William Randall Compton (1860 - 1912) - Part 1

Pedigree: Me > William Randall Compton II > William Randall Compton (grandfather)

William Randall Compton was born in Sullivanville, Chemung County, N.Y. on April 8, 1860, the son of Norris Matthew and Mary Brigham Compton. His siblings (my grandaunts and granduncle) were Ida Louis Compton (1857 - 1950), Johnson Brigham Compton (1863 -1886), Edith Mary Compton (1875 - 1964), and Lena May Compton (1879 - 1940).
He attended the common schools in the area until he was ten years old. By that time his services at home had become too valuable to allow his going to school except in the winter.

Compton home in Sullivanville, NY

At thirteen he entered the Spencer Academy at Spencer, Tioga County, N.Y., which he attended two terms.

Spencer Academy

He continued to study by himself, however, after his daily farm work was finished, and became a well-read, cultured man, taking special pride in the collection and possession of a good library.
The family then moved to Meadville, Pennsylvania in 1876, living at 838 Liberty Street until 1880.

838 Liberty Street, Meadville, PA

He attended the Bryant, Stratton & Smith Business College at Meadville. After completing the course there he was made a clerk in the Meadville post office, holding the position two years. 

Meadville Post Office (2nd from left)

He then went west, and worked on a farm in Illinois during the summer of 1880. Returning to the east, he secured a position with United States Express (a package delivery company) at Meadville, but soon gave up this work to engage in the manufacture of cigars, in partnership with his brother, Johnson Brigham Compton, back at Sullivanville in 1881.

On June 8, 1881 he married Alice Forshee (1860 - 1936) in nearby Watkins Glen, N.Y. They had four children (my half-uncles and half-aunts): Amy E. Compton (1882 - 1882 at age 4 1/2 months), Isabel Compton (1884 - 1972), Leon Randall Compton (1885 - 1920), and Fassett Brigham Compton (1889 - 1957), all born at Sullivanville.

William Randall Compton

Alice Forshee

The cigar business at Sullivanville with his brother proved distasteful, and he subsequently became a traveling salesman, continuing this occupation until 1889. At the age of 28 he joined the Masonic fraternity in the Southern Light Lodge No. 725 at Breesport, N. Y. His related dates were:
Initiated August 25, 1888, Passed September 8, 1888, Raised September 22, 1888

Breesville, N.Y. Masonic Lodge

His services to the Republican party in the presidential campaign of 1888, and his high qualifications for the position, led to his appointment, soon after the inauguration of President Harrison, in 1889 as chief clerk in the Office of the Sixth Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-office Department in Washington, D.C.  He resigned this position after a service of two years and came back to Elmira to engage in the real estate business.

To be continued...........