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Manuscript Collection 1453

• About the Compton Family Papers
• Contents of the Collection

The papers consist of correspondence, documents, genealogical material, and images related to the family of David Compton, Sr.(1850-1923) and his wife, Mary Eyre Haller Compton (1851-1934) as well as their sons, David Compton, Jr.(1885-1959) and William Eyre Compton (1890-1981). There is also documentation concerning the lives of Neil Ernest Compton (1912-1999) and his wife Laurene Putman Compton (1916-1991).

The Compton Family Papers were donated to Special Collections by Ellen Compton on March 1, 2002.

Processed by Ellen Compton, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in October, 2002.

Restrictions: Series 1, Subseries 2. Correspondence cannot be reproduced in any form without permission of donor.

Related collections in Special Collections are:
Putman Family Papers, MC 1452
Swift Family Papers, MC 1451
Neil Compton Papers, MC 1091
Decatur All-America City Award Papers, MC 837

Contents: 18 boxes (5.5 linear feet)

Series 1. Correspondence, Boxes 1-8

  Subseries 1.  Compton Family, 1807-1933
  Subseries 2.  Neil and Laurene Compton, 1934-1982.Includes family World War II letters.
  Subseries 3.  William Eyre Compton, 1960-1979

Series 2. Documents. Boxes 9-13

  Subseries 1.   Genealogical Material
  Subseries 2.   David Compton, Sr. Professional Records, Journals, Notebooks, 1870-1910
  Subseries 3.   Family Writings, Narrative Family History, Taped Interviews
  Subseries 4.   Family Documents, ca. 1876-1980s

Series 3. Images. Boxes 14-16

Oversize Material: Boxes 17-18

The letters dated from 1807-1933 consist primarily of news and comments recorded by members of the Compton family of New Jersey as they wrote each other and their son David Compton. Further correspondence from the same period is between members of Mary Eyre Haller Compton's family in Pennsylvania, most of it to Mary.

The earliest Compton letter is from an imprisoned Jacob Compton to his wife Rachel. Several of the older Compton sons of the next generation ventured to California in the 1840s and 1850s. Some letters are about these moves. The youngest, David, was educated at Princeton. He won a scholarship to Heidelberg in the 1870s and letters follow him in his student life. In 1876 he married Mary Haller and became a schoolmaster, serving schools in Illinois and Iowa. While living in Keokuk, Iowa in 1880, three of their children died of scarlet fever within a day's time. In 1891 the Comptons moved to near Gentry in Benton County, Arkansas, seeking a pastoral life and a warmer climate for their four remaining children, Chester, David, Jr., Mary, and William Eyre (Bill). Letters from family in Pennsylvania and New Jersey express concern about the fate of the family and their move to Arkansas.

David Compton, Sr. developed orchards and vineyards. He made  wine and cider, grew melons and strawberries and had hayfields. He educated the children at home and Mary lead the family in private Episcopalian church services. Family correspondence reflects life in Arkansas and news of family events in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Two folders of letters are from Senator John Sharp Williams of Mississippi who was a friend of David's from Princeton and Heidelberg days.

Later family correspondence is concerned with the activities of David Compton, Jr. He married a  local girl, Ida Etta Wilmoth in 1911 and they had two children, Neil and Edra. He was a rural postmaster and part-time farmer. In 1923 they moved to Bentonville. David, Jr. was elected County and Probate Judge in Benton County for several terms and served briefly as Postmaster in Bentonville..After Ida died in 1945, David, Jr. married Rose Clem. He became director of the Decatur Chamber of Commerce in the 1940s and 1950s.  He died in the Bentonville hospital in 1959.

The correspondence concerning William Eyre (Bill) Compton, is primarily from his retirement years. After serving in the army in France in World War I, he remained at home with his mother until her death in 1934. He and his brother sold the farm and orchards and in 1940 Bill moved to Fayetteville where he was a sextant at St.Paul's Episcopal Church. He and David, Jr. worked for a short time in California in World War II. In retirement, he lived in Springfield, Mo., Fayetteville, and Bentonville. He died in 1981.

Neil Compton was a prolific correspondent, particularly writing his wife, Laurene Putman, after they married in 1935. She also was a steady correspondent. Another special group of letters are those between Neil and Laurene during World War II. He was a Navy doctor with medical units stationed in Florida, California, and the South Pacific.He wrote down  his thoughts about life and descriptions of daily activities on the base on Guadalcanal. She moved to Bentonville with their two children, Ellen Kay (b.1938) and Edra Ann (b.1941). They lived with her mother, Edna Putman, owner of Putman's Ready-to-Wear. David and Ida Compton lived nearby. Laurene's letters are almost daily accounts  of her extended family, news of friends in Fayetteville and Warren, news of the children, activities of her women friends and their children, and news of Bentonville people. Post-war correspondence is concerned with social and civic events in Bentonville, Naval Reserve duty, Putman's Ready-to-Wear, and news of their children, including their son, William David (b. 1946).

