From the Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham County, Connecticut, 1903.
Male and female "virtue" names were at their most prevalent in 17th, 18th, and 19th century America, and while these word names are certainly laughable in some instances, it's worth noting that several examples of such names have been featured here in the past, Providence Ludlam, Welcome B. Sayles, Welcome Mowry, and Deliverance S. Priest being among them. The name Comfort is another curious virtue name, and with that comes several liked named American political figures! The first of these men, Comfort Starr Burlingame, was a lifelong resident of Connecticut who wore many hats during his life, being at various times a teacher, bank president, creamery agent, four-term state representative, and state dairy commissioner.
Descended from a family with roots in Connecticut extending back to the early 17th century, Comfort Starr Burlingame was born in Canterbury on January 5, 1853, the son of Samuel and Judith (Hyde) Burlingame. A student is schools local to the Canterbury and Brooklyn areas, Burlingame entered into a teaching career at age seventeen, teaching during the winter months at the Christian Corners district in Brooklyn, Connecticut. This was followed by stints at the North Society of Canterbury and the Allen Hill School, located in Brooklyn.
With nearly a decade of teaching behind him, the 26-year-old Burlingame's name was put forward as a candidate for the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1878, and in that November won his first term. The session of 1879-80 saw Burlingame as the youngest Democratic member serving, and during this term was named to the committee on Manufactures. After winning two consecutive reelection bids in 1886 and 1888, Burlingame sat on the committee on New Counties and County Seats, and in the 1889 session introduced legislation that proved beneficial to the dairy operators in his state. Burlingame's 1889 bill (titled "An Act to Prevent Deception in the Manufacture and Sale of Butter and Cheese") also detailed that oleomargarine produced in the state be white in color, and after the bill was passed in the house and senate, it was promptly vetoed by Governor Morgan Bulkeley. Despite the veto, the bill was reintroduced in a later session of the legislature and was signed into law.
With three house terms behind him, Burlingame set his sights on a seat in the state senate in 1891 but would prove unsuccessful at the polls, failing to overcome the district's Republican majority. Following his defeat, he would be named to the Democratic State Central Committee, where he served from 1892-96.
From the Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut, 1891.
In 1892 Burlingame won his fourth term in the legislature, and at the start of the 1893-94 session sat as a member of the committees on Cities and Boroughs. This committee service saw him have a hand in drafting a bill "governing the building of electric railways" in the state. Midway through his term, Burlingame's previous efforts on the behalf of Connecticut's dairymen were rewarded by Governor Luzon Burritt Morris, who appointed him as state dairy commissioner. Taking office in May 1894, Burlingame's two-year tenure saw his campaign "for the right to inspect milk at its source of production", as well as the continued enforcement of the states "oleomargarine, molasses, and vinegar laws."
Burlingame's life outside of politics is also of note, as he made substantial inroads into the business sector of his native Windham County. Beginning in the 1880s he was affiliated with the Brooklyn Creamery Association, of which he would serve as an agent, treasurer, and secretary. A charter member of the Canterbury Grange, Burlingame also held a membership in the Brooklyn Grange and was the clerk of the First Ecclesiastical Society of Brooklyn. In local banking circles, he was an incorporator of the Brooklyn Savings Bank and until 1893 served as a director for the Windham County National Bank. For an indeterminate period, Burlingame occupied a similar post in the Windham County Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
A lifelong bachelor, Burlingame continued residence in Windham County until his death at age 71 on December 6, 1924. Described as a "quiet, unostentatious man, of courteous manner", he was interred at the Hyde Cemetery in his hometown of Canterbury.
Two years prior to Comfort S. Burlingame's birth, his maternal grandfather, Comfort Starr Hyde (1784-1868), entered the political field, serving a term in the Connecticut house of representatives. No portrait of Hyde could be found to post here, and while little is known of his life, it is known that he was born in Canterbury on August 8, 1784. A veteran of the War of 1812, Hyde was a farmer for the majority of his life and in the early 1810s married to Abigail Hough. The couple would have four children, including Judith Hyde (mother of Comfort Starr Burlingame).
