Rebecca Clarkson Combe

Rebecca Clarkson Combe (1665?-1744) was born in London c. 1665, the eldest daughter of David Clarkson, a Christian scholar. His other children were Robert, Gertrude (see her entry above), and Katherine.  After her marriage to Mr. Combe, Rebecca and her sister Gertrude decided to unite with the Independent Church, as noted in Samuel James’s An Abstract of the Gracious Dealings of God, with Several Eminent Christians, in Their Conversions and Sufferings (1760). Although Combe had a religious education, she was frequently tormented by suspicions and fears.   She made resolutions to pray day and night, and strictly followed her duties, though she frequently failed and began to abhor herself. She suffered often from internal conflicts, even after her marriage. Nevertheless, in 1697, in her letter for admission into the church, she noted that she “had a discovery of the glory of the Father’s love, as unchangeable, free, and eternal which was discovered in pitching on me before the foundation of the world” (James 38).  In November 20, 1744, Combe died at the age of 79 after an illness that lasted for four years, and was buried in Bunhill-Fields.

For more on Combe, see John Blackburn, Select Works of the Reverend and Learned David Clarkson, B.D, and Sometime, Fellow of Clark Hall, Cambridge (London: Balckburn and Pardon, Hatton Garden, 1867); Thomas Gibbon, Memoirs of Eminently Pious Women, vol. 2 (London: J. Duncan, Longman et all, 1827); and Samuel James,  An Abstract of the Gracious Dealings of God, With Several Eminent Christians, in Their Conversions and Sufferings. Taken From Authentic Manuscripts, And Published For the Comfort and the Establishment of Serious Minds, 3rd ed. (London: Printed by M. Lewis, and sold by J. Buckland, G. Keith, and J. Johnson, 1766).