Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Burial: 19 December 1648.
Place of Burial: Bolton, Lancashire, inside St Peter's.
The burial is recorded in the parish register.
Relationships
Father: John Crompton.
Mother: unknown.
John names his son Robert in his will.
Spouse: Ellen Cleaton. Married 17 August 1612 in Bolton.
The marriage is recorded in the parish register. The 1625/6 burial of Ellen below may be of a different Ellen.
Spouse: uncertain.
It is possible that Robert married secondly Dorothy Walwork 26 December 1627 in Prestwich, Lancashire. Robert and Dorothy had several children baptized at Prestwich: Mary in 1628, Elizabeth in 1633, John in 1637, Ann in 1641, and Ellen in 1645. Dorothy wife of Robert Crompton was buried in Prestwich in 1659.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
A child (buried 17 May 1614 in Bolton in the church of St Peter)
Mary Crompton (baptized 8 November 1615 in Bolton)
James Crompton (baptized 22 November 1618 in Bolton)
Adam Crompton (baptized 1 November 1621 in Bolton)
Thomas Crompton (baptized 17 August 1625 in Bolton)
Evidence
from the Bolton-le-Moor (St . Peter) parish registers:
Marriages 1612
Robert Crompton Elline Cleaton both of Boulton 17 [of August]
Burials 1614
a child of Robert Crompton of Darsie Leaver intra eccle: 17 [May]
Baptisms 1615
[...] Crompton of Darsey Leaver Daughter of Robert --- 8 [November]
Baptisms 1618
James Crompton of Little Leaver son of Robert --- 22 November
Baptisms 1621 November
Adam Crompton of little Leaver sonne of Robert 1 November [The name ‘Adam’ is very faded. It is transcribed at Lancashire Online parish clerks.]
Baptisms 1625
...Crompton of little Leaver sonne of Robert --17 of August [Bishop’s transcripts: Thomas Crompton of littell Lever sonne of Robert — 17 of August]
Burials 1648
Robt Crompton de Darcy Leaver inter Ec 3s 4d -- 19 [December]
From the Bury, St Mary, parish register:
1625 [February]
+ Ellen w of Roberte Crompton of burie 15
from Richardson:
Robert’s wife Ellen appears to have been charged in 1633 with failing to kneel at church (presumably due to her puritan beliefs). (Richardson, p. 96) Robert’s brother Thomas made a bequest to the puritan pastor of Deane in his will.
Oliver Heywood recalled in his autobiography that in 1647 his father (a puritan minister) was involved, along with “old Robt Crompton” and Roger Roscow in a dispute about whether to issue tickets to receive the sacrament. (Heywood, v. 1, p. 28, p. 80)
Adam Crompton and Thomas Crompton are recorded as occupying land in Little Leaver or Darcy Leaver in 1650 in a church survey (CHCS p. 27).
Commentary
I am assuming that the Robert Crompton named in 1611 will of John Crompton of Darcy Leaver is identical with the Robert Crompton of Darcy Lever who had a child buried in 1614 and a child baptized in 1615 in Bolton, and with the Robert Crompton of Little Lever who had children baptized in Bolton in 1618, 1621, and 1625, and with the Robert Crompton of Darcy Lever who was buried in the church at Bolton in 1648. I believe that the alternation between Little Lever and Darcy Lever in the abodes given is not very significant, as Ormerod notes that in inquisitions of 1632, Hacking Hall is situated within the manor “of Darcy Lever, otherwise Little Lever”, and there are siblings and nephews of the Robert mentioned in the 1611 will whose abode is given sometimes as Darcy Lever and sometimes as Little Lever, in the Bolton parish register. If this identification is made, there don't seem to be any other Robert Cromptons of Darcy or Little Lever of the right age in the Bolton registers during the relevant period. And it makes sense that the Robert Crompton of the will would be living in the area, since he is left implements of husbandry. Also, Robert was buried in the church, and John Crompton, who I take to be Robert’s father, mentions a family burial spot within the church (“my usuall burying place”). In all, it seems to me that this identification is highly probable.
References
Bishop’s transcripts for Bolton le Moors. Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 6 September 2015.
Heywood, Oliver. The Rev. Oliver Heywood 1630-1702; His Autobiography, Diaries, Anecdote and Event Books. (J. Horsfall Turner ed., 1882).
Lancashire & Cheshire Church Surveys 1649-1655. (Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society, Vol. 1; 1879).
Ormerod, George. Parentalia: Genealogical Memoirs. (1851).
Parish registers of Bolton-le-Moors (St Peter). Digital images on Ancestry.com accessed 20 May 2020.
Richardson, R.C. Puritanism in north-west England: A regional study of the diocese of Chester to 1642. (Manchester University Press, 1972).
Will of James Dickeson of Bolton. Proved 1594 in the Consistory Court of Chester. Digital images on FamilySearch, accessed 30 December 2020.
Will of John Crompton of Darcy Leaver. Proved 1614 in the Consistory Court of Chester. Digital images on FamilySearch, accessed 9 January 2021.