A Southern Belle Goes West: The Life of Mary Bettis Compton

Introduction

This first story is one that I did as part of my undergrad coursework nearly two years ago. I recently dug it out of the closet and spruced it up a tiny bit. It is definitely not like I want it to be yet, but I thought since this is a story/history blog I should at least have one story on here before I have to get distracted by other things in my life. Mary is my 4th great Grandmother and I have loved learning about her. Originally the personal letter was not included in this bio, but I found it within the last few months and boy was I excited! It is a wonderful piece of her that I don't have anywhere else. As to the style of this bio, I personally think it is a little boring to read, and someday I'd love to add more of my personal style so that it's not quite so academic. But that will have to be a project for another day. I hope you enjoy learning about Mary, I certainly enjoyed researching about her. She demonstrates a life that so many of your ancestors probably lived as well. 

A Southern Belle Goes West: The Life of Mary Bettis Compton

Mary Bettis Compton, a southern belle and pioneer women living in Farmington, Utah, in 1880, had experienced much in her 64 years of life. From being a Tennessee farmer’s daughter, to leaving her friends and family with her husband to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Illinois, and then crossing the country to a desert while losing her husband along the way, is a story that most of us in the twenty first century cannot completely understand. While many details of her life are missing, what we do know shows a woman of courage and determination.

Mary Bettis Compton was born on December 20, 1814 in Lebanon, Wilson, Tennessee to James Bettis and Sarah Ann Burton.^[1]  James, is recorded as being a farmer, an occupation belonging to most in Tennessee during that time.^[2] In 1829, James bought one hundred acres in Wilson county, part of “Middle Tennessee.”^[3] Here, two of the principal crops grown by farmers were tobacco and cotton.^[4] Livestock was also a significant part of the farming life in Tennessee. Not only was swine a common livestock in Tennessee, but horse farms were also not uncommon.^[5] Farming sustained Tennessee and while it is not known exactly what James Bettis grew or raised, farming would have been the way of life for his daughter Mary. The harvest, the weather, and the chores, to some extent would have been a family affair.^[6] Of course, at this time in history,  many had slaves which might have lessened the workload for some children. The slave population in Tennessee varied from county to county, but in 1860 the population in Wilson County ranged from “3,300 to 10,000.”^[7] From this number one might guess what the numbers might already have been during Mary's childhood forty years earlier. While James Bettis is not recorded as owning slaves in the 1850 census, it is possible that Mary’s family owned some slaves at some point in their lives, and family tradition has it that upon Mary’s marriage to Allen Compton on January 8, 1832, Mary was given a slave by her father as a wedding present.^[8] William Bettis, a resident of Wilson county and a possible relative to Mary, owned eight slaves in 1850.^[9]

            Allen Compton, was also a native of Wilson county.^[10] After their marriage, the couple lived in Wilson county for sometime, and it was the birthplace of three of their children, William (b. 1834), James (b. 1836), and Sarah Ann (b. 1838).^[11] When they met missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they were baptized on the 28th of July in 1842. One tradition claims that the family then soon moved to Illinois because of heavy persecution in Tennessee. This is not unlikely as many members of the church received heavy persecution during this time.^[12] Eventually the Comptons joined the with the larger group of Saints as they began the exodus from Nauvoo to Utah. The journey was hard, and the children, including three additional children who had been born in Illinois (Elizabeth b. 1840, John Allen b. 1842 and Emma Jane b. 1844) suffered from scurvy.^[13] Because of this and other struggles, the family stayed at Council Bluffs, Iowa for a time.^[14] Then came the call from the United States government for men to aid during the Mexican War. Mary’s husband Allen answered the call and he became a private in Company D. During his service he also became part of the Willis Sick Detachment.^[15] Mary’s feelings during this time, when she was left to provide and protect her young family on her own, can be imagined. A small glimpse of their circumstances can be seen in a surviving letter she wrote to Allen in 1846 (original spelling kept in transcription):

