Asa Laffin (1862 - 1947)

 Pedigree: Me > Norma Haynes > Lillian Laffin > Asa Laffin (my great grandfather)  

Asa Laffin was born 5 October 1862 in Northfield, Hants County, Nova Scotia, the last child of (William) Thomas Laffin and Rachel Miller.  He was christened on 1 November 1863.  

   He inherited the family farm when his father passed away in 1880.  The farm consisted of 400-500 acres.  There was originally a log cabin on the property.  Then a large wooden frame house was built with a living room, dining room, parlor, kitchen, pantry, and one bedroom on the main floor and three bedrooms upstairs.  Asa grew oats, wheat, barley, and vegetables on the farm and had a small orchard.  He also had a dairy herd as well as pigs, sheep, chickens, and horses.  He used some hired help to assist him on the farm. A brook separated his farm from the farm of Chester Laffin to the east, and there was a pond on the farm that had lots of snapping turtles. The kids loved to catch frogs in the pond. Asa loved to trout fish and was quite competitive about it. There were some gypsum holes on his property, but the gypsum was never mined, as it was at other sites in Hants County. Ropes were placed around these holes so no one would fall into them. 

   Asa was a hard worker, didn’t drink, and was well liked by all.  His friends called him “Uncle Asey.” When he drove his first car and he had to stop, he pulled back on the steering wheel and said “Whoa”, forgetting that he was not on a horse! When Asa was introduced to someone new, he always had to know their parents (almost everyone in the area was related by family back then). He would say “Who ARE you?" In his later life, he broke his hip and convalesced for a while at his daughter Ruby Densmore’s house with her son, Lyman Densmore.

   Asa married Rose Ellen (Rosella) Hennigar (born 24 September 1859 in Upper Kennetcook) on 10 July 1890 in Upper Kennetcook at the St. Peter’s Anglican Church.  Rosella’s parents were John A. Hennigar and Letitia Densmore.   Asa and Rosella had seven children—six girls and the last child was a son, Addison. Lillian Laffin was the fourth child and daughter born in Northfield on 16 November 1895. 

                                        Asa and Rosella with their children (L to R): Ruby, Nada, Lillian, Amy, Minnie and Addison

     
His granddaughter, June Haynes, saw Asa for the first and only time in 1946 when she was almost 16 years old. She and her parents, Lillian Laffin and Tom Haynes, were brought from the train station to the house by Uncle Addison Laffin and his wife, Evelyn. When they arrived, she remembers him sitting in a rocking chair by a kerosene lamp. He was still living at his home.  Addison, being the only son, moved in and began to live with Asa after Rosella died in 1930. He and Evelyn raised their five sons there. Lillian had not seen her father, Asa, since before June was born. Her last visit had been in 1929 when Norma Haynes was only 4 years old. It was a very teary situation. June describes her grandfather, Asa, as a typical grandfather, sort of wiry, and just a wonderful disposition, a real gentleman.






















Summer 1929 at Laffin home: Lillian Laffin Haynes, Rosella Hennigar Laffin, Asa Laffin, and Ruby Laffin.
Grandchildren include: Norman Anthony age 13 (son of Minnie Laffin and Alfred Anthony), Norma Haynes age 4 in straw hat, and Wilfred age 4 and Cham age 2 (sons of Ruby Laffin and George Densmore). Baby not identified.






Asa’s mother, Rachel Miller Laffin, lived with the family until she died in 1909.  They also cared for Rosella’s father for several years after his wife died in 1907.  Asa’s sister, Elmira, married Rupert Miller. After Elmira died in 1888, her son Wilfred Miller was cared for at Asa’s home and grew up there.





Asa and Rosella are both buried in the Northfield cemetery at the Anglican Church.  She died 27 September 1930 in her sleep of a heart condition.  Asa died 24 September 1947 of pneumonia. His request for his final meal was maple syrup and Evelyn mixed up some brown sugar and water for him.

