Comstock DNA Project- Background

Background

     The name Comstock, with various spellings, [Columstock, Colmstoke, Coomstocke, Cumstocke, etc] is found in England from the 1200's forward.  There is in fact a village called Culmstock in Devonshire - many early English surnames were taken from locations where the individual lived.  The first Comstock believed to be in America, William Comstock, was in Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony by 1640, and died in New London, Connecticut, circa 1683.  Although the name is spelled in various ways in documents, I have not found any current alternate spellings for the surname Comstock.  There is proof via a deed of grandsons, that William certainly had sons named John and Daniel.  Various records and relationships suggest strongly that he also had sons Samuel and Christopher and a daughter Elizabeth who married Edward Shipman.  His wife of record in New England was Elizabeth, perhaps Elizabeth Daniel although the surname is unproved.  William Comstock appears to be the only possible parent available for these five younger Comstocks.  Comstock is not a commonly found name this early in America.   

     There is said to be a pedigree of nine generations of Komstohks in Germany and this pedigree has persisted in challenging researchers and encouraging some to presume that William Comstock, or some of those named as his sons, particularly Christopher, are not his sons at all but instead came from this German family.  Recent research has not confirmed such a German family exists.  

      Y-DNA testing could definitely shed some light on whether or not John, Daniel, Samuel and Christopher were sons, or at least close kin, to William Comstock of Watertown.  The haplogroup results indicating European originis might also be pertinent to the question. 

     Cyrus B. Comstock, a descendant of William Comstock, wrote two books about the Comstock family in the early 1900's, Some Descendants of Samuel Comstock of Providence, RI, and A Comstock Genealogy: Descendants of William Comstock.   Both of these can now be downloaded from Google books in pdf format.  A later book by John A. Comstock, A History and Genealogy of the Comstock Family in America, is still under copyright; much of his book comes directly from those by Cyrus B. Comstock.