Extracted from Historic Homes & Institutions and Personal Memoirs of Worcester, County, Massachusetts. Prepared under the Editorial Supervision of Ellery Bicknell Crane, and Published by the Lewis Publishing Company, 1907.

Pages 254-257 Vol. # II

EDWARD I. COMINS. John Comins (I), the progenitor of Edward I. Comins, of Worcester, was first at Woburn, Massachusetts, as early as 1691. The author of the Cummings genealogy, which includes families of the name under various spelling, mentions this branch and believes that John Comins (i) was of some relation to Isaac Cummings, of Topsfield, Massachusetts, whose son, Abraham Cummings, settled in Dunstable, but during the Indian wars lived in Woburn, where John Comins (I) then lived, Abraham's wife being Sarah Wright. (See history of Dunstable, page 240. See Cummings Memorial, by Reverend George F. Mooar (1903).
John Comins (I) was a soldier in the expedition against Canada by Sir William Phipps in 1690. In January, 1709, he bought one hundred and fifty acres of land in Pomfeet, Connecticut, and in 1713 was one of the first twenty-three townsmen. In January, 1717, he bought land in Thompson parish, and later on Chestnut Hill, then in Killingly county. In 1719 he came to Oxford, having bought the old mill at the south end of the plain. He is believed to have improved this property and to have raised or rebuilt the dam at the south end of the plain, as the owners of certain meadows made an agreement, on file at the county court house, to allow him to flow their property from September 1, to May I of each year. In 1723 he deeded land on Prospect Hill to his son, Jacob; in 1724 he gave property to his son, Stephen, the lot adjoining Jacob's. He was a man of character and intelligence, and a member of the church at Oxford, Massachusetts. He was chairman of the board of selectmen, and also the town clerk in 1721-23-24. His wife Mary died 1726. He sold his mill and returned to Thompson, Connecticut. While there, in 1728, he proved to be the master workman in hewing and framing timber for the new meeting house. He was styled John, senior, in 1719. He died April, 1751, at the age of eighty-three years. Hence he was born about 1668. His son, Stephen, was associated with him when he had the mill, and returned to Thompson with him. He had eight children by his wife, Mary Lee, born in Woburn according to the records. They were: John, born September 15, 1692; Mary, July 31, 1694; John, July 12, 1696; Katharine, August 31, 1698; Jacob (twin), July 14, 1700; Josiah (twin), July 14, 1700; Stephen, January 12, 1703; James, May 7, 1705.
(II) Jacob Comins, son of John Comins (I), born July 14, 1700, was a housewright by trade. He married, July 27, 1723, Martha Leonard, of Franingham, sister of Colonel Ehenezer Leonard, of Oxford. Jacob settled in Oxford. His wife died September 17, 1732. He married (second), May 24, 1733, Huldah Coolidge, daughter of Deacon John Coolidge, of Watertown, Massachusetts. She died November 25, 1736. He married (third), February 22, 1737, Elizabeth Eddy. She died April 26, 1749, He married (fourth) (intentions August, 1750) Deborah Hinkley, of Willington, Connecticut. Jacob Comins' first home in Oxford was at the corner of Main street and Sutton road. In 1730 he bought a farm on the hill east of the old common. He sold that after a year or two and removed to the north part of the town. In 1736 he bought the saw mill at the Lamb place, now or lately owned by Nathaniel E. Taft. . He was a soldier in the French war. He bought and sold land in Oxford frequently, but finally settled in what was then the wilderness in Charlton. He died there in 1762. His will was made April 7 and proved May 17, 1762. In it he said: "Though I have no legal title to the land I am now living on, yet the housing and fencing and all the labor I have done on it are mine." He bequeathed this property to his sons, Lemuel and Jacob Comins. His children were : Jacob, born September 21, 1724, died December I, 1745 ; William, February 15 1733 or 1734, settled in Eddington, Maine, where various family reunions have been held; Mindwell, December 11, 1735, married David Brown, of Charlton; Reuben, December 4, 1737; Martha, July 25, 1739 (intentions November 1, 1754) married Joseph Laflin, of Charlton; Solomon, May 1, 1741, was, at the age of eighteen, in the French war; Lemuel, May 20, 1743, died 1744; Lemuel, February 21, 1745, settled at South Greene, Maine; Jacob, January 21, 1747, died at Charlton, 1812; Elizabeth, March 14, 1749, married Joseph Dow, resided in New Braintree, Massachusetts.