In addition to farming Hyde held several local political offices in Canterbury and in 1850 was elected as Democrat to the Connecticut legislature. His one term (1851-52) also saw him in the additional role as a county court commissioner for Windham County. Widowed in 1852, Hyde resided in Canterbury until his death at age 84 on August 27, 1868. He was later interred at the same cemetery as that of his grandson.
Portrait courtesy of Findagrave (painting by John Brewster, 18th century.)
Another Connecticut "Comfort" that attained distinction in both politics and business was Comfort Starr Mygatt of Danbury. Born on August 23, 1763, in Danbury, Comfort S. Mygatt was the son of Eli and Abigail (Starr) Mygatt. Young Comfort began learning the trade of silversmith under his father (a Connecticut state representative) in the early 1780s. After mastering this trade, Mygatt worked under his father in gold and silversmithing in Danbury and later added the title of watch-maker to his resume.
Comfort Mygatt married in 1783 to Lucy Knapp (1766-1804), and the couple's two-decade union produced eight children. Following her death, Mygatt remarried the next year to Elizabeth Stewart Stiles (1777-1860), who would survive him. Their marriage saw the births of five further children, Eli (1807-1885), Hannah (1812-1840), Comfort (1815-1892), Julia Anna (1816-1832), and Amelia (1818-1907).
Mygatt entered politics in 1800 when he represented Danbury in the Connecticut General Assembly for one term. Five years after his term, Mygatt, desiring a new life for his family, made preparations for resettlement in Canfield, Ohio. Having visited that area a year previously, Mygatt liked what he saw and after disposing of his Connecticut property sent out a team of horses and oxen with his family's belongings. In early June 1807, he and his family began the trek to Ohio, reaching their destination in July.
Soon after his resettlement in Canfield Mygatt entered into a partnership with local merchants Herman Canfield and Zalmon Fitch, operating a grocery, dry goods, and general store under the firm name of Mygatt, Canfield & Fitch. Two years later the partnership dissolved, with Mygatt continuing in business alone. In 1809 Mygatt was even talked of as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio, having a firm backer in Governor Samuel Trumbull, a personal acquaintance. Mygatt would turn down the honor, however, noting that his "political views were not in harmony with the majority of the people of the state of Ohio."
Despite being too old to serve as a soldier, Mygatt aided his adopted home state during the War of 1812 by furnishing supplies to the army, and at the request of Major General Elisha Wadsworth journeyed to Pittsburgh to garner supplies that would then be used for Wadsworth and his men. Mygatt's later years were spent in his business in Canfield and following a trip through Columbus, Lancaster, and Zanesville took ill in the fall of 1823. He failed to recover and died in Canfield on October 17, 1823, aged 60. He was survived by his wife and several children, with burial taking place at the Canfield Village Cemetery.
Portrait from the Hampshire Review, April 22, 1908.
From Connecticut, we journey south to West Virginia and Comfort Wood Dailey, long a leading attorney in that state. A two-term prosecuting attorney for Mineral County, Dailey went on to serve a single term in the West Virginia House of Delegates, was a Democratic National Convention delegate and presidential elector, and was president of the West Virginia State Bar Association. The son of Dr. Robert Wood and Rebecca (Taylor) Dailey, Comfort Wood Dailey was born on November 6, 1850, in Cumberland, Maryland.
Referred to by most sources as "C. Wood Dailey", our subject was a student at the Allegany County Academy in Maryland and after deciding on a career in law removed to what is now Romney, West Virginia. Here Dailey studied at the "classical academy" in town and read law with Judge James D. Armstrong. Admitted to the West Virginia bar in the early 1870s, Dailey established his practice in Romney and sometime later removed to Keyser in Mineral County, where he joined his brother Robert Wood Dailey in practice.
Comfort Wood Dailey married to Jeannie Clark Garrison (1851-1931) in the mid-1870s and later had four children, including Katherine Gregory (1878-1901), Rebecca, Thomas Garrison, and Eleanor (1886-1972). Of these children, Thomas Garrison would follow his father into practicing law.