Box 1
 1. 1807
 2. 1808
 3. 1809
 4. 1840-1867
 5. 1874-1877
 6. 1880-1881
 7. 1884-1887
 8. 1888
 9. 1889
 10. 1890-1891
 11. 1893
 12. 1894
 13. 1894
 14. 1894
 15. 1894

Box 2
 1. 1895
 2. 1897-1900
 3. 1901-1902
 4. 1902
 5. 1902-1904
 6. 1905-1906
 7. 1907-1908
 8. N.D., Envelopes, Fragments

Box 3
 1.  1909-1912
 2.  193-1915
 3.  1916-1917
 4.  1918 (World War I)
 5.  1919
 6.  1920-1921
 7.  1922-1923
 8.  1923-1928
 9.  1930-1933
 10.  1876-1904 (John Sharp Williams)
 11.  1905-1923 (John Sharp Williams)

Subseries 2. Neil and Laurene Compton Correspondence. Includes family World War II letters. Restrictions apply.

Box 4
 1.  1934-1936
 2.  1937
 3.  1938
 4.  1939
 5.  1939-1940
 6.  1939-1940 (cards)
 7.  1941-1945 (cards)

Box 5
 1.  February - July 1942
 2.  July - August 1942
 3.  September 1942
 4.  October 1942
 5.  November-December 1942
 6.  December 1942

Box 6
 1.  January 1943
 2.  February 1943
 3.  March 1943
 4.  April - May 1943
 5.  June 1943
 6.  July 1943
 7.  August 1943
 8.  September 1943
 9.  October 1943
 10.  November 1943
 11.  December 1943

Box 7
 1.  January 1944
 2.  February 1944
 3.  March 1944
 4.  April 1944
 5.  May 1944
 6.  June 1944
 7.  July 1944
 8.  August 1944
 9.  September 1944
 10.  October 1944
 11.  November 1944
 12.  December 1944

Box 8
 1.  January 1945
 2.  February - April 1945
 3.  July and November 1945
 4.  1948-1949
 5.  1954
 6.  1958-1960
 7.  1961-1966
 8.  1971-1982
 9.  N.D., Fragments, Envelopes

Subseries 3. William Eyre (Bill) Compton

Box 8 (cont'd)
10.  1960-1977
11.  1978-1979
12.  N.D., cards

This series includes material collected by family members in the categories of genealogy, certificates and receipts, notebooks and journals, and printed material. Most of the documents and notebooks are related to David Compton,Sr. Family histories were written by Neil Compton and his father, David Jr. Taped interviews were made with William Eyre (Bill) Compton in the 1970s.

Subseries 1. Genealogy

Box 9
 1. Compton Family
 2. Compton Family
 3. Compton Family
 4. Compton Family Tree (made in 1920s)
 5. Compton Family - copied documents from George Compton
 6. Eyre/Haller Families
 7. Hankinson/Baird
 8. Wilmoth/Proctor Families
 9. "Comptonology" newsletter
 10. Notebook kept by David Compton, Jr. ca.1930, contains family information.

Subseries 2. David Compton, Sr. Professional Records, Journals, Notebooks, 1869-1923

Box 10
 1. Bound notebooks and journals related to class work, ca.1870-1874.
 2. Class record for Princeton, 1874
 3. Account Books, ca. 1874-1882

Box 11
 1.  Letters of Application and Recommendation, 1870s-1920
 2.  Recommendations
 3.  Recommendations from Mt. Sterling, Il.
 4.  Documents from Iowa schools
 5.  Documents from Iowa schools
 6.  Printed material from Heidelberg
 7.  Essays and notes
 8.  Essays and notes
 9.  High School Examinations
 10.  Envelope containing 4 diaries kept by David Compton, Sr., 1869-1885 (fragile)

Subseries 3. Family Writings, 1940s-1980s

Box 12
 1.  Essays, articles, notes by Neil Compton, Laurene Compton, Edra Ann Compton
 2.  Notes for "The Way to Go," a family history by Neil Compton
 3. "Way to Go"
 4. "Way to Go"
 5. "Way to Go" fragments
 6.  Notes about William Eyre Compton
 7.  Speeches, essays, notebook, by David Compton, Jr.
 8.  Essays by William Eyre Compton on a variety of social and historical issues
 9.  4 cassette tapes of interviews with William Eyre Compton made in the 1970s

