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Charles B. Compton, who is the present mayor of Payette and who occupies a prominent position among the business men of the city, is a native of New York and grew to maturity in the East, but has spent the most of his business career in the central west and has been located at Payette since 1908. The splendid climatic conditions of a good portion of the state, its progressiveness, large opportunities, the energy it imparts to endeavor and the recognition it gives to merit, are some of the characteristics of the state which to Mr. Compton give it prestige above all others, and he is there to remain.
He was born near Elmira, New York, on July 28, 1861, the youngest in a family of five children. Allen B. Compton, the father of Charles B., was a native of New Jersey but spent the greater part of his career in New York, where he followed agriculture and was fairly successful. He passed away near Elmira in 1873, at the age of fifty-five. Hannah Cullon, who became the wife of Allen B. Compton, also was a native of New Jersey and passed away at the old homestead near Elmira when sixty years of age. Charles B. Compton spent his youth in Chemung county, New York, and to the age of sixteen was educated in the rural schools of that county. At the conclusion of these studies he began teaching school in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, and continued to be thus engaged during six terms. Then with an older brother, Edward A., he came westward to Nebraska, locating at Ayr, where he entered the employ of W. W. Phari as a clerk in the latter's drug store. He continued in the service of Mr. Phari there and at Minden, Nebraska, until 1885, when he removed to Stockville, Nebraska, and opened the first drug store in that place. It was a pioneer town, with a population of almost two-hundred. In 1886, when the Burlington Railroad was built north of Stockville, the town of Curtis was established and Mr. Compton then removed his drug business there. He was one of the first settlers in the place and remained there twenty-one years, during which time he also filled the office of postmaster under the Cleveland administrations. He had been very successful there in business, but in March 1908, he sold to advantage and then came to Idaho to share in the opportunities offered here. After about eight months residence at Boise he removed to Payette, where he purchased the established drug business of Benjamin Reed, which he has since conducted. He has enjoyed a large and satisfactory trade and ranks as one of the leading pharmacists of the city. Mr. Compton was elected a member of the Payette city council in April, 1911, and on the 1st of April, 1913, was elected to the office of mayor. He is also a member of the Payette Commercial Club. He is a Democrat in politics, is a member of the Masonic fraternity, now holding both his blue lodge and chapter membership at Payette, but formerly holding it at Curtis, Nebraska, where he served as a past master ten years, and he has been affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen in Nebraska since 1892. Starting at the age of sixteen, Mr. Compton has fought life's battles for himself and each conquest he gained made him stronger for the next; today he is a substantial business man, experienced, resourceful and self-reliant, of the type that not only knows how to continue an established business but how to make business. Such men always help to build up a community, and Payette always receives from Mr. Compton a helping hand in any enterprise that promises the uplifting of the community and the enlargement of its industrial resources.
At Hastings, Nebraska, on September 12, 1888, Mr. Compton wedded Miss Franc (sb Frances) M. Bowen, a daughter of Judge A. H. Bowen. Mrs. Compton was born in Michigan and came to Nebraska with her parents when she was a child of seven years. She is a member of the Presbyterian church and is a prominent member of the church and social circles of Payette. Mr. And Mrs. Compton have four children namely; Vera, now Mrs. R. C. Davis of Boise, Idaho; Cecile, who is the wife of H. E. Dunn and resides in Payette, Idaho; and Charles B., Jr., and Dorothy, both at home.