“Camp of Israel August 26th 1846

Dear Husband I now take the oppertunity of

writing to you to let you Know that me and

my Little family are all Enjoying good health

at this time hoping that [?] feed lines may find

you Enjoying the same like Blesings I have

received two Letters from you one Dated August

6th the other the 8th which gave me much satisfaction

to hear that you wos Enjoying good health you wan

ted me to Let ^you^ Know my Present Situation and who

I was in the care of I am in the care of Brother

bird and he under the direction of the twelve the

money that you sent me is in the hands of the

twelve and they are going to send it Down the

river all to gether in ^the^ hands of one man I have

talked with Brigham my self and he says that

such Artickels can be broght her cheaper than

I could have them brought my self the church

are generaly sending in this way and Each one sent

a bill of such Artickels as they want I have sent

My Bill for 4 Barrells of flour 25 [?] of coffee 1 Bolt

Cotton cloth 12 yds of Lindsey 8 yds of Blue Dr[?]ing

6 yds of James 16 yds of calico 5 pair of shoes and one

[low] you wanted me to let you Know whither there

would be a chance for me to come on in the sp

spring or not I talked with Brigham and he says

there will Be a chance to come on in the spring

I would Like for you to send me about ten Dollars

moore and I want you to send it in a letter to

me, you wanted me to let you ^now^ whither I was in a house

or not I am in a house   I want you to write

me as often as you can as I am anxous to Know

how you are gitting a Long and how your health is

we think the time Long to see you again

but I feel in hops that ^the^ Lord will Perserve our

healths and prepare a way for us to git to calle

forny next fall where we shall Enjoy Each others

Sosiety as in former Days I have nothing moore

at this time to send you But Ever Reman your

Affectionate Wife untill Death”^[16]

      The family was still in Council Bluffs when Allen returned to them.^[17] Family tradition claims that they ran a hotel as they prepared to finally finish the trek west. Before this could happen however, Allen died there in Council Bluffs, during 1875.^[18]

            Now fatherless, the family still continued on to Utah. The journey for Mary at forty-four years old and alone, must have been a great trial of faith. The company of people they traveled with is unknown, but when they arrived in 1859,  they chose to settle in Farmington, Utah, twelve years after the first Utah settlers.^[19] Log cabins and adobe houses were the most common structures in Farmington, and though no evidence of where the family lived exactly has been found, it is very probable that their place of abode were either of these two styles of homes.^[20] As the small town became more settled, two edifices important to the Compton’s family and religious life were built, an adobe schoolhouse in 1857 and the first chapel in 1862.^[21]

            Whether or not the Compton family turned to farming, or if they had other employments when arriving in Farmington, is not known for sure. However, as many of the families in Farmington were farmers, and as the family’s background was also in farming, this occupation is probable. Mary never remarried, and she and her children were listed as laborers in the 1860 and 1870 United States censuses, though no distinction of what kind of laborer was made.^[22] By 1880 Mary was living on her own, then residing in Fillmore, Millard, Utah.^[23] Other family members, including her daughter Elizabeth, continued to live in Farmington.^[24]

            The details of how Mary lived the rest of her life until her death on August 5, 1887, are not known, however, one can imagine that it would have been spent being with her family, practicing her religion and just plain surviving.^[25] Life if the desert of Utah was not easy for these people. Living through the harsh winters, learning how to make crops grow in the dry desert and learning to live with, or to protect themselves against the Native Americans as well as other natural calamities of the frontier, were a constant struggle and process for everyone throughout Utah. However, many came because of something they believed in, as Mary did. This could have been family, religion, or just hope in a new life, but whatever it was, it was important enough for Mary to leave everything she knew in Tennessee behind her. No record has been found that Mary ever saw any of her family in Tennessee again. Though she lived through many hardships, Mary demonstrated that one can survive devastation and hardship, and that through hard work and faith one can accomplish what may seem impossible. A legacy that any of her descendants can be proud of.

---

^[1]“Berryman, Beatrice Ladell (b. 7 Apr. 1906) - Bevier, Sarah (twin) (b. 22 Jan. 1796),” Endowment index, 1846-1969, Temple Index Bureau, #1262707, microfilm, BYU Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Provo Utah.

