Helen Field Comstock

On 2 Jan 1862, in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts,^[3] she married Ransford A. Comstock (d. 1891), a native of that town. Here, they made their home for ten years. Their two sons were born, in 1862 and 1867. In 1870, Mrs. Comstock removed to Rochelle, Illinois, which was her home thereafter.^[2]

For a time, she wrote under the pen name, "Zeleta", later "Helen M. Comstock", and still later, everything for publication was signed "Helen Field Comstock". Her poems appeared in various periodicals in New England and the West. She was a writer for the Chicago Tribune and other leading publications of the east and west. Her poems were incorporated in Poets of America and other standard works. They were also collected and published in a large volume, which received favorable reviews.^[2] Though she had a rather low and weak voice, Comstock was comfortable with public speaking.^[1]

Comstock died at the home of her son, D. A. Comstock, in DeKalb, Illinois, January 28, 1930. Interment was made in Rochelle's Lawnridge cemetery.^[4][5]

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Herringshaw, Thomas William (1904). Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century: Accurate and Succinct Biographies of Famous Men and Women in All Walks of Life who are Or Have Been the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States Since Its Formation ... (Public domain ed.). American Publishers' Association.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Moulton, Charles Wells, ed. (1895). "Helen Field Comstock, by L. M. B.". The Magazine of Poetry and Literary Review. Vol. 7 (Public domain ed.). Buffalo, N.Y.: The Peter Paul Book Company.