References:
1. Lillian Laffin (Haynes), daughter
2. Douglas Township Records
3. Northfield Cemetery
4. June Haynes (Spencer), granddaughter
5. Lyman Densmore, grandson (mother, Ruby Laffin Densmore)

Peter Compton (1813-1886)

Relationship: Me > William R. Compton II > William R. Compton I > Norris Compton > Peter Compton (my 2nd great-grandfather)

Peter Compton was born in Tompkins County, New York (17 June 1813), son of Stephen and Anna (Van Sickle) Compton. He married Amy Norris on 30 April 1835. She had been born in Sullivan County, New York in 1819, daughter of Matthew and Julia (Van Duzer) Norris. They had only one child, Norris Matthew Compton, born 26 April 1836 in Sullivanville, NY, a small hamlet in the "town" of Veteran, which is situated on the road northeast of Elmira on the way to Ithaca.

Peter became a circuit preacher for the Methodist-Episcopal Church. He and Amy were early members of the church at Sullivanville, NY. There are a number of references to his ministry:

History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins, and Schuyler Counties, New York, 1879: The Methodist Episcopal Church of Tyrone Village - The society or class was formed at the schoolhouse in Tyrone Village, Oct 11, 1828, by Elder Nathan B. Dodson, a presiding elder of the Jersey circuit. Among the original members were…..Peter Compton.
History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins, and Schuyler Counties New York, 1879 - The Methodist Church - Veteran, New York: In 1832 a class and church was organized at Sullivanville, and were composed of Dietrich Shaffer, leader, Sarah Shaffer, as are Mallory and wife, and soon after Peter and Amy Compton. A meeting house was erected in 1855, thoroughly repaired in 1877, and on June 27, 1878, was rededicated. There are about 25 members.
Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York by John H. Selkreg, 1894; D. Mason & Co., Publisher, Chapter XVI - Town of Danby:  The South Danby Methodist Church was organized as early as 1830, and was formerly a part of the North Danby charge. The church was built in 1836. The charge was separated from the parent church in 1843. In 1871 the church was extensively repaired. The first pastor was Rev. Peter COMPTON.
A History of South Danby and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1873:   1839 - Peter Compton preached one year.
Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church - Oneida, NY Conference, August 21, 1844 - Peter Compton listed in the Owego District preaching at Flemingville, NY.
Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church - Oneida, NY Conference - July 22, 1846 - Peter Compton is listed as Deacon. Also listed as preacher in the Susquehanna District in Pike, NY
Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church - Oneida, NY Conference July 21, 1847 - Peter Compton listed as Deacon.  Also listed as preacher in the Susquehanna District in Pike, NY.
Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church - Oneida, NY Conference - July 26, 1848 - Peter Compton listed as Deacon.  Also listed as preacher in the Susquehanna District in Greene, NY.
Minutes and Official Journal of the Thirteenth Session of the Central New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held at Syracuse, New York October 6 - 13, 1880: Local Preacher's Directory - Sullivanville: Peter Compton.

In 1850, the family is listed in the US Census of Barton, Tioga, NY, consisting of Peter ("Methodist preacher"), Amy, son Norris Compton, and Peter's father, Stephen Compton. Peter is also listed in the 1860 (homeopathy physician), 1870 (minister) and 1880 (farmer) censuses for Veteran, NY, living in Sullivanville,

Events:
On May 5, 1834 he purchased property from Langstaff and Sarah Compton in Veteran, NY. It is suspected that Langstaff was his uncle, being a brother of his father, Stephen.

On March 18, 1855 Peter had a dry goods store in Waverly, NY that went up in flames:
From the Owego Gazette: Great Fire in Waverly: A fire broke out in Waverly, on Sunday morning, March 18th, about half past two o'clock, in the rear of P. Compton's dry goods store, destroying 14 buildings. Loss and insurance reported as follows: ....One block of six stores owned by Mr. Spaulding, loss $5000, insured $3000 in Farmers Union Co. and Livingston Co. [Thomas J. Brooks store occupied this block], ...building owned and occupied by P. Compton as a dry good store, loss $5000, building insured in Dividend Company, Glenn Falls, NY for $1000, contents insured in Phoenix Company $3000....