(III) Reuben Comins, son of Jacob Comins (2), was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, December 4, 1737. He was a farmer. He served in the French and Indian war, and also in the revolution. His grandson, Edward I. Comins, has in his possession a certificate showing that Reuben Comins was accepted in the place of Corporal Nehemiah Stone, drafted for service against Canada April 7, 1758, by Captain Jonathan Tucker. Singularly enough Stone was the maternal grandfather of Edward I. Comins, and one grandfather took the place of another on this occasion. Stone was the town clerk just before the revolution, and Mr. Comins has the original petition or remonstrance against the Boston port bill, signed, among others, by Reuben Comins. Many of the signatures were apparently copied by Clerk Stone from other lists, as many of the names are signed by him. The date is 1774. Reuben Comins married Mary Parker. She was born in MaIden, Massachusetts, November 16, 1737. He was a farmer and also a tanner by trade. Their children, born in Charlton, were: I. Achsan; born September 22, 1763, married Jabez Willis, December 19, 1793; they lived and died in Charlton, leaving a number of children; Naomi, born April 16, 1766, married, April 16, 1789, David Ward, and had several children; after the death of her husband she removed to Hubbardston, where she died; Reuben, born July 24, 1768, married Betsy Clark, of Oxford, lived in Charlton; Barnabas, born March 21, 1771, married Mary Bacon, daughter of Deacon Daniel Bacon, of Charlton, and they had nine children, one of whom, Linus Bacon, became mayor of Roxhury and member of congress from a Boston district for two terms; he was born August 28, 18I7; Mary, born March 6, 1774, married Joel Parker, and removed to Calais, Vermont, where they had children; Elizabeth, born October 30, 1778, married Asa Bacon, settled in Charlton and had six boys and four girls; Issachar, born August 28, 1782.
(IV) Issachar Comins, son of Reuben Comins (3), was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, August 28, 1782. He. married, November 3, 1816, Cynthia Wilson, of Spencer, who was born February 27, 1794 She died July 25, 1830, aged thirty-six years. He married (second), April 10, 1831, Lydia Marble, widow of Jacob Marble, daughter of Nehemiah Stone (6). She was born March 23, 1792. Issachar Comins was a carpenter and a finished workman. He served from fourteen until he was twenty-one years old learning his trade, and receiving his pay his board and clothes and four weeks schooling a year. His indenture papers are in the possession of Edward I. Comins, the subject of this sketch. His children, three by the first wife, one by the second, were: William, born February 19, 1817; Reuben, May 10, 1819; Henry Barnabas, April 23, 1830; Edward Issachar, November 16, 1833. (Incorrectly given 1835 on the Charlton records.)
