George Nixon (1731-04-17? – 1800-11-27) was my 6th-great-grandfather, being the father of Jonah Sr., husband of Elizabeth Titus, by his wife Mary Coombes (or Combes); and apparently an Irish immigrant.
There are many claims about George and his wife’s ancestry, and their evaluation is quite difficult with the sparse and challenging records available. The name Nixon simply means “son of Nicholas” and so recurred in many families.
A 1907 article in the Baltimore Sun claims to trace our Nixon line back to 1416.ref I treat it with skepticism.
The most credible research I have found is from the Combs/Coombs family project, which includes this summary:ref
According to “Historical Records of Old Frederick and Hampshire Counties, VA by Wilmer L. Kerns, Ph.D., Heritage Books, Inc. 1991, pg 237, extracted by Combs Researcher Sherry Marine: George NIXON, Sr., son of James and Sarah (EDWARDS) Nixon, was b 27 Mar 1687, Ireland. He md Mary JANNEY….three ch born to them included George NIXON II, b 25 Feb 1730, md 8 Mar 1750, Mary COMBS, d/o Jonah COMBS, of Clogh, Co Antrim, Ireland. Dr. Kerns does not include his sources; however, according to Nixon Researchers Valerie Robinson… and Peter Nixon…, George NIXON II was born in Innskillen, County Ulster, Ireland; emigrated from Innskillen, County Ulster, Ireland ca 1757 with brothers, John and Jonathan NIXON w/George and John NIXON moving to Loudoun Co VA, and Jonathan NIXON to present-day Poolesville, Montgomery Co, MD (est. from Frederick Co, MD in 1776 and directly across the Potomac River from Goose Creek and Leesburg, Loudoun).
Others claim another generation between George Sr. and James and Sarah.
Probably, then, George’s parents being George Nixon and Mary Janney is correct, and his wife’s mother was Jonah Combs, and the Nixon family hails from Enniskillen, Ireland. Jonah’s parents may be Samuel Combs and Mary Wilkes, and his wife may be Ann Rivers.
The birth of 1730-02-25 for George is unsourced (but commonly quoted). His gravestone has his age of death as 69 years, 7 months, and 10 days, which implies a birth in April.
There is a Nixon DNA Projectref but it is sparse, and no testees are clearly identified as descended from George or any of his supposed near relatives.
I have not found any autosomal matches connecting me to any Nixon ancestor beyond Juliet.
There is a considerable Combs/Coombs DNA projectref, which confirms connections between branches of the family. It does not look to have been updated since 2010, is difficult to navigate, and hides many of the DNA results behind a login.
George Nixon and Mary Coombes supposedly married 1750-03-08 and had children Jonah, George, James, Hannah, Sarah, Margaret “Peggy”, Rebekah, Elizabeth, Ann, and Martha “Patty”. His eldest Jonah was my 5th-great-grandfather, being the husband of Elizabeth Titus and father of Jonah Nixon Jr.