Sylvanus Marion Compton

BARNETT, COMPTON, FULLER, LAYMAN, MCKIBBEN, SHIFFLETT, WROE

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 8/7/2004 at 09:58:34

Sylvanus M. Compton has resided in this county for six decades and was long and actively identified with agricultural interests here but is now living retired in Earlham, where he has made his home for the past fourteen years. His birth occurred in Greene county, Ohio, on the 20th of June, 1849, his parents being Martin and Ann E. (Wroe) Compton, the former a native of Greene county, Ohio, and the latter of Virginia. Martin Compton removed to Indiana in 1852 and in 1854 came to Iowa, first spending a year in Warren county. In 1855, however, he came to Madison county, purchasing a farm of one hundred and eighty acres six miles north of Winterset in what was then Madison township but is now Douglas township. He improved the property and operated it for four years, on the expiration of which period he disposed of the place and took up his abode near Earlham, in Madison township, there continuing to reside throughout the remainder of his active business career. The last twenty years of his life were spent in honorable retirement at Earlham, where he passed away on the 18th of October, 1905. The period of his residence in this county covered a half century and in his passing the community lost one of its representative agriculturists and esteemed citizens. During the period of the Civil war he served for one year as a member of Company A, Thirty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. His wife was called to her final rest on the 7th of February, 1914.

Sylvanus M. Compton, who was a little lad of six years when he came to this county with his parents, was here educated and remained on the home farm until nineteen years of age. He then started out as an agriculturist on his own account and after cultivating rented land for a few years purchased a tract of eighty acres in 1874, the farm lying within a mile of Earlham. He operated it for eight years and on the expiration of that period disposed of the property, purchasing and taking up his abode on a quarter section of land near the old home place in Madison township. Mr. Compton made many substantial improvements on the farm and operated it continuously and successfully until 1901, when he put aside the active work of the fields and purchased a pleasant and commodious residence in Earlham, where he has since lived retired.

In September, 1869, Mr. Compton was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth McKibben, a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Layman) McKibben, who were natives of Ohio and Tennessee respectively. They took up their abode among the pioneer settlers of Dallas county, Iowa, in 1855, and there Mr. McKibben was actively engaged in farming throughout the remainder of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Compton have seven children, as follows: Frank, an agriculturist of this county; Edmund, who is a resident of Earlham; Nathan, living in Oregon; Anna, who gave her hand in marriage to C. L. Barnett, a farmer of this county; Minnie, who is the wife of Z. W. Fuller, of Hillsdale, Michigan; Silas, who operates his father's farm; and Mary, the wife of Grant Shifflett, who is an agriculturist of Ringgold county, Iowa. In politics Mr. Compton is a stanch republican, while his religious faith is that of the Friends church.

Taken from the book, "The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1915"