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Solomon “Salmon” Comstock

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Solomon “Salmon” Comstock

Birth
Litchfield, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA
Death
23 May 1845 (aged 79)
Otsego County, New York, USA
Burial
Hartwick, Otsego County, New York, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
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On his tombstone, Solomon's age is listed as 81 but if he was actually born in 1766, he would have been 79 in 1845. His date of birth of 11 May 1767 in Kent, Connecticut is from Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (the Barbour Collection)which would have made him a year younger. The reason for the discrepancies in his age is unknown but his correct year of birth was probably 1764 due to his age being listed as 71 in 1836 instead of a calculated age of 69. See further below for details.

Solomon and Abigail were married on 18 June 1788 per Abigail's bible (privately held) but the Barbour Collection lists their date of marriage as one day earlier on 17 June 1788. Logically, Abigail would have entered the correct date of her own wedding.

From the New York, Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates, 1799-1804 database, there is an entry for Solomon in 1803 on the line below his brother, Martin Luther Comstock. On the same page, there is also a Benjamin Comstock but his relationship is not known. Because he was in Otsego County on the 1800 census, Solomon probably moved from Connecticut to Otsego County in the 1790s.

He was probably a farmer and appeared on every census from 1800 to 1840 in Otsego County. The text below is from page 4 of the 10 January 1831 edition of the Watch-Tower, Cooperstown, NY:

By virtue of an execution issued out of the Supreme court, I have levied on all the right and title of Salmon Comstock to the following described lots of land, situated in the town of Hartwick, in the county of Otsego, and bounded as follows, viz : On the north by lands of Daniel Allen, on the west by land of Moses Luther, on the south by lands of Lewis and Sheldon Comstock, and on the east by lands of Joseph Lippet; containing about seventy acres, which I shall sell at public vendue, on Saturday the twenty ninth day of January next, at the Court House in the village of Cooperstown, at one o'clock in the afternoon of that day.
H. W. BABCOCK, Sh'ff.
Dated Dec. 13, 1830

We don't know if Solomon was able to keep his land.

On 30 April 1836, Solomon was mentioned in a newspaper. The text below is from page 3 of the Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Herculean Performance for an old Man - Mr. Salmon Comstock, of Hartwich, Otsego Co., aged 71, recently made in one day between the hours of 7 A.M. and 5 P.M. twenty-two hoes and shod two horses.

The notice of his death below is from page 1 of the 6 June 1845 edition of The Albany Argus, Albany, New York:

In Hartwick, on the 23d ult. Mr. SALMON COMSTOCK, aged 78 years.

This lists a younger age so his correct year of birth remains undetermined.
On his tombstone, Solomon's age is listed as 81 but if he was actually born in 1766, he would have been 79 in 1845. His date of birth of 11 May 1767 in Kent, Connecticut is from Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (the Barbour Collection)which would have made him a year younger. The reason for the discrepancies in his age is unknown but his correct year of birth was probably 1764 due to his age being listed as 71 in 1836 instead of a calculated age of 69. See further below for details.

Solomon and Abigail were married on 18 June 1788 per Abigail's bible (privately held) but the Barbour Collection lists their date of marriage as one day earlier on 17 June 1788. Logically, Abigail would have entered the correct date of her own wedding.

From the New York, Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates, 1799-1804 database, there is an entry for Solomon in 1803 on the line below his brother, Martin Luther Comstock. On the same page, there is also a Benjamin Comstock but his relationship is not known. Because he was in Otsego County on the 1800 census, Solomon probably moved from Connecticut to Otsego County in the 1790s.

He was probably a farmer and appeared on every census from 1800 to 1840 in Otsego County. The text below is from page 4 of the 10 January 1831 edition of the Watch-Tower, Cooperstown, NY:

By virtue of an execution issued out of the Supreme court, I have levied on all the right and title of Salmon Comstock to the following described lots of land, situated in the town of Hartwick, in the county of Otsego, and bounded as follows, viz : On the north by lands of Daniel Allen, on the west by land of Moses Luther, on the south by lands of Lewis and Sheldon Comstock, and on the east by lands of Joseph Lippet; containing about seventy acres, which I shall sell at public vendue, on Saturday the twenty ninth day of January next, at the Court House in the village of Cooperstown, at one o'clock in the afternoon of that day.
H. W. BABCOCK, Sh'ff.
Dated Dec. 13, 1830

We don't know if Solomon was able to keep his land.

On 30 April 1836, Solomon was mentioned in a newspaper. The text below is from page 3 of the Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Herculean Performance for an old Man - Mr. Salmon Comstock, of Hartwich, Otsego Co., aged 71, recently made in one day between the hours of 7 A.M. and 5 P.M. twenty-two hoes and shod two horses.

The notice of his death below is from page 1 of the 6 June 1845 edition of The Albany Argus, Albany, New York:

In Hartwick, on the 23d ult. Mr. SALMON COMSTOCK, aged 78 years.

This lists a younger age so his correct year of birth remains undetermined.

Inscription

Salmon Comstock
died May 23
1845
in the 81. yr
of his age



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