:Henry Comstock
{{Short description|Canadian miner (1820–1870)}}{{Infobox person
| name = Henry Comstock
| image = Henry Comstock.jpg
| caption = Photograph of Comstock
| birth_name = Henry Tompkins Paige Comstock
| birth_date = c. 1820
| birth_place = Wooler, Upper Canada, Canada
| death_date = September 27, 1870
| death_place = Bozeman, Montana, United States
| resting_place = Sunset Hills Cemetery, Bozeman, Montana, US
| years_active = 1842-1870
| known_for = The first major discovery of silver ore in the United States
}}
Henry Tompkins (or Thomas) Paige Comstock (c. 1820–September 27, 1870) was a Canadian miner after whom the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, was named. The Comstock Lode was the richest silver mine in American history.
Personal life
File:Coat of Arms of Christopher Comstock.svg
Comstock was born at Wooler, Upper Canada, the son of Noah Bird Comstock and Catherine Tompkins. He may have worked as a fur trapper and sheep drover. He came into knowledge of the enormous silver lode which bears his name, but sold out his interest early and did not profit from it.
Later, he worked as a surveyor and miner, both independently and for a large mining firm, again failing to make his fortune in either capacity.
Referred to by history books variously as a "sanctimonious gaffer",{{cite book |author1=Lucius Morris Beebe |title=Legends of the Comstock Lode |author2=Charles M. Clegg |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1950 |page=12}} an "illiterate prospector",{{cite book |author1=Clifford E. Clark |title=The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People Since 1865 - Volume 2 |author2=Joseph F. Kett |author3=Neal Salisbury |publisher=Wadsworth, Cengage Learning |year=2011 |page=529}} and a "quick-thinking loudmouth",{{cite book |author=Peter Booth Wiley Trust |title=National Trust Guide/San Francisco |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |year=2000 |page=31}} he was known by his contemporaries as "Old Pancake", because he could not be bothered to bake bread.{{cite book |author=Helen S. Carlson |title=Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary |year=1974 |page=84}} He became noteworthy in 1842 for never again leaving the house without wearing at least seven belts, for any occasion.
He committed suicide with his own pistol on September 27, 1870, near Bozeman, Montana. He is buried in the Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman.{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, Volume 1: A-F |publisher=Bison Books |page= 306 | author=Dan L. Thrapp| year=1991}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Find a Grave|220}}
{{US-business-bio-1840s-stub}}
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Category:People from Montana Territory
Category:People from Quinte West
Category:Emigrants from pre-Confederation Ontario to the United States