Individual Details

Nothing has ever been discovered about the first wife of Daniel. She was undoubtedly a neighbor from one of the closely associated Rhode Island families. There is a good chance she had a father or brother named Azariah since she named one of her sons that name and it had not occured previously in the Comstock family - the other son was named Daniel for his father. There is the possibility that she was Quaker. Daniel himself was chastised for fighting in the Quaker monthly meeting in December of 1708 - he would have been about 22 years old. Then many years later, 1750, he would marry his second wife Elizabeth Buffum, in the Quaker brotherhood at Smithfield.

Searching the Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 by Arnold reveals that not many people were named Azariah. I found only one instance of the name prior to 1749 - that of the birth of Azariah Dring, 27 Mar 1710, in Little Compton, Newport, RI. Azariah was apparently the child of Thomas and Mary Butler - I find no online genealogies that trace Thomas Dring's ancestry. An earlier Thomas Dring was a publisher in London.
In 1749 and for a few years following, the Shove [Swansea] and Crandall [Hopkinton] families show sons named Azariah.

I belive the Quaker records could hold the key to this mystery. Here are some facts about Quakerism in Rhode Island from The Narragansett Friends' Meeting in the XVIII Century: with a Chapter on Quaker Beginnings in Rhode Island, by Caroline Hazard, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1900

The first mention of Quakers in Rhode Island was the year 1657 when a letter arrived from the commissioners of the United Colonies addressed to the governor of Rhode Island, .....divers Quakers are arrived which may prove dangerous to the colonies….last year a companie of Quakers arrived at Boston….our request that you …remove those Quakers that have been received and for the future prohibite theire cominge amongst you...
Dated Boston, 12 Sept 1657, signed: Simon Bradstreet, president

At the time the above letter was written, the Massachusetts government was banishing and sending Quakers into Rhode Island. Apparently they simply wanted to hand the problem over.

There was a reply from Rhode Island. Benedict Arnold was president of the colony. Signers of the letter were William Baulston, Randall Houlden, Arthur Fenner & William Field. Oct 13, 1657
….as concerning these quakers (so called) which are now amongst us, we have no law among us whereby to punish any for only declaring by words &c, theire mindes and understandings concerning the things and ways of God as to salvation and an eternal condition.

Mary Dyer was one of the very active Quakers in Massachusetts, jailed several times and finally hung June 1, 1660. Within a year of Mary Dyer's death, the Rhode Island yearly meeting was established which grew till it became the general meeting for the whole of New England.

George Fox came 30 3rd month [May] 1672 ….attended the June yearly meeting for Friends in New England. He had meeting at Narragansett, across the Bay from Newport. The meeting house on the old Pequot trail was destroyed by Indians in Dec of 1675, killing those inside including women & children. This was the incitement of the Great Swamp Fight which ended King Philip's War.
There are no records of Friends meeting on the west side of the Bay until 1702. when Greenwich meeting was established & included Narragansett friends.

In 1699, the Rhode Island quarterly meeting was established, consisting of three monthly meetings, Rhode Island, Dartmouth & Narragansett [1st called Kingstown meeting but changed to Greenwich & included all the Friends on the West side of the Bay from Narragansett to Providence.] A meeting-house was built in East Greenwich in 1699. Records begin 5th month, 1699 at the house of John Briggs. A month later it was held at Jabez Green's. Meeting house then built in East Greenwich. Monthly meetings here included representatives from South Kingston, Providence & Warwick.

In 1707, meetings were held in rotation, three yearly at Providence, then three at Kingstown. This continued until 1718, when Providence became a distinct monthly meeting.

Birth	Abt 1690
Marriage	Bef 1714	DANIEL COMSTOCK

Spouse	DANIEL COMSTOCK (1686 - 1768)
Child	Azariah Comstock (1714 - 1791)
Child	DANIEL COMSTOCK (1717 - 1753)