Holcombe, William H. (William Henry), 1825-1893

Homeopathic physician in Natchez, Miss.

William Henry Holcombe (1825-1893), homeopathic physician, was born in Lynchburg, Va., son of William James Holcombe, also a physician, and Ann Eliza Clopton Holcombe of Lynchburg. The Holcombes were descendants of a Scotch family that settled in Virginia and the Carolinas. William James Holcombe studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania under Nathaniel Chapman and, after his marriage in 1819, settled in Lynchburg to practice medicine. Later, he became a Methodist preacher in addition to his medical practice and, with strong feelings against the institution of slavery, freed his slaves and helped them settle in Ohio and Liberia. Fearing that his sons--James P., Thomas B., William Henry, John Warwick, Anderson Lawrence, and Samuel Brown--would be affected adversely growing up in a slave-owning community, William James Holcombe moved his family to Indiana, where he purchased a farm in 1842. The boys worked on this farm until they went to William and Mary College and the University of Virginia. After their sons left home, the Holcombes returned to Amelia County, Va.

William Henry Holcombe first practiced medicine in Cincinnati, where he met and married Rebecca Palmer in 1852. Shortly afterwards, they moved to Natchez where Holcombe went into practice with a Dr. Davis. Holcombe encountered an epidemic of yellow fever shortly after his arrival there. He and his wife had four children, only one of whom survived past childhood. Their son Alexander was born 8 February 1855 in Natchez. William Henry Holcombe's younger brothers, Sammy and Johnny, and Johnny's wife Harriet and child, Walker, lived with William and Rebecca in Natchez for awhile. Johnny died 5 April 1855 and his wife and son returned to Indiana. The Holcombes moved to New Orleans soon after. William remained there for the rest of his life, practicing homeopathic medicine and holding office for a time in several homeopathic medical societies.