William Compton (1879)

COMPTON

Posted By: Diane (email)
Date: 9/4/2004 at 16:41:29

The Winterset Madisonian
Wednesday 3 July, 1879
Winterset, Madison Co, Iowa

William Compton, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of this county, died at his home in Douglas township June 25th 1879, after a severe illness of more than fourteen weeks. The fatal disease was a complicated difficulty with the heart and lungs.

Mr Compton was born in Butler county, Ohio June 22, 1818, he settled in this county August 1, 1849. His occupation was that of a miller and he occasionally engaged in farming and mercantile pursuits. He leaves a wife and seven children who feel his loss the more keenly because he was to her an affectionate husband and protector, and to them a kind and indulgent father. His youngest child is nearly or quite grown.

He came to this county at an early day and being active, energetic and of a public spirit, he became identified with all the interests in the county. He braved, and endured the hardships incident to the earliest settlement of the county, and by a long, active and useful life among us, he has built up a very large circle of friends who feel his loss almost as keenly as the affectionate wife and living children who have strewn so many flowers along his pathway and who now water his grave with their tears.

He was a devoted member of the Christian Church, and also a member and great lover of the Masonic Craft, and Oddfellows Fraternity, and although he has been called to that "undiscovered country from whose shores no traveler returns," his usefulness has left so many traces and his "mark" has been so often engraven upon the affections of the people of this county that his memory will be cherished and kept green while this generation lasts. True and faithful to every trust and to every friend. He is entitled to the highest plaudit that can be bestowed on any human being.

He was an honest man who reached the high destiny of a satisfied conscience. And while the gentle breeze fans the verdant covering of his grave, and the sunshine and storm pass over it, we are consoled with the thought that one who has been so useful here, will not only be useful but rewarded in the veiled hereafter.
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Winterset Madisonian, Winterset, Iowa
July 3, 1879 – Page 2

Another Gone.

It is with reluctance we take our pen to record the death of another of our oldest and best citizens, Mr. William Compton. The deceased died on Wednesday of last week at about noon, after a long and severe spell of sickness. About a month previous to his death he was very low, not expected to live from one hour to another, but by skillful nursing he was made to rally and, indeed, he so far recovered as to be able to walk about in his yard, when he fell into a relapse which was the cause of his death. His sufferings were very severe, and his long sickness through the hot weather made it doubly trying. He was fully resigned, in fact he expressed his wish to die on his 61st birth day, which occurred a few days before his allotted time. He died in peace, with his large and loving family around him, who had nursed so faithfully and worked to diligently to ward off death’s direful hand from falling on one who had for so many long years presided over and contributed to their mutual happiness.

The deceased was one of the oldest citizens of the county – coming here in an early day, he participated to no little extent in the construction of our county and its affairs. His good business qualifications, his integrity, and his happy faculty of making friends, won him golden opinions on all sides, and his death has cast a shadow on all parts of the county.

Thus it is we see our old citizens retiring from our midst, and during the past few months the death angel seems to have been unusually active in his demands. We need not call the attention of the public to this fact, the memories of those good men are yet too fresh in the minds of our people to need a reopening of the wounds by reciting names of beloved citizens who, so lately, were among us.