Allen line: Comfort Starr 1589-1659, Immigrant

I found a fascinating piece of speculation while looking for information about Comfort Starr, "Chirurgeon".  He lived at the right time and the right place, with the right training, to have possibly been an associate or student under Dr. William Harvey, the man who first described the circulation of blood in the human body.  There is even a possibility, but as far as I know no proof, that he may have followed in Dr. Harvey's footsteps and received his medical training at Padua, Italy.  Even if none of this is borne out by facts and documents, the fact remains that the two men were active in medicine at the same time and place and would have at least known each other.  I think that's pretty cool.

In the first of several known connections with other Allen and Holbrook ancestors, it appears that Rev. William Eddye, who is an ancestor in both of our families, was the vicar of the church Comfort likely attended in Cranbrook, from 1591 to 1616.  

Comfort Starr, of course, does not need to hang onto the shirt tails of anyone.  He can quite well stand on his own as an honorable and respected man, one dedicated to the well being of his friends and neighbors, and one brave enough, in middle age, to bring his family to New England while the country was still young and barely hanging on, still in survival mode.

He and three children, at least, and three servants sailed in the ship Hercules, of Sandwich, in 1635.  One of the servants was his sister, Truth-Shall-Prevail.  His wife was Elizabeth Watts, whom he married on October 4, 1614, but we don't know whether she traveled with the family or whether she came later.

Comfort is first seen in Cambridge, but by 1638 he had gone to Duxbury, in Plymouth Plantation (where our Holbrook ancestor Miles Standish lived). As another connection in the Allen line, the land and "dwelling" he purchased in Duxbury or Duxburrow was owned by Jonathan Brewster, also our ancestor.  He was admitted a freeman there in 1639. In another eight years, Comfort Starr was in Boston, which by that time had grown to a larger population than Duxbury.

At Duxbury, Comfort had owned several pieces of land.  He was respected enough that he represented Duxbury at a Plymouth Colony council of war in 1642.  The next year, he was on a list of men able to bear arms, and his inventory later included a musket and sword.

We don't know much of his private life, but it is safe to assume that he was quite busy as a surgeon, and may have acted as an apothecary also as there is record of Thomas Lechford making a note to himself to write to Mr. Comfort Starr at Duxbury for a quarter of a pint of henbane and a quarter of a pound of hemlock seed.  (Henbane was a remedy for stomach ailments.  I didn't find a medical use for hemlock seed, in my extensive 30 second search of Google).  There were over 70 names on a list of those whom owed Comfort Starr money when he died, and who knows whether all the debts were even noted.  This gives us a feel for the size of his medical practice.

Although we don't know the extent of his education, he did own books valued at seven pounds when he died, which is more of a library than many had.  If he studied with or in the footsteps of Dr. Harvey, we can guess that he had more education than most of his peers.  He and Elizabeth had at least 10 children.  I'm happy to report that except for passing on the name "Comfort", the other children were given more common names than Comfort and his siblings had received.

Elizabeth died at Boston on June 25th, 1658, aged 63, so she would have been about 19 when she married.  Thomas died January 2, 1659/60 and left an estate valued at a little over 292 pounds.  In his will, he made bequests to his children and grandchildren, with more granted to the grandchildren who had lost one or both parents.

In 1909, some of Comfort's many descendants had a monument erected at the Cranbrook church which said "In Memory of Dr. Comfort Starr  Baptized in Cranbrook Church 6th July, 1589, a Warden of St Mary's, Ashford, Kent, 1631 & 1632  Sailed from Sandwich for New England 1635  One of the Earliest Benefactors of Harvard, the First College in America, 1638, of which His Son Comfort was One of 7 Incorporators, 1650, Died at Boston, New england in January 1659  A Distinguised Surgeon Eminent for Christian Character  Erected by this American Descendants 1909".

Comfort and Elizabeth are buried at King's Chapel Burial ground in Boston, and there is a memorial stone there similar to the one described above.  If we're ever in Boston, we need to pay our respects to this man.

There are two lines of descent for Comfort.  The first is:

Comfort Starr-Elizabeth Watts
Thomas Starr-Rachel Harris
Samuel Starr-Hannah Brewster
Thomas Starr Mary Morgan
Thomas Starr-Jerusha Street
John Starr-Mary Sharp
John Starr-Betsy Havens
John Havens Starr-Clarissa Falley
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

The second line is the same down through Thomas Starr-Mary Morgan.  Then it diverges:

Mary Starr-John Chester
Thomas Chester-Sarah Eldridge
Bathsheba Chester-Jonathan Havens
 Betsy Havens-John Starr
and yes, cousin married cousin, although they were, by my calculations, third cousins.