Harvard Yard
Photo of Harvard Yard
from
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.


        From the "Harvard University Gazette"

 
        "Dr. Comfort Starr brought his family from Kent, England, to New Towne (now Cambridge), where he reestablished his surgery practice in 1635. According to family history, Dr. Starr's house became the home of Nathaniel Eaton and served in 1639 as the site where Harvard College instruction began.
The Rev. Comfort Starr, one of Dr. Comfort Starr's nine children, was the first family member to graduate from the College (in 1647), and is one of five Fellows named in the Harvard College Charter of 1650, the document that officially incorporated the school."  

        To commemorate the 250th anniversary of his death, a few of his American descendants in 1909 placed a tablet in the old church at Cranbrook, England , upon which is inscribed this record:

Commerative Plaque; 15 Jul 1909; Cranbrook, Kent, ENG 15. Placed in St. Dunstan's church:

A.M.D.G.

IHS

In Memory Of

DR. COMFORT STARR

Baptized in Cranbrook Church, 6th Jul 1589

A Warden of St. Mary's, Ashford, Kent, 1631 & 1632

Sailed from Sandwich for New England, 1635

One of the Earliest Benefactors of

Harvard, the First College in America, 1638

Of which His Son Comfort was One of 7 Incorporators, 1650

Died at Boston, New England, 2d January 1659

A distinguished Surgeon Eminent for Christian Character

Erected by His American Descendants

1909


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