Who Was Comstock?
Biographers Heywood Broun and Margaret Leech are correct to say that Comstock was not really born for the late nineteenth century. Living out of time, “he was the apotheosis, the fine flower of Puritanism.” Comstock was a product of Connecticut. During the 1840s, this state held the reputation of being the most socially conservative and religiously orthodox corner of the land; and its many Congregationalist churches were still predominantly conservative in theology and evangelical in spirit. Born March 7, 1844, in New Canaan, Comstock claimed Puritan ancestry on both sides of his family. His father Thomas was a successful farmer. His mother—Polly Lockwood Comstock—was the real influence in his life. Bearing ten children, she reared them in the stern Puritan faith most recently invigorated by the spiritual enthusiasms of the Second Great Awakening. While Polly Comstock died when Anthony was only age ten, her Bible readings, morality tales, prayer life, and frequent church attendance pro
