(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
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philanthropist social welfare worker
Elizabeth Leslie Comstock was born on October 30, 1815 at Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, the daughter of William and Mary Rous. It was a gifted family, with a long line of Quaker ancestors. One of Elizabeth Comstock’s sisters, Lydia Rous, was a prominent educator in the English Quaker schools and for many years governess in John Bright’s home in Rochdale.
Elizabeth Rous was educated in a Quaker school in Croydon.
Elizabeth taught both in Ackworth School and in her old school in Croydon. In 1854, she emigrated to Canada and settled in Belleville, Province of Ontario, where there was a meeting of the Society of Friends, and it was in this community that Elizabeth Wright (as she then was) began her public ministry. In 1858 she moved to the United States and settled in Rollin, Michigan, where there was a pioneer Quaker community. Here Elizabeth Comstock’s striking gifts of speech and spiritual leadership were quickly recognized and she was recorded a minister of the Society of Friends.
Rollin was on one of the lines of the famous Underground Railroad for the transmission of fugitive slaves from the South to Canada, and Mrs. Comstock threw herself with passionate zeal and moral fervor into the work of helping slaves to gain their freedom. She became from this date, a devoted Abolitionist and life-long helper of the colored race. Meantime, she was developing her powers as a public speaker. In the Quaker gatherings in the western states, she was learning to hold and move large audiences. She threw herself in this period of development into the “causes” of the day and became a vigorous advocate of peace, of temperance, of prison reform, and of enlarged rights and privileges for women. She early discovered that she had a peculiar gift for working effectively with prisoners. She traveled extensively, carrying on this work of kindness and friendship and she influenced many lives in the jails and prisons of the country. She proved to be even more effective during the Civil War in the hospitals and in the prison camps, where she comforted and brought mental relief to thousands of distressed soldiers.
As the progress of the war liberated the slaves, Mrs. Comstock spent much of her time visiting the “contraband” camps, alleviating the distress of the destitute, and helping to organize the extensive work of relief undertaken by the Society of Friends. In 1864, she had a remarkable visit at the White House, ending in a favored season of divine worship with President Lincoln, conducted after the manner of the Quakers.
In 1885, she settled in Union Springs, New York, where she had her home until her death in 1891. She traveled extensively in the United States and in England in her service of preaching and she continued her spiritual work with prisoners well on into old age.
Elizabeth Comstock was regarded at the close of the war as one of the foremost of the noble women of the country who had dedicated themselves to the work of spiritual ministration, both among the wounded soldiers and among the vast throngs of “contrabands. ” She had become also a powerful platform speaker in behalf of great causes and reform movements. When the great migration of African Americans into Kansas occurred in 1879-1880, Elizabeth Comstock, under Governor St. John of that state, took a very important part in organizing the temporary relief and in providing for the permanent care of the refugees. Her work took a high rank in the long story of Quaker contribution to the welfare of the colored race.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Comstock was a member of the Religious Society of Friends.
Comstock was married in 1847 to Leslie Wright, who died two years later, leaving one daughter, Caroline. In 1858 she was married to John T. Comstock.
