J A Arnie Dowd's email
He posted some information on various Giles Co, TN gunsmiths
he/ you/ whomever might find this interesting on 1 noted by Arnie
Compton, William Jarret. (1817-1866). gunsmith. William was the older brother of Berryman Compton and the probable apprentice of Basil Campton, his uncle. William moved on to Richland, Greene County, MO, in the 1850's and is listed there as a gunsmith in 1860. 1860, Robberson, Greene County; born in S.C.1860, W J Compton, born in S.C. , 43, gunsmith; Rosanna, wife, 42; James, 21; Harriet, 18; Theodore, 14; William, 12; George, 10; Joseph, 8; Rosanna, 6; John, 4, all born in TN [Census].
William Jarrett Compton and Rosanna Paxton left Giles Co., TN in 1859 and headed to Missouri with thier eight children. It took them three weeks to make the trip, crossing the Mississippi River by ferry they traveled by wagon. The youngest child was only a little over three years old when they headed out over the rugged country side. . . . He arrived and purchased 80 acres of land in Greene Co., MO on the 24th of August, 1859 for $550.00, the land laying in Pleasant Township and . . . close to a town called Ebenezer which lies just north of Springfield. On the 4th of June 1861 he sold the 80 acres of land for $600.00. . . . [His] daughter told of when she was eight years old in Giles County, TN one of her jobs was to help make guns by keeping a horse going in a circule. She stated that they had two horses they traded off every hour and that the horse going in a circle turned the machine that bores the gun barrels. In the 1860 census of Green County he is listed as a gunsmith and he had $500 in land and $500 in cash. William was not only a gunsmith but he built Grist Mills. . . . in the process of changing one belt from one pully to another his 2x4 slipped and his arm was caught in the pulley which mashed it. The physician just wrapped his arm and sent him home. He got gangrene in his arm and that is what killed him [Giles Compton on Ancestry].
