Comfort Starr

Comfort Starr (6 July 1589 – 2 January 1659) was a 17th-century English physician who emigrated to the Thirteen Colonies. He was one of the founders of Harvard College, serving as a member of the earliest incarnation of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Early life Starr was born in Cranbrook, Kent, He was one of the seventeen children of Thomas Starr.

Emigration In 1635, aged 45, Starr left the Kingdom of England aboard the Hercules, which launched from Sandwich, Kent. He settled in Cambridge, Colony of Massachusetts Bay, where he was a founder of Harvard College the following year. He came with three of his children and three servants; his wife followed with most of the other children. One of his daughters did not emigrate until after his death.

His sister, Suretrust, also emigrated, and lived in Charlestown, Colony of Massachusetts Bay, with her husband Faithful Rouse.

Starr married Elizabeth Watts on 4 October 1614. They had nine children: Thomas (1615–1658), Judith (1617–1622), Mary (1620), Elizabeth (1621–1704), Comfort (1624–1711), John (1626–1704), Samuel (1628–1633), Hannah (1632–1662) and Lydia (1634–1653). Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States, was a descendant of John.

Death Starr died on 2 January 1659, aged 69, just over six months after the death of his wife. They are buried in King's Chapel Burying Ground in Boston.