The Compton Family of Smith's Clove (Supplement 1)

The following supplement is a followup to an earlier article I wrote, The Compton Family of Smith's Clove.

Following are four sources that refer to the family of William Compton Jr. of Orange County, New York. None of these sources should be considered reliable except perhaps over a very narrow range of claims. Some of them are quoted often, so I've written this supplement primarily so that I can dispel some of their myths.

The first of these, "History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sierras", 1906, p 688, is a biography on Henry Clay Compton, the son of Runyon L. Compton. This publication occurred during the lifetime of Henry's wife, so we can assume she was consulted for some of the details.

"HENRY C. COMPTON. One of the old-time ranchers and cattle men who made a place for himself in the history of Butte county was Henry C. Compton. His father, Runyon Compton, was a native of England, a farmer by occupation, who immigrated to Windsor, Canada, and from there came to the United States, locating near Detroit, Mich., where his death occurred. His wife was formerly Eliza Ketchum, a native of Canada, her death also occurring in Michigan. Of this union fourteen children were born, seven sons and seven daughters, the second child being Henry C. Compton. His birth occurred in Windsor, Canada, and his boyhood was spent in Michigan, where he divided his time between attending public school and working on his father's farm. In early manhood he came to California ..."

In this biography it states that Henry's father, Runyon Compton, was from England, and went to Windsor, Canada as a young man where he met and married his wife, Eliza Ketchum and afterwards moved to Michigan. It also states that Henry Compton was born while his parents were still living in Canada. On Henry Clay Compton's tombstone in Chico Cemetery, Chico, Butte County, California it states that he was born on January 24, 1831 and more specifically, in Windsor, Canada. As it turns out, most of these claims are false. Runyon L. Compton, his father, is found in 1830 federal census living in Jersey, Steuben County, New York. In October of that year ("New York, Land Records, 1630-1975, Steuben County, Vol. 20", p 290, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-32681-13073-24?cc=2078654&wc=M7H1-LWG:358136601,358794801) he and his wife, Eliza, both of Jersey, sold land to John J. Ketchum of Tyrone Township. In the deed it specifically states that Eliza Compton was one of four children of William Ketchum who had earlier purchased the land being sold, in separate tracts, one in 1822 and one in 1826. The deed was witnessed by Runyon's brother, William Compton III [William Compton, Jr.]. This deed provides a clear indication that Runyon L. Compton married Eliza Ketchum in Steuben County, New York, not in Canada.

The first date in which we find Runyon L. Compton in Michigan is on June 8, 1833 when he bought 80 acres of land in Wayne County, Michigan ("U. S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907", 2008, Ancestry.com). He purchased another 80 acres there in 1835, and in the 1840 and 1850 federal censuses he was living in Redford, Wayne County. In 1850, he was 41 years old and Henry was 19. Both are shown as being born in New York. Henry's little brother Peter was 17 and was also born in New York. This would indicate that Runyon L. Compton left New York in 1833 after Peter was born and went directly to Michigan. In 1850, John J. Ketchum was living next door to Runyon L. Compton and was two years older than Runyon's wife, Eliza, so was undoubtedly her brother. Runyon L. Compton died on August 16, 1862 and is buried in Bell Branch Cemetery in Redford, Wayne County, Michigan (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=52303282). His tombstone states that he was 58 years, 10 months and 7 days old, putting his birth on September 29, 1803.

We can be certain Runyon L. Compton was the son of William Compton Jr., because in the 1830 federal census mentioned, William Compton Jr [William Compton], and his four eldest living sons, William Compton III [William Compton Jr.], Peter, David and Runyon L. Compton were the only Comptons found living in Jersey, Steuben County, indicating that the family moved there together.

The second source, "History of Butte County, California", 1918, pp 509-510, is another biography for Henry Clay Compton. It biography was written after both Henry Compton and his wife had died, so it is not entirely clear where the information came from.

"H. C. COMPTON, SR.— Remembered and highly esteemed among the large ranchers and pioneer residents of Northern California is H. C. Compton, Sr., late of Butte County, who made a name and a place for himself in the annals of his adopted county as an extensive property-owner and cattleman.  The progenitor of the family in America, from whom the subject of this sketch was descended, was William Compton, who came from England to the United States, and with his wife, Saline (Canfield) Compton, settled in Orange County, N. Y.  He served in a New York regiment during the Revolutionary War and was wounded in action.  The best information is that he served in the First Regiment, Orange County Militia, under Major Zachariah DuBoise.  His children were: David, Peter, Abram, Runyon, Hezekiah, William, John, Anna, Elizabeth, Susan and Hannah Maria.  Of these, Peter was a colonel in the New York State Militia, and David served in the War of 1812.  William, son of the original William, married Hannah Post, daughter of Peter and Mary Canfield (Gibbs) Post; and one of their children, Runyon, was the father of Henry C. Runyon Compton removed from a farm in Windsor, Canada, to near Detroit, Mich. ... Both Runyon Compton and his wife died in Michigan.
H. C. Compton was born in Windsor, Canada, but his boyhood was spent in Michigan, where he divided his time between going to school and working on his father's farm.  He came to California in 1850 ... After a long and successful career Mr. Compton passed to his reward, while living on his Princeton ranch, in 1888, survived by his wife until her demise, at the home of her son, H. C. Compton, near Chico, on May 24, 1915. ..."

