Comfort Sands
Member of the New York State Assembly from New York County
In office
1784-85, 1788 and 1788-89
New York State Auditor General
In office
1776–1782
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byPeter T. Curtenius
Personal details
BornFebruary 26, 1748 (1748-02-26)
Cow Neck, Long Island, British America
DiedSeptember 22, 1834 (1834-09-23) (aged 86)
Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.
Spouses
Sarah Dodge
​
​
(m. 1769; died 1795)​
    Cornelia Lott
    ​
    (after 1795)​
    RelationsJoshua Sands (brother)
    Children18, including Robert
    Parent(s)John Sands
    Elizabeth Cornwell Sands
    Signature

    Comfort Sands (February 26, 1748 – September 22, 1834) was an American merchant, banker and politician.

    Life

    Comfort Sands was born in Cow Neck, Long Island on February 26, 1748. He was one of eight children born to John Sands (1708–1760) and Elizabeth (née Cornwell) Sands (1711–1782), who also descended from one of the three original families who owned Cow Neck.[1] Sands and his siblings received limited schooling. His older brothers included John Sands (1737-1811), who served as a colonel during the Revolutionary War and was also a member of the New York State Assembly for Queens County,[1] and Joshua Sands, a U.S. Representative.[2]

    Family

    The Sands family was one of the original three families that settled in and owned what is now Sands Point, New York. Born in Reading, Berkshire, England, James Sands (d. 1695) immigrated to Plymouth, MA with his wife Sarah and their children, circa 1658.[1] Along with several other men, James Sands obtained what is now Block Island, Rhode Island from the original inhabitants of the island, the Narragansetts, in 1660. In 1661, Sands sailed from Taunton, MA and moved his family to Block Island and had six children.[1]

    Career

    While still in his teens, Comfort left Long Island for Manhattan to work as a clerk.[3] Sands worked at several positions including at Joseph Decker's store that was located on Peck Slip in lower Manhattan. Around 1769, Comfort opened his own store and by 1776, he had become a wealthy merchant.[4]

    During the American Revolutionary War, Comfort was a member of the New York Provincial Congress[5] and was appointed as the first New York State Auditor-General (now known as the New York State Comptroller) in 1776. He served in this position until his resignation in 1782.[1]

    In 1783, Sands and his brother Joshua formed a business partnership dealing in foreign trade and land speculation.[3][6] Their partnership included real estate ventures and a rope making manufacturing business in Brooklyn. In 1784, the Sands brothers purchased 160 acres of land along the Brooklyn waterfront for $12,000.[3] They acquired the land, originally owned by the Rapelje family (also spelled Rapelye), early Dutch settlers of Brooklyn, under the 1779 New York State "Act for the Forfeiture and Sale of the Estates of Persons who Have Adhered to the Enemies of this State."[3] The land acquired in the purchase included what is now the location of the Brooklyn Navy Yard (previously the New York Naval Shipyard), as well as the DUMBO and Vinegar Hill neighborhoods bordering the East River in Brooklyn. The waterfront area was to be the site of a new, planned community, called Olympia.[3] It was to be divided into both commercial and residential properties and would be connected to Manhattan via the nearby ferry service. Though the land was surveyed, Olympia was never completed.[3]

    In 1784, he was one of the founders and became one of the first directors of the Bank of New York at its incorporation, the oldest bank in the United States.[7] He was a member of the New York State Assembly from New York County in 1784-85, 1788 and 1788-89.[8] He was President of the New York Chamber of Commerce from 1794 to 1798.[1]

    Personal life

    Comfort Sands married twice and had 18 children, 15 of whom were born to his first wife Sarah and three born to his second wife Cornelia.[3] In 1769, he married Sarah Dodge (1749-1795) of Hunts Point in Westchester County, N.Y. (now part of the Bronx).[3]

    • Joseph Sands (1772–1825), a banker with Prime, Ward & King who married Maria Theresa Kampfel (1782–1846)
    • Cornelia Sands (1773–1852), who married Nathaniel Prime (1768–1840), the banker.
    • Richardson Sands (1783-1806)

    After the death of Sarah, Comfort married Cornelia Lott (1761-1856), daughter of Abraham Lott of Brooklyn. Their children included:

    In 1825, Comfort and Cornelia Sands moved to Hoboken, N.J. where he died on September 22, 1834.[3]

    Descendants

    Through his daughter Cornelia, he was the great-grandfather of Cornelia Ray (1829–1867), who married Gen. Schuyler Hamilton (1822–1903), a grandson of Alexander Hamilton; Robert Ray (1832–1860), and Nathalie Elizabeth Ray (1837–1912), who married Edmund Lincoln Baylies (1829–1869), the parents of Edmund L. Baylies Jr.[9]

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Reynolds, Emily (January 14, 2011). "Guide to the Sands family papers ARC.096". dlib.nyu.edu. Brooklyn Historical Society. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
    2. ↑ Brooklyn Past and Present Col. Joshua Sands, candidate for New York State Senator, March 10, 1791. The Brooklyn Historical Society Library. 2008. Archived from the original on May 18, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "HISTORICAL DISTRICTS." Real Property Probate and Trust Journal.Vol. 1, No. 3 (1966): 204-11. HISTORICAL DISTRICTS." Real Property Probate and Trust Journal.Vol. 1, No. 3 (1966): 204-211. Donald G. Presa, 14 Jan. 1997. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.
    4. ↑ "DUMBO Historical Project" (PDF). nyc.gov. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
    5. ↑ "Minutes of the NY Provincial Congress". www.stanklos.net. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
    6. ↑ Morris, Robert; Ferguson, Elmer James (1977). The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781-1784: October 1, 1781-January 10, 1782. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 318. ISBN 9780822933243. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
    7. ↑ "THE BANK OF NEW-YORK.; AN INSTITUTION FOUNDED BY ALEXANDER HAMILTON. ITS LONG LINE OF HONORABLE OFFICERS--DE TALLEYRAND AND AARON BURR AMONG ITS PATRONS--A PROPOSITION TO REDUCE ITS CAPITAL" (PDF). The New York Times. August 8, 1878. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
    8. ↑ Hough, Benjamin Franklin (1858). The New York Civil List: Containing the names and origin of the civil divisions, and the names and dates of election or appointment of the principal state and county officers from the Revolution to the present time. Weed, Parsons and Co. p. 34. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
    9. ↑ "E.L. BAYLIES IS DEAD; WAS LEADER IN BAR; Socially Prominent Attorney Helped to Create Cathedral of St. John the Divine. SEAMEN'S INSTITUTE HEAD Was Its President for 19 Years | Handled Many Large Estates Member of Old Family". The New York Times. April 30, 1932. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
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