W.
D. Comstock.---Among the deservedly popular business men of the Capital City,
the genial proprietor of the Comstock Furniture Warehouse takes precedence; and
a brief mention of his antecedents and his business career will be read with interest
by his many friends. We offer no apology in according to him so prominent a
place in the historical volume of this county, in connection with the
representative business men of to-day. Twenty-one years ago he began business
for himself in a very small way, opening a store for the sale of household
furniture on the northeast corner of K and Fifth streets. His business has
grown with the growth of the Capital City, fostered by the careful,
conservative, yet energetic management of a thoroughly practical business man,
whose constant aim has been to keep well abreast of the times, and whose
business motto of “Quick sales and small profits,” whose urbane manner, strict
integrity, and desire to please all who have the good fortune to deal with him,
has brought him hosts of friends and a gratifying success, which fact is fully
shown by even a casual visit to his spacious and well stocked warerooms, still
at the old stand, Fifth and K streets, but now covering four times the original
space, and where to-day is conducted a business, both wholesale and retail,
which is perhaps exceeded by no other house in his line in the Capital City.
William Dutton Comstock, like so many of the successful men of this generation,
is a typical Yankee, by birth and education as well as ancestry. He was born
May 19, 1839, in Jeffrey, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, the son of Jonathan
J. and Roancy (Dutton) Comstock, and spent his early years among the
everlasting hills of his native State, and grew to manhood upon his father’s farm. Filled with an ambition for a larger sphere
of usefulness than was possible within the environments of his country home, at
the early of twenty years he started out to begin the battle of life on his own
account, going directly to the “Hub,” where for four years he satisfactorily
filled the position of a clerk, and in this way laying the broad foundation of
practical experience upon which in after years the structure of his fortune
should be builded. In the spring of 1864, he was one of the passengers upon the
steamer “Champion” bound for the “Land of Golden Promise.” He crossed the
Isthmus, and when on the 27th of March, the “Golden Age,” with her
precious cargo, passed through the Golden Gate and landed at “Frisco,” young
Comstock was one of those who, for the first time gazed upon the future
metropolis of the western civilization. On the 10th of April
following he came to Sacramento, with the intention of going to the mines, but,
receiving the offer of a clerkship in the variety store of George W. Badger
& Co., he wisely decided to cast his lot with the fortunes of the capital
of this great commonwealth. Three years
later he was united in marriage to Miss Susan F. Gregory, a native of St.
Louis, Missouri, and shortly after that event, began as above stated the real
business of his life. Mr. Comstock has
taken an active personal interest in public affairs, and at the present time he
holds the position of president of the Board of Fire Commissioners, and it is
hoped that the increasing cares of an extensive business will not in the future
prevent his acceptance of other offices of trust and responsibility in city,
county and State. He is an active
member of several prominent societies.
Transcribed
by: Marla Fitzsimmons
An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California.
By Hon. Win. J. Davis. Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 289-290.
© 2004 Marla Fitzsimmons.