Success came quickly to Dailey, "as he soon took rank among the ablest lawyers of that circuit", and following Judge Armstrong's death saw his brother Robert elected to succeed him. By the late 1870s, C. Wood Dailey had himself entered politics, winning election as prosecuting attorney for Mineral County. His full dates of service remain uncertain, but he was known to have been the incumbent in 1879 and served two terms. Dailey continued his political ascent in November 1882 with his election as Mineral County's representative to the West Virginia House of Delegates. Taking his seat at the start of the 1883-84 session, Dailey had some oddly named company on the house floor in Ohio County delegate Blackburn Barrett Dovener, a future Congressman from West Virginia who was profiled here in December 2015. In February 1883 both men were named to a special house committee to "inquire and report what legislation is necessary to compel the payment of foreign taxes by foreign corporations owning property in this State."
After his return to Mineral County Dailey resumed practicing law and was induced to reenter politics in 1888, when he served as part of the West Virginia delegation to that year's Democratic National Convention in St. Louis where Grover Cleveland was renominated for the presidency. Dailey's time at the convention saw him named to the committee on permanent organization, and in 1892 aided his party as a presidential elector for West Virginia, again backing Grover Cleveland.
Further honors would come Dailey's way with the construction of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railroad in the early 1880s. He would be retained as that railway's counsel and was the "chief legal representative to several large private interests" during this period. In 1893 he relocated to Elkins and following the railroad's purchase by the Western Maryland Railway, resigned to take a legal post with the Coal and Coke Railroad developed by ex-U.S. Senator Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916).
Still more honors were accorded to Dailey in the final years of his life with his election as president of the West Virginia Bar Association. He served a one year term in 1903 and is noted as having been "frequently urged" to accept the nomination for Congress from West Virginia's 2nd district. The last years of Dailey's life were spent in Elkins practicing law with his son Garrison, and he died at home on April 15, 1908, aged 57. He was interred at the Maplewood Cemetery in Elkins and was subsequently memorialized as:
"A man of exceptionally brilliant mind, splendid legal attainments, and one of the ablest and most forceful speakers West Virginia has had within years."
From the Moorfield Examiner, April 23, 1908.
Portrait from the 1909-10 Iowa Red Book.
Another "Comfort" that attained prominence in law and politics was Comfort Harvey Van Law of Marshalltown, Iowa. A former instructor in Economics and city attorney for Marshalltown, Van Law was elected to one term in the Iowa State Senate in 1908. A lifelong Iowan, Van Law was born in Keokuk County on July 9, 1869, the son of Robert Rand and Catherine (Raymond) Van Law. His formative years were spent on his family's farm and would attend schools local to his county.
At age eighteen Van Law began a teaching career in Keokuk and Poweshiek County, and during this period read law in his spare time. In 1892 he entered the Oskaloosa based law office of John Fletcher Lacey (1841-1913), a former state legislator and U.S. Representative from Iowa, and undertook further study at the Oskaloosa College. In late 1893 he enrolled at the University of Iowa and in 1896 graduated with his degree. The college's administration, impressed with Van Law's capabilities, later granted him a fellowship in political science, which in turn led to his being named an instructor in economics at the college.
Admitted to the Iowa bar in 1897, Van Law removed to Marshalltown in June of the following year to begin practice. Comfort H. Van Law married in Iowa City on August 2, 1898, to Alice Luscomb. The couple were wed until Alice's death in 1933 and had four children, James, Ruth, Ted, and Alice.
Success came quickly to Van Law at the bar, and by 1901 had been elected to his first term as Marshalltown city attorney. He would be reelected unopposed in 1903, and in 1908 announced his candidacy for the Iowa state senate from the 28th senatorial district. That November he was opposed by Democrat James Stanton, and on election day Van Law emerged victorious, polling 3,313 votes to Stanton's 1,858. He began his term in January 1909 and during the 1909-13 session served on the following committees: Cities and Towns, Compensation of Public Offices, Congressional and Judicial Districts (chairman), the Judiciary, Labor, Mines and Mining, Pharmacy, Public Libraries.
Van Law set his sights on higher office in March 1912 when he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Iowa. In a lengthy writeup concerning his senatorial term and forthcoming campaign in the Marshalltown Evening Times, Van Law would remark:
"If nominated and elected to the position for which I announce my candidacy, I can but pledge a fidelity to the discharge of the duties of the office inspired by a purpose to serve to the utmost of my ability the people of my native state."
From the Marshalltown Times-Republican, March 1, 1912.
