Ancestor of Vern Bassham
Revolutionary War Veteran James Compton is the likely forefather of all the Comptons who trace their lineage to Russell County in the early 1800’s. He was born in Maryland around 1750. He enlisted in the 1st Maryland Regiment in Feb 1777. James was discharged in Guilford County, NC in April 1779.
James married Frances Herndon near Stone Meetings House in Guilford County, NC in approximately 1782. James filed for a Revolutionary Pension in 1818 which he received while in NC that was nearly 70 pages long, unfortunately he never listed all of his children. He did state his family was large, he was poor and they moved around a lot.
James lived in the Guilford/Orange/Caswell North Carolina area until the late 1820’s when he migrated to Russell County, VA. One of James’s confirmed sons, David, had moved to Russell County, VA in about 1808. James died in 1832 in Russell County. His widow Frances filed for a widows pension in 1848 in Russell county and much information is given in it although again all of their children are not named.
It is very likely that Thomas Compton and Jeremiah Compton Sr. of early Russell County, VA records were also sons of James Compton. Thomas and Jeremiah show up in Russell County around the same time as David (a confirmed son of James) and were his next door neighbors. Also David, Thomas and Jeremiah all spent the most money at the James Compton estate sale.
Index of Revolutionary War Pensions in the National Archives, 1976
James, Md., Frances, W6729
COMPTON: CRUMPTON
James: b c 1751 MD d c 3-10-1832 VA m Francis ——— Sol MD PNSR
My Line:
James Compton 1754-1836 Married Frances Herndon 1760-1849
David Compton 1786-1865 Married Mary Ann Polly Elmore 1789-1873
James Henderson Compton 1820-1903 Married Phoebe Yates 1829-1930
Thomas R Compton 1869-1924 Married Margaret Honaker 1876-1966
Mary Greham Compton 1906-2001 Married Henry A. Taylor 1899-1966
Laua Nettie Taylor 1927-1993 Married Donald V. Bassham 1929-2013
Vernon Bassham 1950 Married Virginia Deraney on Feb 1 2014