over. In 1920 he married Charlotte Benard in old Burgundy, France, even though her relatives did not approve. As Mrs. Combs reported in a recent letter, they asked her such questions (in French, of course) as "Are you crazy?" 1920-21 Josiah Combs was attached to the Checkoslavak Army and editor of the Checkoslovak American (in 1921) in Prague. He brought his young French wife back to the States, and while he taught French and Spanish at West Virginia University (1922-24), and added to his collection of folksongs, Mrs. Combs budgeted their income and sent 55 regular amounts for deposit back in France in preparation for a return to Paris and doctoral studies at the Sorbonne (they decided to save and complete the program all at once rather than face the long years of teaching and part time study, so often the course taken by candidates for the Ph.D). In 1925 Josiah Combs was awarded the Ph.D. from the famous University, summa cum laude, the first person from Kentucky to receive that honor. His dissertation, immediately published in book form in French as Folk-Songs du Midi des Etats Unis has recently been translated and issued in the United States as Folk Songs of the Southern United States. His secondary thesis proposal was Kentucky in American Literature. Josiah Combs came home to round out an eminent career as scholar, writer, editor, professor—and perhaps most important of all—as a fascinatingly witty, brilliant , warm, generous human being. Mrs. Combs quoted him as saying once, "If I had to choose between being a scholar and being human, I would choose the latter." He was professor of French and German, University of Oklahoma, 1926-27; Head, Department of Foreign Languages, Texas Christian University, 1927-47; Head, Department of French, Mary Washington College of University of Virginia, until his retirement inl955. Upon retirement, he and Mrs. Combs moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for a more healthful climate. He died June 2, 1960, a few days before he was scheduled to record the tunes of his folk songs. Yes, it is a long way from the small boy of five, learning to read at his mother's knee and attending a one room log school for...