Comstock is a place name. Its derivation undoubtedly traces to a village in Devonshire, England called Culmstock which is located on the River Culm some ten miles east of Tiverton and an equal distance south of Taunton.
In the
year 1900 this village had a population of 869, which is about
the same number that resided there in the time of the Domesday
Book, wherein the village is mentioned as Comstocke.
The village probably derived its name from the fact that in medieval times it was customary to erect 'stocks' or stockades around rural communities as a protection against wolves and marauders. This particular stockade being located on the River Culm or Colm came to be designated Colmstocke or Culstock.
In considering the origin of family names, it must be borne in mind that surnames in England did not become permanent or hereditary until the Eleventh or Twelfth Centuries. Prior to that, a man's given name came to have the additional designation of his vocation such as John (the) Smith or Robert (the) Cooper, or one might be known from the place of his origin, as Thomas de Mille or Peter de Culmstock. Frequently the de (=of) was dropped as superfluous.
It is not surprising, therefore to find records in the parish Registers of the small towns of Devonshire and Somersetshire, not far from Culmstock, of such names as Petro de Columstock, 1241; John de Culmstok, 1189; Robert de Culmstok, 1189.
General Cyrus B. Comstock, in his introduction to the Genealogy of 1907, gives a number of references to early Prior of Taunton: "Richard de Colmstoke, elected 1325; Ralph de Colmstoke, elected 1331."
Samuel Willett Comstock, in his extensive researches in England, found records of some 122 early Comstocks, including that of a family at Timberscombe in the first year of the reign of Richard 1 (1189), wherein is named John de Culmstok, his wife Alice, and son Robert. This is the earliest known reference to the name as applied to persons.
During the period of settlement of New England the name of Comstock, while not common in the mother country was represented there. C. B. Comstock notes several records as of that period from the parish Register of Stoke St. Gregory, nineteen miles from Culmstock: "Thomas, son of Thomas Coomstocke baptized ye 30 day October 1636; John, son of Thomas Coomstocke baptized ye 18 day September 1646; Thomas Cumstoke was buried 30 Sept. 1658.", and from the burials of the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London: " Mariana Combstocke, 30 Nov. 1595; Joannes Combstocke, 26 Aug. 1597; Johannes Comstock, 1 Nov. 1603."
It is interesting to note that the name of Comstock has now practically died out in England, whereas it is represented in the United States by thousands of living members. An examination made about 1895, at the Somerset House, London, of the Record of Births in England and Wales, showed scarcely one birth per year.
A number of traditions and erroneous statements concerning the origin of the name of Comstock, and of the family, have had wide circulation. The most commonly accepted of these is a story of the German origin of the family, which is intimately bound up with the supposed genesis of the Coat of Arms.
This
myth is to the effect that there existed in the Muniment office
at Frankfort, Germany, the record of pedigrees of nine generations
of Komstohks prior to Charles Von Komstohk, a Baron of the Roman
Empire, who escaped to England in 1547 because of his being implicated
with other noblemen of Austria and Silesia in the Von Benedict
treason.
General C. B. Comstock made careful search at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and at Breslau, without finding any trace or reference to Baron Von Komstohk, or of a Von Benedict treason.
Samuel Willett Comstock states in a letter dated Jan. 20, 1933 concerning this story, that he "...personally investigated it in Germany, Scotland, and England, and nothing of the sort was ever heard of there."
Another story that has been widely publicized suggests a Danish origin, based on the supposed derivation of the name from the Danish work "kim", meaning a dock or wharf, and "stock" signifying a stick of timber.
Many members of the family give credence to the theory of a Welch origin. This probably arises from the fact that some early references to Christopher Comstock of Norwalk speak of him as a Welchman. The advocates of this theory point to the motto on the Comstock Coat of Arms, which is in the Welch language, in support of their belief. The true facts in connection with this Coat of Arms are dealt with in a separate chapter, and serve to disprove both the Welch and German theories of origin.
A summary of all evidence points strongly toward that part of England lying to the south of the Bristol Channel as having given origin to the family. Samuel Willett Comstock has probably given more painstaking study to this matter than any other genealogist, and it is of interest to note that one of his letters states in part, "I do think from a survey of that country with only two records of William found, that our William went from London to Yeovil or Cussy Rival and raised his family there. Yeovil parish registers 1620-1640 have not so far as I know been published and I think it may possibly contain them, as there was a Danyell Comstock near by, in Town of Closworth, Somerset County, 1614 and 1615.
The little village of Culmstock in Devonshire takes on a special significance to members of the Comstock family in view of the above, and some facts concerning it are worthy of recording.
Its history
really began with the purchase by the Mother Church at Exeter
of the parish and the erection of a church there in approximately
the year 600 A.D. About the year 900 the present All Saints Church
was built, and enlargements were made to it some two hundred years
later.
The Register begins in 1645. There are Wesleyan and Baptist parishes there. The accompanying picture of the church taken only a few years ago, shows a yew tree growing out of one of the windows in the tower. The roots of this tree started in the ground inside the tower. The old burying ground about this church is very impressive.
The Kennels of the Otter Hounds are situated at Culmstock. This pace must be one of the oldest in Great Britain, dating back to about 1790 when it was formed by Mr. Jewell Collier, who held the Mastership forty-one years. The pack remained in the control of the Collier family for over a hundred years. It has the distinction, too, of being one of the few Otter Hunts in the country to sport the scarlet uniform. Mention is made of this in Henry Williamson's book, Tarka the Otter.