Subseries 4.  Family Documents, ca. 1876-1980s

Box 13
 1. Miscellaneous
 2. Taxes and Receipts
 3. Property
 4. Property
 5. Marriage Licenses
 6. Wills
 7. Military Records
 8. Arkansas Politics
 9.   Benton County
 10.  Clippings and articles about deaths of Compton children in 1880
 11.  Mary Compton, funeral information. William Eyre Compton, death certificate.
 12.  Eulogies, obituaries, death notices, most for David Compton, Jr.
 13. Sympathy cards for David Compton, Jr.
 14.  Sympathy cards for David Compton, Jr.
 15.   Floral cards for David Compton, Jr.
 16.   Clippings
 17.   Printed Material

Images are predominately of family members. They range from large, tinted portraits to snapshots. There are numerous scenes of Bentonville from the 1940s to the 1970s,including pictures of the family home at 312 N. Main. Also of  interest are pictures of the David Compton, Sr. family in various school groups, and on the farm in Benton County. A significant number of pictures are of Neil Compton in the service in California and on Guadalcanal, and pictures of the family in Bentonville during the same World War II period..

Box 14
 1.  Beta Sigma Phi women's group, Rogers and Bentonville, ca. 1944. 2 images
 2.  Bentonville scenes, ca. 1944.11 images
 3.  Bentonville scenes, ca. 1954. 15 images
 4.  Bentonville Rotary Club Halloween Party, ca. 1958. 13 images.
 5.  Beta Sigma Phi party, ca. 1960.35 images
 6.  Bentonville scenes, ca. 1975. 47 images.
 7.  Bentonville snow scenes, ca..1962.10 images
 8.  312 N. Main in Bentonville, snow scenes, ca. 1962. 11 images.
 9.  Bentonville scenes, ca. 1982. 36 images
 10.  "Tree Massacre on Bentonville Square," 1960s.6 images

Box 15
 1.  Compton family.14 images.
 2   Haller family.11 images
 3.  Forrest family.14 images.
 4.  Wilmoth family. 67 images
 5.  Benton County agricultural scenes. ca. 1916. 21 images.
 6.  Compton family recreation, ca. 1918. 28 images
 7.  School groups in Iowa and Benton County, Arkansas, ca.1889-1910. 7 images
 8.  David Compton, Jr., Ida, Neil, Edra. 14 images
 9.  David Compton, Jr. 23 images
 10.  William Eyre Compton.11 images
 11.   Neil Compton as a baby and young man.10 images
 12.   Edra Compton Lumsden.12 images
 13.   Family of David Compton, Jr. in Oklahoma, ca 1920 25 images..
 14.   Unidentified .17 images

Box 16
  1.  Neil Compton family in Warren and Pine Bluff, ca. 1940.2 images
  2.  Neil Compton at University of Arkansas, 1933-1935.11 images
  3.  Neil Compton. As a young man and medical student.  25 images
  4.  Neil Compton, Guadalcanal, 1943-1944. 48 images
  5.  California, ca. 1943.31 images
  6.  Bentonville, ca. 1943.38 images
  7.  Bentonville, ca. 1943-1944. 44 images
  8.  Laurene and Neil, 1966-1980. 3 images.
  9.  Edna Putman and others at 312 N. Main, Bentonville, 1960.9 images
 10.  Neil Compton, 1989-1999. 3 images
 11.  Ozark Society activities.8 images
 12.  Ken Smith 5 images.

Box 18  Oversize images and documents
  1.  Commemorative Calendar, Bank of Bentonville, scenes of Bentonville, ca 1930
  2.   Neil and Edra Compton, ca. 1917.1 image
  3.   Neil Compton, ca. 1914. 1 image
  4.   Princeton Diploma, 1879. David Compton, Sr.
  5.   Bentonville, Jefferson County, Ozarks. 5 images.
  6.   Dubuque, Iowa High School,1889.1 image
  7.   Meteor Bible Class, Bentonville, 1929. 1 image.
  8.   Naval Reserve group, 1960. 1 image.
  9.   Arkansas postmasters group, 1937.1 image.
  10.  Arkansas' Postmaster's License
  11.  Licenses and certificates. Benton County Judge David Compton, 1923-1931
  12.  Letter to David Compton, Sr., 1901
  13.  Family Tree for Eyre, Compton, Wilmoth, Swift, Risley, Putman families

Oversize Images
   1.  Dedication of Veteran's Memorial, Kansas City, Mo.1921.  1 image.
   2.  Construction of Benton County Courthouse, 1931.1 image.