Crompton Christmas Adventure Part 4

It all started with a gravestone...

Passenger Records take a lot of analysis. They are often hard to read, even the ones that are typed. Dates and sequences of numbers are written above the names, below the names and in the margins obliterating the information.

The first Cromptons in this family to come here must be my uncle Jack (John) and his father. Uncle Jack was only 19 and it looks like his father left him here and returned to England to bring more family over. They went to the coal mines in West Virginia. This first trip was in the fall of 1921. [Which makes it in-between US Census years, darn!] Father and son went to Williamson, WV. from their landing at Ellis Island.

In the fall of 1922, Uncle Jack's father, James William Crompton, his mother Rebecca and their teen sons Frank and Harry came together. This left behind their oldest son Fred and only daughter Doris who were adults and married by this date. The record says the father was here 8 months ago, so he must have only stayed 4 months in WV.

Next, Fred (Steve's ancestor) and his wife Ethel and their daughter and son arrived in the fall of 1923. They are listed as going to see Fred's parents in WV.

In 1924, son Frank arrived in NY going to WV. He is 19 and is still single.

I think the family now intended to stay here permanently with only visits back to England to see Doris. She married a man named Mr. Jackson and they might never have come to America. Steve tells me that the parents returned to England, died and are buried there.

Uncle Jack is listed in the 1926 Westerly RI City Directory as living in the Bradford section of Westerly at 4 Bowling Lane. This is at the opposite end of the same street as his future wife lives. Annie and Jack married in 1929 and moved away from Westerly.

This is the end of the adventure for this Christmas season. Steve is going to talk to his mother and grandmother and find out more. Isn't he lucky that they are still living?