Oklahoma farmer claims rights to English estate

Who would guess Sir Francis Drake, English nobleman, explorer and privateer, would have an Oklahoma connection?

On June 6, 1920, The Daily Oklahoman published an article about a Muskogee farmer and his claim to Drake's estate. W.S. Combs of this city is ready to start suit in the courts of England to establish his right to the estate of Sir Francis Drake, nobleman, pirate and hero of the sixteenth century. Combs claims to have papers to prove that he is a great nephew several times removed from Drake, whose fortune which lies in the Bank of London is said to have grown to $62,000,000. John Combs, a direct ancestor or W.S. Combs, is said to have been a brother-in-law of the famous nobleman. Documents in Combs' possession are said to show that Sir Francis Drake willed his estate to his brother Thomas Drake, for 90 years' use, after which time it was to revert to Combs. Three of the descendants of John Combs came to America to settle early in the nineteenth century. Several heirs would share in the estate if the claim were properly established through the English courts. Because of Mr. Combs' age—he is near 80 years old—it is possible that he may never get the money for himself, but he expects to start soon as to have the money for his heirs. Among documents in Mr. Combs' possession is a copy of the will of Sir Francis Drake. ... Mr. Combs is a retired farmer, having lived near Yukon, Okla., for years. He came to Muskogee in 1909 and has lived on his accumulated wealth since that time.

W.S. Combs died Dec. 18, 1923, in Muskogee, never collecting any of the Drake fortune, although an article in The Tulsa Tribune after his death indicated his survivors would continue the quest.

On Aug. 9, 1922, the British Home Office had notified the American Embassy there was no unclaimed estate for Sir Francis Drake.