William Comstock (abt. 1595 - 1683)

Born about 4 Jul 1595 in Culmstock, Devon, England

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Daniel) Comstock — married about 1622 in Devon, England

Descendants

Died 1683 at about age 87 in New London, New London, Connecticut Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Jay Byrne [send private message], Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], and Lamar Ross [send private message]

William Comstock migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 75) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

William Comstock was born in England about 1595. He married as his second wife Elizabeth Daniel, she was born about 1608 and died after 1665. William is believed to have died about 1683.^[1]

William Comstock was born July 4, 1585 in Culmstock, Devonshire, England. He died in 1683 in New London, New London, Conn. William married Elizabeth Daniel. Their children:^[2]

1. John, 1624-1680
2. Samuel, 1628-1660
3. Daniel, born July 21, 1630, in Providence, Rhode Island, died in 1683 in Stonington, Conn. He married Paltiah Elderkin in 1653 in Lynn, Essex, Mass.
4. Elizabeth, 1633-1659
5. Christopher, 1635-1702

Name

William Comstock ^[1][3]

Christening

Birth date: [1]

4 JUL 1595

Culmstock, Devonshire, England

Emigration

William Comstock emigrated about 1635-1636, settling in Wethersfield, Connecticut by 1641. ^[4]

Residence

28 April 1641: Wethersfield, Connecticut Colony

William Comstock owned property in Wethersfield by 28 April 1641, when he is listed on the Wethersfield inventory of properties regarding the "lands he bought of Richard Mills" at that date. ^[5] The inventories were made within a few years, up to five years, of the transfer of property. ^[6] We can estimate that William Comstock may have been in Wethersfield before 1640.

Burial

1683: New London, New London, Connecticut Colony

Marriage

1622/23, England

Children of William

1. John b. c 1624 m. Abigail Chappell^[7]
2. Samuel b. c. 1628 m. Anne Tucker ?^[7]
3. Daniel b. 1630 m. Paltiah Elderkin^[7]
4. Elizabeth b. 1633 m. Edward Shipton^[7]
5. Christopher b. 1635 m Hannah Platt^[7]

Research Notes

K. Haden, in [2] makes a strong case for changes in the origins, and life events, of Wiliam Comstock and his relations,

After detailing her research, she concludes that:

"...The name of William Comstock's wife is proved as Elizabeth in Connecticut records - but her surname has never been proved as Daniel or Daniels. The fact that it appears as Daniel(s) in very many places cannot be taken as proof - I have found no substantiation for this name anywhere. It was given in a lineage society application when no proof documents were required and many of these early applications contain major errors. The marriage in 1623 to an Elizabeth (Cock, or perhaps Cocke) (In High Wycombe) is timely and in a possible location either for a young groom born earlier in the inner city or an outlying parish. . .

"...The names of the sons baptized (in St. Margaret's Church, Uxbridge, Hillingdon, Middlesex) coincide closely with the names and possible birth dates of the four probable sons of William Comstock, (Daniel b. 1624, John, b. 1626, Samuel, b. 1629, Christopher b. 1636, to include possibly an infant Christopher b. 1632) that died young . . . . There is also the baptism of the single daughter Elizabeth (b. 1631)

"...The Comstock records in this Parish end with the baptism of Christopher in May of 1636. William Comstock is listed on a list of settlers who came to Watertown, CT between 1636 and 1640 and he was not one of the original settlers - many of these that came between 1636-1640 are said to have come direct from England. A Wethersfield, CT record shows that William Comstock owned land in 1641 that he had purchased from Richard Milles - Milles had left Wethersfield in 1639. This suggests William Comstock had come before 1639, but not before 1636, which coincides nicely with the end of the records in Uxbridge, England and the lack of records in Connecticut prior to 1636 even though some researchers have alluded to the possible presence of William Comstock, without actual citations, before 1636. "

I viewed the baptismal and marriage records cited and concur with her assessment. I also examined the vital records of Culmstock, Devon, the presumed source of the name Comstock and the purported birthplace of this family, at [3]. There is no record there of any Comstock, Culmstock, Daniel, Cock, or Cocke; while recordkeeping began only in 1608 after the birth of William and likely birthdate of Elizabeth, their marriage and baptisms of children would have shown up in those records had they occurred there, and they do not.

Therefore, major changes in his profile and the profiles of his wife Elizabeth, and their child Daniel, their non-children Gideon and William appear warranted.

There is more about events in New England in K Haden's work that needs to be reflected in biographies as well.

That is a lot of change. I'm willing to go ahead to make those changes, but I welcome input before starting in. Halsey Bullen

These may be grandchildren - working on.

Child: Gideon Comstock

Child: William Comstock

Child: UNKNOWN Comstock

They WERE NOT children of William and Elizabeth! The son John did have a son named William (1669-1728, who lived in Lyme, New London, CT - the earliest known William Comstock. There is not a record of any Gideon Comstock until the 4th generation. There is no proof of any "unknown" child.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} JA Comstock....Genealogy of the Comstock Family, Page: 1,2
2. ↑ | genealogy.com/form/regional/states/topics/vt/18117
3. ↑ New England Families Genealogical and Memorial, Vol. II, Record Type: Genealogical record, Subject: Early New England families, File Reference: GR929.374 C99 Author: Compiler: William Richard Cutter Publication: Clearfield Company p.1980
4. ↑ Cyrus B. Comstock, A Comstock Genealogy, New York (1907)
5. ↑ Great Migration Newsletter, V.1-20
6. ↑ Great Migration Newsletter, V.1-20
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} JA Comstock....Genealogy of the Comstock Family, p 2

See also:

• Find A Grave: Memorial #32554720 - no photo or cemetery record
• Comstock, Cyrus B., 1907. A Comstock Genealogy: Descendants of William Comstock of New London, Conn., who died after 1662. The Knickerbocker Press, New York, NY. pages 2-4 (#1) https://archive.org/details/comstockgenealog00incoms
• New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. "wife: ?Elizabeth DANIEL; by 1621? by 1625?; Wethersfield/New London."subscription site
• Great Migration Newsletter, V.1-20.(Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015.) William Comstock
• Comstock, John A. 1883- A history and genealogy of the Comstock family in America. Published: Los Angeles, Priv. print. for the author by the Commonwealth Press, 1949. A HathiTrust e-book. JAComstock
• Selleck, Lillian. One Branch of the Miner Family (D. L. Jacobus, New Haven, Connecticut, 1928) https://archive.org/details/onebranchofminer00sell/page/90/mode/2up
• Pitman, H. Minot. Comstock-Thomas Ancestry of Richard Wilmot Comstock (Bronxville, New York, 1964) https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/19783/?offset=7#page=15&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q=