From "The History of Waverly, New York and Vicinity (1943): On the 18th of March, 1855 the necessity for an organized body of firefighters was made painfully manifest by Waverly's first great fire. It began in Peter Compton's store on the south side of Broad Street and burned eastward to and including Mrs. Gibbon's store and westward almost to the Davis Block destroying in all seventeen stores and dealing a severe blow to the business interests of the village. There was no longer any doubt that a fire company was needed...On May 4 the taxable inhabitants voted to allocate $900 to procure a fire engine, hose, etc., which was subsequently purchased in New York City.


On May 18, 1868, Peter was awarded a U.S. patent for a new beehive design:

In 1869 his home is shown on a map of Sullivanville, NY from Atlas of Chemung Co., New York : from actual surveys / by and under the direction of F. W. Beers ; assisted by Geo. P. Sanford & others, 1869. (Notice a neighbor farmer named W. Randall [William], who may have been close friends with father Peter's son, Norris who took over running Peter's farm in Sullivanville, and may have been the reason Norris named his son William Randall Compton.)

Peter is listed in the 1868-69 Gazetteer and Business Directory for Chemung and Schuyler Counties as a patentee and manufacturer of bee hives, and farmer of 7 acres.

Death 17 November 1886.

Death Certificate:

Headstone in the Van Duzer Cemetery in the Compton plot in Veteran, NY

From the "Northern Christian Advocate" on December 9, 1886: Minutes of the Ithaca district conference convened for its seventh annual session in the Aurora Street Church Ithaca New York Monday evening November 29.  M. Shaw reported the death of Peter Compton, a local preacher at Horseheads. An appropriate memoir was prepared and ordered spread on the conference minutes.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate this memoir, any obituary in the local newspapers or any photograph of Peter Compton.

Mathew McNeil (1795 - ?)

My relationship: Me > Norma Haynes (mother) > Thomas N. Haynes (grandfather) > Annie Vessie McNeil (my great grandmother) > Matthew McNeil (My great great grandfather)

Matthew McNeil was the son of John McNeil (or McNeal) and Elizabeth McLearn (or McLennan).  He was born in the Douglas Township of Hants County, Nova Scotia on 7 November 1795.  He married Hannah Lutches Blois (daughter of early settlers Abraham Blois and Sarah Margaret Kilcup) on 8 December 1823 in Douglas Township.  They had six children: John (1824 - 1885), Lydia Jane (1826 - 1902), Lavina (1829 - 1905), Hugh (1830 - 1910), Twins Olive (1832 -    ) and Oliver (1832 - 1911), and Annie Vessie McNeil (1836 - 1913) who was my great grandmother.

Hannah died at the young age of 32 (when Annie was almost 2 years old) and was buried in the Gore at the Blois family cemetery. After Hannah died in 1838, the family was broken up and Matthew moved away. I presume Annie stayed in Hants County, probably brought up by relatives, as she married Robert Hanes on December 4, 1860 in Kennetcook, Hants County.

Matthew married again (Bertha, born in New Brunswick) and lived the rest of his life in Clements, Annapolis County and Bear River, Digby County, Nova Scotia and was buried there. He had two children with Bertha: Margaret (1859 - 1947) and Willie (1861 -    ). There is no record of Matthew in the 1881 Canada census, or of Bertha or son Willie.

Matthew's occupation was listed as a shoemaker in the 1871 census and in the marriage record of his daughter, Margaret McNeil, who married James Winchester on July 9, 1878 in Hillsburgh, Digby County.

William R. Compton (1860-1912) - Part 3: The Scrapbook Miracle

Relationship: Me > William Randall Compton II > William Randall Compton I (grandfather)

In 1974 when my father William R. Compton II died, he willed many of his family possessions to my sister, Anne Compton. She joined the LDS Church in 1975 in Birmingham, Alabama. As she and I were the only children in our family, we decided to split up the responsibilities of genealogy research in 1977.  I would take my mother and her information, and Anne would take our father. Among the many items that Anne had was a black scrapbook of newspaper articles about William R. Compton I (our grandfather), who was appointed U.S. Marshal for northern and western New York state by Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.  These had been collected and saved by our grandmother, Helen Tubbs Compton, until his death in 1912. Anne had the 82 scrapbook pages laminated and rebound. She also had many photographs of our Compton line ancestors restored, duplicated and sent to me. During her years in Alabama, she did extensive research on the Compton side of the family, resulting in the submission of thousands of family group sheets with more than 52,000 names to the LDS Church. She was featured in an article in “The Church News” on January 1988 about her research despite her many medical problems.