It is evident from the wording that the 1918 biography was partially based on the 1906 one. The list of children found in the 1918 biography matches exactly the children we find for William Compton Jr., not for, as this biography states, his father William Compton Sr. The children we have found for William Compton Sr. do not match this list. The 1918 biography also says that William Compton Sr., married Saline Canfield in England. However in the 1820 federal census for Monroe, Orange County, New York, there is a widow, Sarah Compton found living with a family whose parents were over 44 years old. We assume that this was one of her sons or daughters. This places her in the same generation as William Compton Sr. Since there are no other unaccounted for Compton men from Orange County, it is more than likely that she was the widow of William Compton Sr. If so, then she was either a later wife, or if his first, he did not marry Saline Canfield as was claimed. As far as William Compton being from England we have no evidence beyond Henry's wife's perception that Henry's father was, and as we've already seen, he wasn't.

The third source, "Hannah Wells' Bible", I found online at "Esther's Scrapbook" (http://www.esthersscrapbook.com/compton-wells/HannahsBible.htm). In it we find this same list of children, but correctly assigned to William Compton Jr.

"William Compton was a grandson of a younger branch of Sir Spencer Compton, Warwickshire, England. Sir Spencer Compton was slain in 1648 at Hopton Heath, England, and defeated Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan rebels during the battle. William Compton born in England (our great-grandfather) [served] in the first regiment of Orange County, N.Y. militia had his lower jaw shot off and died during the Revolution. His son, William Compton, married Hannah Post (that is my mother). She is buried in Sugar Hill, N.Y., and he is buried in Watkins, N.Y.

Hannah Compton was born in Holland, came to New York City, married Wm. Compton, son of Wm. Compton who fought in American Revolution. Eleven children were born to Hannah Post and Wm. Compton.
Annie Compton married Seymour Sachwood
David Compton married Rachel Simmons
Peter Compton married Elizabeth Hitchman
William Compton married Betsy Penn
Abraham Compton married Rebecca Campbell
Hezekiah Compton married Margaret Benson
John P Compton married Elizabeth Woodruff
Susan Compton married Cornelius Thompson
Elizabeth Compton married John Slaget
Hannah Compton married Charles E. Wells"

Unfortunately, there are major issues with this source that prevent us from placing too much stock in its claims. Firstly, the author of the website, Esther I presume, states that she never actually saw the bible, and apparently the bible is no longer in existence, so we cannot verify the information actually come from the bible. This is important for two reasons. First, the content above looks nothing like what we would expect to find in a bible. Bibles generally include names, and dates of births, marriages and deaths. They generally do not include historical information such as we see here. The author also states that there were no dates in the material she copied. Second, the author states, that these are notes that she wrote in 1951, when she was 15 years old, copied from Guy Lockwood, who was a distant relative of hers that she only met the one time. He was apparently a great grandson of Hannah (Compton) Wells who had died in 1888 when he was 7 years old. He has since passed away. Mr. Lockwood told the author that the material, from which she copied, had been copied by him directly from the bible years earlier. You can see the problem here, we do not have the bible, we do not have photographs, scans or even exact transcriptions from the bible, and at least portions of what we do have probably didn't come from that bible. So we are left with a quandary as to what the actual source of this information is. We do not know if these might have been Mrs. Wells' notes, or Mr. Lockwood's notes, and we don't know if they were based on tradition handed down in the family, or on research, flawed or otherwise. There are a few things that we can say about the authors notes. We have verified that William Compton Sr. served in the 1st Regiment as was claimed, but we have also verified that he was still living in 1810, so he did not die during the Revolution as was claimed. Again we have the claim that he was born in England, and the ubiquitous claim to nobility that so often arises in cases like this. Unfortunately, we still have no evidence that either of these claims are true (we also do not know if they are false). Lastly, Runyon L. Compton is missing from the list of William Compton Jr's. children, which is unusual if this information actually came from his sister's bible.

To further confuse the issue, Esther's Scrapbook "Hannah Wells' Bible" provides an additional piece to this puzzle (http://www.esthersscrapbook.com/compton-wells/comptonmessage.htm) that is quoted often, so should also be addressed.

"The following information was kindly supplied to us by William H. Compton, keeper of the Comptonology Records. He reports that he gathered it from records from the Bible of Edith Runyon, now deceased.

Spencer Compton had a grandson (not a son) William Compton. He had a son William Henry Compton born Northampton, England. He married in England Salina Canfield, daughter of Thomas Canfield. They came to America and settled in the Orange Co. NY area. He signs the Articles of Association for Orange Co., NY, June 1775. He fought in the Rev. War and was wounded sometime in 1786 {Esther: I believe this date to be in error and guess that it should be 1776}. He died later because of this wound. He served in the 1st Regt. of the Orange Co. NY Militia under Maj. Zechariah Dubolis (he receives Land Bounty Rights). His son William Compton married Hannah Post 23 Feb. 1798 NY NY City. She was the daughter of Peter Gibbs Post and Mary Canfield. (Mary Canfield was the daughter of Samuel Canfield of NY.) These records are so fragile can hardly read they were on rag yellow paper."

As you can see, we are left with the same issues, no bible, no images, no transcriptions, some obvious errors, and claims to nobility.

Together, these 4 sources, "History of Butte County, California", "History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sierras", "Hannah Wells' Bible" and "Edith Runyon's Bible" make numerous claims, some of which have been proved false, some others that are highly suspect, and others that cannot be verified. They also make a few claims that can be verified, but this should not be a reason to accept any of them as being reliable, or as evidence for any of the claims they make. Any claims they do make should be independently verified before being considered valid.