Anthony Comstock was born on March 7th 1844 in New Canaan Connecticut. He was one of 10 children who grew up in the Comstock household and was very involved in the Congregationalist Church. His involvement with the church would come to be a great influence on his eventual career as a moral crusader.(Gale)
He served for a time in the Civil War with the 17th Connecticut Regiment after his brother was killed in the war. Once the war was over he ended up in New York City as a dry-goods salesman. It was during this time that he became a "self-proclaimed enemy of vice. He went so far as to have people arrested for what he considered obsceneliterary material.
He eventually became involved with the Young Men's Christian Association or YMCA. It was during his involvement in 1871 that he proposed to the group the establishment of a Society For the Suppression of Vice.By 1873 the Comstock Act was passed by Congress and the establishment of the New York Society For the Suppression of Vice was cemented.