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William Comstock

American politician (1877-1949)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ885985 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Alfred Comstock (July 2, 1877 – June 16, 1949) was an American politician who served as the 33rd governor of Michigan. During his tenure, he advocated a number of progressive measures such as minimum wages and old age pensions.

Early life

Born in 1877 in Alpena, Michigan, he attended the University of Michigan, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity, graduating in 1899. Within the Zeta Psi Fraternity, "The Vision of Bill Comstock" is known as his desire to unite all the chapters through the publication of a newsletter known as The Circle, which he first published in 1909. He established a successful career in real estate, banking and railroad construction.

Politics

In 1911, Comstock entered politics by serving as the Democratic county chairman. He served as alderman of Alpena from 1911 to 1912 and served as its mayor from 1913 to 1914. He was a member of the University of Michigan board of regents, from 1914 to 1916. He was a member of Michigan Democratic State Central Committee in 1915 and served as its chairman from 1920 to 1924. Then he served as a member of Democratic National Committee from Michigan, 1924–30.

Editorial summary

“William Comstock” enters the record as american politician (1877-1949). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what William, Comstock and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1877, 1949, 1899, 1909—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1877-07-02. Its strongest next move is a source search built around William, Comstock and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“William Comstock” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, William, Comstock and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q885985. VIAF identifies the subject as 53979696. The Library of Congress control number is no2008182100. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1877, 1949, 1899 and 1909.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “William Comstock”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William Comstock primary sources, William Comstock archive and William research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “William Comstock”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William Comstock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.