Justus Cohn was born March 15, 1859, in Germany if his death certificate can be trusted.  According to family correspondence "someone was Jewish- not [Justus] who was a militant atheist, but maybe his father."  Justus eventually married Susanna Bassler and had at least two sons, Charles and Albert. 

At some point Charles and Albert changed their names from Cohn to Combs.  The exact date is not known as they did their best to hide this fact from everyone. Some years later, in 1924, Justus followed his sons' lead and changed his name as well.  In a letter to the Masonic Temple in Newton, Kansas dated 1925 Justus asked the Masons to officially change his name in the records.  As way of explanation he wrote,

"To explain to you and the Lodge why I have done this I beg to say that my three sons have changed their names years ago because it was a hindrance on account of the prejudice, and they have all been christened in the Lutheran church of Newton and furthermore, ...[I am]... getting older, and while we are not rich, we are not poor and [want] to avoid any legal trouble in the future."

The cover-up was more or less successful, and this change did not come to light until the late 1980's.  At that point several Combs family members did work digging up the above pieces of information.  When I, Todd, found out about this I felt it was a shame that Charles and Albert felt it was necessary to hide their true heritage.

As chance would have it I am the last known male descendant of Justus to be capable of passing on the name of Combs.  Therefore, with Barbara's agreement, we are taking this opportunity to un-do what was done over 75 years ago and return the Combs to Cohn.  I like to think Justus would approve.