Van Law's opponent for Lieutenant Governor in that year's Republican primary was William L. Harding, then an incumbent state representative from Woodbury County. That June Harding would win out over Van Law and in November won the general election. Harding later went on to win the governorship of Iowa in 1916 and served one term in office.
Following his defeat, Van Law retired from politics and dedicated the remainder of his life to his law practice. This period saw him active in church work, being the board chairman of the Marshalltown Central Church of Christ for three decades and for twenty-five years taught bible classes. In 1915 he was named as a director for the Marshalltown Savings Bank, serving until his retirement in 1936. Widowed in 1933, Van Law never remarried following his wife's death and in 1940 was one of eleven men honored by the Greater Marshalltown Association for their long service to the city. In addition to the above, Van Law is noted as having kept a vast library of law books and had a particular fondness for trees.
Comfort Harvey Van Law died at his home in Marshalltown on April 20, 1947, aged 77. He was survived by two of his children and was interred alongside his wife at the Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown.
From the Marshalltown Times-Republican, April 21, 1947.
Portrait courtesy of Findagrave.
A leading political figure in Revolutionary War-era New York, Comfort Sands etched his name into Empire State history books in 1776 when he assumed the role of New York state Auditor General, a post later to be known as state comptroller. The inaugural holder of that post, Sands had previously served as a member of the New York Provincial Congress and later served multiple terms in the state assembly during the 1780s. Born on the "Inland Farm" at Cow Neck, Long Island on February 26, 1748, Comfort Sands was one of eight children born to John and Elizabeth (Cornwell) Sands.
Comfort Sands was bestowed his curious first name in honor of Comfort Starr (1706-1763), a leading Danbury, Connecticut citizen who was visiting the Sands family at the time of our subject's birth. Sands entered into the workforce at just twelve years of age, taking a clerkship under Cow Neck businessman Stephen Thorne. This was followed by clerkships under Sands' older brother Cornwell and Manhattan resident Joseph Drake, which extended to 1769.
Comfort Sands married in Westchester County, New York in June 1769 to Sarah Dodge (1749-1795). The couple was wed until Sarah's death, and this marriage saw Sands become the father of fifteen children, listed as follows in order of birth: Henry (born 1770), Joseph (1772-1825), Cornelia (1773-1852), Henry (1775-1817), Frances (born 1776), Charles (1778-1797), Louis (1780-1809), Elizabeth (born 1781), Francis (1782-1799), Richardson (born 1783), Sidney (born 1785), Augustus (1786-1805). Harriett (born 1787), Sarah Maria (1788-1803), and Frederick William (born 1790). Following his wife's death, the fecund Sands remarried in 1797 to Cornelia Lott (1761-1856) and had three further children: Robert (1799-1832), Gertrude born 1801), and Julia Maria (born 1805).
In the year of his marriage Comfort Sands went into business for himself in the mercantile trade, and within a few years of beginning operation "had acquired a large fortune." In November 1775 Sands was elected a member of the New York Provincial Congress, where he continued to serve until June of the following year. In 1776 he purchased a farm in New Rochelle, and soon after beginning construction on a new farmhouse was faced with the landing of British forces in the vicinity.
1776 proved to be an important year for Sands, and in addition to his provincial congress service aided the Colonial war effort by procuring three ships that were to return from the West Indies with ammunition, medicine, and supplies. These ships, along with one of Sands' own boats, were intercepted by British naval forces. In July of that year, he was appointed as Auditor General of New York and served in that capacity until his resignation in March 1782.
A year following his resignation Sands partnered with his brother Joshua in a "foreign trade and land speculation" business, and in 1784 was elected to his first term in the New York State Assembly. He would serve a second term from 1788-89, and in 1784 began a fourteen-year tenure as a director for the Bank of New York. Sands would continue prominence in city civic affairs with his service as vice president of the New York Chamber of Commerce from 1793-94, and from 1794-98 was its president.
From 1811-15 Comfort Sands resided in Brooklyn, and by 1825 had permanently resettled in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he died, aged 86, on September 22, 1834. His life had spanned from before the French and Indian War to the administration of Andrew Jackson and was first interred in a plot gifted by the city of Hoboken. Some years following his death, Sands' remains were re-interred at the "Hoboken Cemetery at New Durham."
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