^[2]“1850 United States Census,” Civil District No. 6, Wilson County, Tennessee, pg. 151, online image, FamilySearch (familysearch.org, accessed: January 14, 2017).

^[3]“North Carolina and Tennessee, Early Land Records, 1753-1931,” Wilson County, Tennessee, United States, James Bettes, page 255, no. 9012, image 140 of 460, Ancestry.com (ancestry.com : accessed 24 March 2017).

^[4]Donald L. Winters, Tennessee farming, Tennessee farmers: antebellum agriculture in the upper South (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1994), 5.

^[5]Ibid., 5.

^[6]Dwight L. Smith, An Antebellum Boyhood: Samuel Escue Tillman on a Middle Tennessee Plantation, Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Spring 1988), 3-9, JSTOR.

^[7]Donald L. Winters, Tennessee farming, Tennessee farmers: antebellum agriculture in the upper South (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1994), 136.

^[8]“Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950,” Wilson County, Tennessee, United States, image 988 of 1407, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 23 March 2017). 

Ella May Compton Swenson, History of Mary Bettice (Bettis) Compton, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, Utah: March 25, 1987.

^[9]"United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 ," Wilson County, Tennessee, image 14 of 88, online images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : 5 April 2017)

^[10]Susan Easton. Black, Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848 (Provo, UT: Religious Study Center, Dept. of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1989), Vol. 5, 247.

^[11]Ibid., 247-248.

^[12]"1840 United States Census," Northern district, Orange, North Carolina, pg. 61, online image, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 22 March 2017).

^[13]“1850 United States Census,” District No 21, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States, family no. 112, online image, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 21 March 2017).  

^[14]Ibid.

Susan Easton. Black, Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848 (Provo, UT: Religious Study Center, Dept. of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1989), Vol. 5, 247-49.

^[15]Norma B. Ricketts, The Mormon Battalion U.S. Army of the West, 1846-1848, Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1996, 245-6.

^[16]Mary Compton, written to Allen Compton, 26 August 1846, Mormon Battalion correspondence collection 1846, MS 2070, Digital Image, Church History Library, http://churchhistorycatalog.lds.org, accessed November 8, 2018.

^[17]“1850 United States Census,” District No 21, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States, family no. 112, online image, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 21 March 2017). 

^[18]Susan Easton. Black, Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848 (Provo, UT: Religious Study Center, Dept. of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1989), Vol. 5, 247-49.

^[19]"Elizabeth Hinman Passed Away," Davis County Clipper, 6 Dec. 1912, 1, Utah Digital Newspapers (newspapers.lib.utah.edu : accessed 22 March 2017).

"1860 United States Census,” Farmington, Davis, Utah Territory, United States, pg. 42, online image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : 7 March  2017).

Margaret Steed Hess, My Farmington: A history of Farmington, Utah, 1847-1976, Farmington: Helen Mar Miller Camp, 1976,  1.

^[20]George Quincy, Knowlton, A brief history of Farmington Utah, Utah: Publisher not identified, 1965,10.

^[21]Margaret Steed Hess, My Farmington: A history of Farmington, Utah, 1847-1976, Farmington: Helen Mar Miller Camp, 1976, 30.

^[22]"1860 United States Census,” Farmington, Davis, Utah Territory, United States, pg. 42, online image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : 7 March  2017),

“1870 United States Census,” Farmington, Davis, Utah Territory, United States, pg. 154, online image, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 7 March 2017).

^[23]“1880 United States Census,”  Fillmore, Millard, Utah, United States, Pg. 9, ED 30, 462A, online image, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 7 March 2017).

^[24]“1880 United States Census,” Farmington, Davis, Utah, United States, pg. 18, ED 15, 294B, online image, familysearch(familysearch.org : accessed 5 April, 2017).

^[25]“Berryman, Beatrice Ladell (b. 7 Apr. 1906) - Bevier, Sarah (twin) (b. 22 Jan. 1796),” Endowment index, 1846-1969, Temple Index Bureau, #1262707, microfilm, BYU Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Provo Utah.

Copy of Mary Bettis Compton photo in the possession of the author.