Soon after this article appeared, she was contacted by Lynn and Dixie in Plano, Texas, distributors of herbal products marketed by Sunrider Corporation. Anne left Alabama shortly thereafter and moved in with them and became a Sunrider distributor as well. In 1989, this couple moved to Oregon and Anne decided to move to Desert Hot Springs, California. Dixie and Lynn planned to rent a storage unit in Oregon. As Anne had no place of her own to store her personal possessions, she asked Dixie if she could take her things with her and store them until such time as Anne could get settled and have a place of her own. In addition to the many personal items of Anne’s, most of the memorabilia items of our father and his parents were included, including the scrapbook. Anne stayed in California until early 1992 and then moved to Nebraska for three years before returning to Desert Hot Springs in 1995.

In 1996, Anne had heard from Dixie that they were moving and would no longer need their storage unit (they had transferred the storage items several times to different localities in Oregon over the 7 year interval).  After requesting access, she and a close friend drove to Oregon. Anne told me at the time that she found many of the boxes were missing, and what remained had been crushed with broken items inside. She salvaged what she could, and after returning to Desert Hot Springs, she was able to send me a number of the remaining Compton items, but said all the rest was either lost or destroyed.

Fast forward: 17 years later, on June 12, 2013 Donald Clark, 72, living in Butte Creek Canyon near Centerville, California shot and killed three Sacramento residents at his property. Two teenagers and a mother had stolen a car, driven up to Mr. Clarke’s property, and he shot them with a 12 gauge pump shotgun as they approached his home. He then put them in their vehicle, along with a bicycle, and drove 20 miles further into the mountains, set the car on fire, and then biked back home. During his trial, it was testified that he moved to the property as a caretaker for an owner in southern California about 1998. It had previously been a boy’s ranch over a hundred years ago, but all that was left was a few sheds, one of which Clark lived in with no electricity or running water. He was described as a scavenger and hoarder who would collect and reuse, resell or take apart and recycle items. He was described as having “everything under the sun.”  He was sentenced to prison for life without parole.

After the property was vacated in June, another man, J.S., settled on the property. On August 31, 2013 a vegetation fire on the property burned 80 acres including the buildings and scattered piles of debris. The property owner wanted to sell the property and asked J.S. to leave the property. He and a girlfriend, Tanya, attempted to clean up and salvage what remained, taking it to nearby Chico, California. They couldn’t afford a storage unit, and they decided they would just get rid of it. A girlfriend of Tanya's, L.N., got wind of the situation and after looking through the stuff found some collectible baseball cards and among other things a newspaper scrapbook. L.N. told her, “You can’t get rid of this; this is somebody’s life!” So some of the items were kept and the rest were destroyed. After keeping them for several years, in 2018 L.N. was cleaning her home and decided to do something about the collected items. She went to Ebay and other sites to find out what the cards were worth, and decided to also try and find someone who might be interested in the scrapbook. Doing a Google search for a William R. Compton who died in Elmira New York in 1912, she came across my “Compton - Haynes Ancestral Nuggets” blog website. I had started this blog in 2017 after I took a class at a family history convention in St. George, Utah. The blog had posts and pictures about William R. Compton, my grandfather. As my email contact was listed on the blog, she sent me an email on December 29, 2018, writing “Dear Mr. Compton, I have your grandfather’s scrapbook.  I have been wanting to get this to you.”  She gave me her phone number, and after talking with her and confirming that she did indeed have the missing scrapbook, she mailed it to me. I received the package on January 12, 2019, and upon opening the package I found the scrapbook of newspaper articles in near pristine condition, having survived for over 44 years after my father died, missing from the family for 30 years, 7 changes of hands and a fire.It was like receiving manna from heaven and a true MIRACLE!

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