So here it is, Thursday night, the kids are in bed and D is studying. I don't necessarily have new information to share so I thought I'd share some 'old' information that I have discovered throughout this process.
The above picture is John & Ichabod Comstock. Okay Susie, so we all know the name Comstock, but who are they and what does it mean to me, right?
John Comstock is our Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather on Mom's side. It goes:
Me (Us), Mom, Grandma Hazel, Paw Paw, Grandfather Comstock (Ralph), Henry Comstock, John Comstock.
John Comstock was born 21 Feb 1802 in Rhode Island and died in Wabash, Indiana in 1879. In 1826 he married Salena Newhouse in Wayne, Ohio. They had 7 children, all but the youngest lived to old age; John, the youngest died at age 7 in 1847.
He was born into a Quaker family and his father (also John Comstock) had a had a 400 acre farm in Rhode Island, most of which he had inherited from HIS father Thomas Comstock (our Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather). John Comstock Senior was a member of the Senate of Rhode Island for one term. John Comstock, Sr. was married to Hope Fiske and they had 6 children.
Hope died in 1810 when their son Ichabod (on the right in the pic above) was 8 days old. A daughter, Anne, was 9 and with the help of a Nurse/Nanny kept the kids together for about 2 years. When this became too much of a burden the daughters Anne and Mercy were sent to live with a cousin, Matthew Comstock.
Apparently Anne (with Jet Black eyes FYI) was placed in the kitchen and Mercy with her blue eyes and curly hair was placed in the parlor. (Nice....)
Ann was able to save up the whopping sum of $400 and married an Englishman named Ephraim Morris and was able to start her own housekeeping. They were Christians in the Baptist Church and died in 1979 only a few months before her brother John (in the picture on the left).
Ann married Dr. Hatfield Halsten and moved near Seneca Lake in New York. The rest is a quoting what I have found:
Thomas Comstock lived near Lockport, New York. Had also a country residence. He was a man of industry and intelligence a Deacon in the Presbyterian Church. Had four children Artemas, Almon, William and a daughter Miranda Comstock. Miranda Comstock married a man named Colt. To this union there was one daughter named Anna Colt . Then she went to Chicago and was much interested in Christian Science. She was of good appearance and find abilities. She visited with her two cousins, daughters of Artemas Comstock, in the summer of 1879, her uncle John Comstock at Liberty Mills, Indiana.
Hon. John Comstock born in Feb. 21, 1802 moved with his father from the state of R. I. when he was six months of age in 1802. But little is known of his early youth save that he was a he was a rugged and square of form with more flesh then convenient to carry betimes. At about the age fourteen years he ascertained that he was a bound boy (according to the customs of those times) and although the family were if excellent character and kind to him he could not submit to that trying ordeal – so in the afternoon of that same day the family went away leaving John in charge of the house. After putting things in order he tied his few belongings in a handkerchief and going into the cellar he put a couple of apples into his pocket and then added to his little bundle a few of the excellent doughnuts saying to himself these will answer for my supper. Then with a stick through the bundle he made quick time to place the longest possible distance between himself and his, as he constructed it, officials over him. I think he went to his brother Thomas getting work when and where he could. He said he was a large of his age and so strong he was in pretty steady employment. His father and mother had implanted good principles in their boy and especially obedience which made it easier to succeed. At sixteen or seventeen years of age he contracted to cut down a certain number of acres of heavy timber a clear the land. He worked two weeks at this taking his dinner with him and burying it in the snow to keep it from freezing. After working faithfully at chopping from early morn till night he would chop what he could on moon light nights or evenings. He soon broke down however and with pain in chest so severely could do nothing.
John after a time of rest concluded he could go to school and acquire an education accordingly he engages board at Deacon Whitings where he could feed horses, milk and do errands to pay for board. He worked at his books with the same energy exhibited in chopping. He committed the parts be memorized in Kirkhams Grammer and studied his arithmetic in proportion, in two or three weeks that his nervous system gave way leaving him a seeming wreck. But the kind Deacon did not thrust him out through unable to wait upon himself. He nursed him giving him medical attention. Five months passed by and John was able to be about again. John was furnished with a horse and wagon and started out on the road to peddle brooms which was not work to his liking but it afforded him a living.
In the year about 1821 John landed in Wayne Co., Ohio with poor health and three shillings in pocket. He had been in early life provided with good books if the number was limited, but in this he had the foundation of solid manhood as an example to imitate. At one time the Bible was taken away from him because he read too much in it and might soil it.
He taught school in the same neighborhood near Bristol, Wayne Co., six years at which time his head so improved that he could enlarge his work while teaching – at 50¢ a scholar and boarding around among the pupils he had bought a tract of school land 80 acres perhaps on which he worked at spare times. He was termed the Yankee and while the canal was being built through that section of County he planted twelve acres in potatoes which afforded considerable merriment to neighbors who wanted to know what that Yankee would do with his crop. In the fall he satisfied their curiosity by taking fifty cents per bush for an abundant crop of potatoes from the canal grocer and taverns (as called them) while the farmers were taking three shillings 3½ cents a bus for their wheat. He invested part of this money in buying Cattle cows mostly driving them through in droves and selling to farmers. I think he bought a drove of hogs. He was married to Miss Salena Newhouse in 1826 Jan 1 st . They lived at his farm in a hewed log house with stairs going up outside to upper room. With economy they gathered a good property around them and in 1835 John Comstock came to Indiana and took up land which he occupied the next summer.
Mrs. Salena Comstock wife of John Comstock was born the year of 1801. He father John and Mother Nancy Newhouse (her parents name was Cox) were Methodists of strictest sect as in those days. The children were some of them find singers. There were seven daughters Katy, Mary, Salena, Betsy, and Letty, one who died young and three sons Henry, John, and Thomas Newhouse.
Mary Newhouse married Robert Watkins
Katy Newhouse
Salena Newhouse married John Comstock
Betsy Comstock married Stephen Fisher
Lettie Newhouse
John Newhouse
Henry Newhouse
Thomas Newhouse
John Comstock died Sept 30, 1879.
And This:
Death Notice of John Comstock
03 Oct 1879 , Wabash County, Indiana
This well-known citizen of Wabash county, one of its earliest settlers and almost a lifetime resident of Liberty Mills, died suddenly at his home last Tuesday after noon, about 4 o'clock. He was setting in his chair in apparently his usual health, his daughter sitting near him, when suddenly she noticed him gasping for breath. He was immediately placed upon the bed, but nothing could be done for him, and in a few minutes he breathed his last. He is supposed to have suffered a stroke of apoplexy. his funeral occurs this (Friday) forenoon.
Judge Comstock's friends will, we trust, furnish us with an extended notice of his eventful life. He was a man of more than ordinary note, as once an Associate Judge of the county, and we believe a member of the Legislature. A native of Rhode Island, but had resided in Wabash county nearly 45 years. His fame was general throughout the state as a breeder of short-horn cattle, he being one of the first men in Northern Indiana to give that subject his attention
That is all for tonight my darlings. There is more on Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather Comstock but I don't want to overwhelm you.