(V) Edward Issachar Comins, son of Issachar Comins (4), was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, November 16, 1833. Mr. Comins was brought up on a farm. In his early youth he worked on his father's farm except for the short terms in the district school in winter. When he was seventeen years old he was sent to Leicester Academy with the understanding that he should teach school the following winter to pay the cost of the course in the academy, and he taught in Spencer that first winter. Mr. Comins found school teaching to his liking and continued his studies. He graduated at the Bridgewater Normal school in 1860. Before that, however, he had taught in Charlton in the public schools in the winter, and also kept a private school during the spring and fall seasons, which was attended by students from other towns as well as Charlton. After he graduated he took a position in the Quincy schools, where he taught for three years. He came to Worcester in 1864 to take a place as principal in the old Thomas street school, retaining that position up to the time of the removal of the ninth grade of that school to Belmont street and remaining principal of Belmont street school until 1874, when he was transferred at his own request to the Woodland street school, a position that he held for ten years, until he resigned in 1884 to give his attention to the manufacturing interests with which he has since been connected. As a school teacher Mr. Comins was particularly successful in winning the confidence and friendship of the pupils in his charge. He understood the art of teaching thoroughly. He had a natural aptitude for his profession, and many of the prominent citizens now look back with pleasure to their school days spent with him. Since 1884 Mr. Comins has been associated with his sons in the manufacture of woolen goods at Roclidale. The business was organized by Mr. Comins, his son, Irving E., and his brother-in-law, John D. Clark, a practical manufacturer. In 1885 Mr. Clark sold his interests to his partners and withdrew from the firm. Later Arthur C., Mr. Comins' younger son, was admitted to partnership. In the past few years the burden of the management has fallen upon the younger members of the firm. ln 1905 the firm was incorporated. The officers of the company are: Edward 1. Comins, president; Irvng E. Comins, treasurer and manager; Arthur C. Comins, clerk. The mill is located in the same town, on the same stream, on which the first Comins built his mill. During the last few years the mill, formerly belonging to the late John D. Clark, brother-in-law and former partner of Edward I. Comins, has been under the management of Mr. Comins' sons, Irving E. Comins, being president, and Arthur C. Comins treasurer and manager. The Comins mill is located near the village of Rochdale, which is in the town of Leicester, while the mill itself is just over the line in Oxford. Mr. Comins is a member of the Worcester County Horticultural Society and the Worcester Board of Trade , and also the Society of Antiquity, which organized under their charter at a meeting held in his house. He has always taken an interest in politics. His. first vote was cast for the Free Soil ticket in 1854. Since the Republican party organized, he has been connected with it. He has served the city on the school board six years, and director of the free public library, also six years. He has been on the board of trustees for the Associated Charities and Home for Aged Men. He was representative to the general court in 1893. He represented his ward four years in the common council, and was president of the board three years. He was active and efficient in the varied duties of his position in the city government. He took the initiative in the movement to secure the present park system for the city. He wrote the order taking the first steps to secure the loan to buy Newton Hill, North Park, Crompton Park, and University Park for the city, against the wishes of the mayor and some of his associates. Mr. Comins has been on the official board of the First Universalist Church for twentyone years, and for fifteen years was the chairman. He has been on the board of trustees of Dean Academy, and has served as treasurer of the Universalist Publishing House, Boston, Massachusetts. He married (first), January 2, 1859, at Leicester, Mary Adelaide Clark, daughter of Asa W. and Lydia (Dunbar) Clark. She was born September 17, 1834, and died October 7, 1881, at Leicester, Massachusetts, while visiting there. He married (second), February 22, 1883, Annie C. Wyman. She was born October 2, 1849. She had been his head teacher when he was principal in the public schools of Worcester for fourteen years. His children by his first wife are: Irving Edward, born July 28, 1860; Arthur Clark, August 30, 1871.
(VI) Irving Edward Comins, son of Edward Issachar Comins (5), was born in Chariton, Massachusetts, at the old Comins homestead, July 28, 1866. He was graduated from the Worcester high school in 1879, and from Amherst College in 1883. He immediately began his business career in partnership with his father, Edward I. Comins, and his uncle, John D. Clark, in the manufacture of Woolen goods at Rochdale. He is at present the president of the company and has been uniformly successful. He served three years in the Worcester common council, one year as president of the council, seven years as director of the Worcester board of trade, and two years as president of same. Mr. Comins married, June 8, 1887, Etta R. Leonard, who was a teacher in the Worcester schools. They had two children: Edward Irving, born March 12, 1889; Leonard Clark, born July 18, 1895, died January 10, 1896.
(VI) Arthur Clark Comins, son of Edward Issachar Comins (5), was born at Leicester, Massachusetts, August 30, 1871. He was graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1893, afterward taking a year of post-graduate studies at Harvard. Later he was admitted into the firm of which his father and others were partners. He married, September, 1899, Margaret B. Lake, of Rockville, Connecticut. She was a graduate of Mount Holyoke, class of 1896. They have one child, John Dunbar Comins, born October 1, 1905.

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