Link to Compton backup file

This is one of the most useful files. It has people related to the surname COMPTON 

in America and England to a lesser extent. There are about 8,883 names in this file.

It may be as much as 70% complete for colonial America and drops off toward late 19th 

century but still perhaps has half of the links needed to connect to the early Comptons. 

It is a zip backup for Personal Ancestor File (PAF) version 5.2 . You will need that program 

to access the data. It is a free program available from www.familysearch.org.  Any other 

format would take up more than 4 times the space and transmission download time. In this 

specific case 4.37 megs for the PAF data file versus 0.837 megs for the zip backup compressed 

file and 3.68 megs for a GED file.. 

COMPTONOLOGY

Now to another matter. I have been asked about Comptonology repeatedly. 

That was a quarterly magazine which started in 1939 or so and was put out quarterly until 

about 1954 when C V Compton, the author  -editor -  publisher died. There was over 260 

total pages, and the only complete copy I know of for access is the LDS copy at Salt Lake City. 

You can get a microfilm via mail for minimal cost from any LDS Local family research center.  

There also is a complete copy at LC (Elsie- AKA :ibrary of Congress) but do you have access 

to Elsie?  I do not.

WORKING FORWARD using descendants rather than working back to ancestors.

In 1959 I knew of John Compton born about 1770-1780 Va with son Joseph R. Compton 

b 2 Mar 1815 of Barren Co, Ky. , but by 1994 I had made no further progress. So I used a

technique I discovered in the mid 1960’s and started back with earliest ancestors and worked 

FORWARD finding descendants until I connect with my line, rather than trying to work back-

wards to ancestors. 

The first time I did that was 1967 with Van Dykes.  I knew of Garret Vandyke who moved to 

Washington CO., Ky From Culpepper CO Va in 1790 and promptly died.  But I could not find 

his origins. So I went back to the earliest American Van Dykes,  three brothers who migrated to

New Amsterdam -on the ship Spotted Cow 1652. Eventually they sent for their parents. As far 

as I know all Van Dykes in the USA come from that trio. So I worked generation after generation

forward and eventually connected with my Garrett. The problem was he had moved three times, 

From NY, where he was born to NJ;  and from NJ to Va to Ky. The first two jumps masked his 

origin and parentage. By working forward the links could be made-a lot of work, but you also 

got the whole family as a result. And you were unlikely to ever make the jump backwards using 

the “conventional” way.

With Compton I put every shred of data from Comptonology into a PAF 2.31 file (in an old 

8088 chip computer with 10 meg of C drive- which is why I had to be very careful with memory 

use). Then I added quite a bit in my paper file that C V did not have access to, and in the end had

 3800 names, when I finally connected to my John Compton (of Warren CO Ky md Rachel 

Pittman 1803 Washington Co Ky). Total time about 500 man hours, added to the probable 2000 

I had already semi-wasted in collection of disconnected data up to that time. Of the 3800 names 

perhaps 3000 were in Comptonology, (but not MINE) and there were three distinct emigrant lines 

that did not cross connect in America.  I have since added to the file to where now it is a bit over

10,000 names,  and I have semi connected all lines. But I then had to disconnect one of the three.

One accepted connection (MY LINE! Cuss words) failed, and disconnected from the other two. 

I come via a “William Compton” who was assumed to be son of Lord Earl Spencer Compton 

who died in Battle of Hopton Heath 1643  but my William was not his son. His son Sir William 

Compton (age 19 in 1645) was Royalist Governor of Banbury Castle from 1645-1646 and 

therefore not in Gravesend in 1645 to be part of the original Long Island patents.  There is/ was 

MY William of Gravesend Long Island  age 30 in 1652 and this William was granted patent in 

1645 by Judge Keith  to Lady Deborah Moody and William Compton et. al. These cannot be 

one and the same, as how can you account for their being in two very different places at the same

 time, and different birth dates. 

So I am back on the trail.  Moral, if your data conflict don’t fight it - be willing to discard wrong 

connections and try to find what is RIGHT. You are entitled to get disgusted, even a bit 

discouraged, and surely you get at least two free cuss words, but TRUTH is more important 

that prestige erroneously linking to some famous bliffy.