My Genealogy Hound

Ex-Judge Isaac A. Comstock, late a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Barton County, was born in Scioto County, Ohio, in 1818, and is a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Fox) Comstock, who were born in New York State, and were married there in 1818, and removed to Scioto County, Ohio, the same year. In 1834 they removed to the “Hoosier State,” and two years later went by ox-team to Iowa, the country at that time being full of Indians. Mr. Comstock was a member of the first county court of Muscatine County. In 1839 he went to Cedar County, being one of its first commissioners, and afterward went on horseback to Dubuque to enter the land on which to locate the county seat, and helped to lay out the town of Tipton. Here he died on the 19th of July, 1864, respected and esteemed by all who knew him. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was a son of Jeremiah Comstock, of Vermont. His wife died on the 10th of April, 1858, having been a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years. Her father, Daniel Fox, was born in New York State, and died in Madison County, Ohio. Isaac A. Comstock, the eldest of four sons and three daughters, was reared on the frontier of Ohio, Indiana and Iowa, receiving but little schooling. He was married in 1840 to Rebecca, a daughter of Goodwin and Jane Taylor, who were born in Virginia and North Carolina, respectively, and were married in the latter State, removing from there to Indiana when their daughter Rebecca was four years old. About 1837 they removed to Muscatine County, Iowa, thence to Cedar County, and afterward to Kansas. Mr. Taylor died in Nebraska in 1881, and his wife in 1879. He was a farmer and stock-raiser, and held the offices of justice of the peace and postmaster, and represented Cedar County, Iowa, one term in the State Legislature. To Mr. and Mrs. Comstock ten children were born, eight being now alive: Andrew J.; Mary J., wife of G. W. Fall, of Iowa; Albert; Lewis C.; Laura, wife of George W. Harbour; Josephine, wife of Joseph Raber; Stephen, and Lawrence. Mr. Comstock resided in Cedar County, Iowa, until 1871, then came to Barton County, Mo., and purchased the finely improved farm of 300 acres, where his family now live, which formerly consisted of 800 acres. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, but at the end of one year returned home via the Island of Cuba and New York City. While in Iowa he was in the mercantile business with his father-in-law, and at the age of twenty-two years he was elected justice of the peace, which position he held many years. In the forties he served two years as county assessor of Cedar County. In 1882 he was elected judge of the county court of Barton County, serving two years. He was a Democrat all his life, and cast his first presidential vote for Franklin Pierce. He belonged to the Good Templars. Mrs. Comstock is a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. Comstock died June 19, 1889. His death was a severe loss to the county, and the position he occupied, in both private and public life, will be one hard to fill.