The Norman Transcript

August 29, 2008

Compton family tree grows with information, photos


The Jacob R. Compton Family Tree on Ancestry.com continues to grow daily with additional information and the wonderful pictures that are being added to the site. If you are a member of Ancestry.com, take the time to visit this family tree to see how it is set up and to view the great pictures that have been added. I enjoy looking at the pictures even if it is not my family.

You may remember that I was given an opportunity to be an editor on this site because I pointed out so many errors in the data. Finally my friend and distant relative offered me the position of editor, so I could make my own corrections. It has been a great learning experience as I have added many pictures and learned that anything can be fixed if you make a mistake. It is an ongoing project as we continue our research of the census record and other documentation that we can find online.

We are given "credit" for the pictures that we put on the site and as I look at other trees for this family I have seen my pictures captured and saved by these researchers. Each picture shows that it was added to Ancestry.com by me and the date is given. You will get used to seeing your work on other sites, and a sense of satisfaction in knowing that the?your?data and?pictures will be there for many years for others to enjoy and pass on to the next generation. I am as guilty of capturing pictures as the next researcher because these pictures are priceless.

The latest pictures being added to the site were collected by Viola Compton, the daughter of John Hyde and Sarah Jane Hatt Compton. Viola, who was born in Indiana, spent her life teaching and on the missionary field in Tennessee and Alabama. I was told by her great-niece that she traveled by train throughout the county and had a very interesting life. She never married and when she died she was buried in the Pittman Cemetery in Baldwin County, Ala., near her friends and relatives. Viola kept a journal of her work and we are in hopes that it will be added to the tree so we can learn more of her work.?

The John and Mary Stout Hatt Family Tree is almost completed and ready to be opened for the public to view. I have approximately 70 pictures on my site and continue to add new census data as I learn more about the family. Once it is opened I think that there will be others who will share pictures and want me to include updates to their own specific line of the family.

When sending in queries or sharing information write to:? Relatively Speaking, P.O. Drawer 1058, Norman, OK 73070 or email Darlene Shawn at Djshawn636@aol.com.