Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Davis, George B ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com October 4, 2007, 11:28 pm Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County GEORGE B. DAVIS, one of the earliest settlers of Channahon Township, was born in Montgomery County, N. Y., May 7, 1821, a son of Joseph and Martha (Burlingame) Davis, of whose nine children he and his brother, Van Dyke, of Kankakee County, Ill., are the sole survivors. His father, a native of Long Island, born in 1787, removed with his parents to Albany County, N. Y., and after his marriage settled on a farm in Montgomery County. In 1824 he removed to Rensselaer County, and from there, in 1836, turned his face westward to Illinois. In the fall of that year he came to Channahon Township, Will County, and in the spring of the next year his family joined him here. A short time later he purchased a tract of land. However, before he had moved to his new home he was taken ill and died September 30, 1838. His parents, Ezekiel and Lois (Tripp) Davis, were probably natives of Long Island, but there are no records concerning their birth. They moved to Albany County, N. Y., and lived upon a farm there until they passed away, in advanced years. The maternal grandparents of our subject were Roger and Elizabeth (Sweet) Burlingame, the latter a native of Rhode Island. The former was a sea captain in early life, but after his marriage he settled down to farming in Albany County, N. Y., where he died of yellow fever a few years later. At the time our subject came to this county he was sixteen years of age. After his father's death in 1838, he and his brothers carried on the farm. January 12, 1843, he married Miss Olive Comstock, a native of Tompkins County, N. Y., and the daughter of Alexander McGregor and Esther (Saltmarsh) Comstock. To their marriage eight children were born, four of whom are now living, namely: G. Henry, who for ten years has been storekeeper in the street car department at Pullman, Ill.; Sadie, at home; Oliver, a practicing physician and surgeon of Joliet; and Wilbur B., a farmer of Channahon Township. Two years after his marriage Mr. Davis purchased eighty acres of his present farm and settled thereon. He has been a progressive and energetic farmer. From time to time he added to his farm until it numbered two hundred and forty acres, but in recent years he has sold his son ninety-five acres, which leaves in his farm one hundred and forty-five acres. For years he was school director and also trustee of the school fund. He is an ardent Republican in politics. Not caring for elective offices, he has always refused to allow his name to be used as a candidate for any but minor offices. For forty years he has served as a trustee of the Methodist Church. He is one of the best known and most highly esteemed men of Channahon Township, where his hospitality, genial disposition, upright life and generous nature have won him hosts of friends during the more than sixty years of his residence here. Mrs. Davis traces her lineage to the von Komstohk (or Comstock) family, of Frankfort-on-the-Main in Germany. Tradition states that the family was founded in America by three brothers from Wales or England, where the family had gone from Germany owing to their connection with some political strife that rendered further residence in their native land perilous. The lineage is traced back to a noble ancestry prior to 1547. William, who founded this branch of the family in America, settled in Wethersfield, and thence went to New London, Conn. His son, Samuel, had a son, Samuel, who was the father of Hezediah Comstock. The latter's son, Gideon, moved from Rhode Island to Connecticut. Adam, son of Gideon, was born in Rhode Island. He was a man of stalwart physique, six feet in height, well proportioned and dignified, in deportment grave and gentlemanly, well calculated to command the respect of all who approached him. Before the Revolution he was one of the king's justices of the peace and a major in his army. On the breaking out of the war, however, he entered the American army, with the determination to use all his energies in the defense of his country. In the language of his biographer, "He was a soldier by nature, powerful in body, of undaunted courage, an enthusiastic patriot, and a good disciplinarian. He had the confidence of Washington, who raised him to the rank of colonel in the continental line. At the brilliant victory of Red Bank he was the officer of the day; alternately with General Smith of Maryland, he commanded at the successful defense of Mud Fort (now Fort Mifflin). He also shared the various sufferings of his brave companions-in-arms at Valley Forge. After this, from a domestic affliction, he resigned his commission, which General Washington reluctantly accepted, giving him an honorable discharge from the army." Soon after the close of the war Colonel Comstock was elected to the legislature of his native state. In 1785 he moved to Schenectady, N. Y. One year later he purchased and moved to a farm in Greenfield (now Corinth) Township, Saratoga County, where he made his home up to the time of his death. While a citizen of New York he was for many years a member of the New York assembly and senate, in which bodies he exercised a controlling influence by reason of his recognized ability. For many years he was a judge of the court of common pleas in and for the county of Saratoga, to which office he was peculiarly adapted. He was not bred to the profession of law, but his strong mind and investigating habits, his sound judgment and competent knowledge of science, were abundantly manifest in his judicial opinions. He died April 10, 1819. Rev. Alexander McGregor Comstock, M. D., was born in Greenfield Township, Saratoga County, N. Y., September 9, 1788, and was one of the seventeen children of Adam and Margaret (McGregor) Comstock. He was a Methodist Episcopal minister, a graduate in medicine, and a farmer. During the war of 1812 he served as a surgeon. He was a man of unusual intellectual powers and industrious habits. His life seemed to be squared by the proverb, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." In each of his three vocations he met with success. In 1835 he made his first trip to Illinois. The next year he brought his family to Joliet, where he practiced medicine and acted as a local minister. In 1837 he settled on a farm in Troy Township, but in 1841 returned to Joliet, where he died July 9, 1854. In politics he was a Whig. He married Esther Saltmarsh, who was born of Holland descent, in Columbia County, N. Y., and died in Joliet in 1874. They had six children, five of whom came to Joliet, and four attained maturity: Mrs. Olive Davis; Adam; Mary, who lives in Joliet; and Grover, who died in this city. The only surviving son, Adam Comstock, is a well-known civil engineer and surveyor of Joliet. A. M. Comstock, M. D., had a brother, Rev. O. C. Comstock, M. D., who was a man of remarkable gifts and attainments. Besides being a minister in the Baptist Church and a practicing physician, he was a member of the New York legislature, a judge, a member of congress and the chaplain of that body for some years. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/davis994gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 7.9 Kb