[1] Compton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[2] who lived for a number of years in Santa Monica, California.
[2] Compton began his serious work in Mormon history as a visiting fellow at the Huntington Library studying the journals of Eliza R. Snow.
He found that his classics background helped his Mormon history work by teaching him respect for these primary documents.
[2] While researching, and trying to note people identified in Snow's journals, Compton found that he needed a good list of Joseph Smith's plural wives.
Not finding one, he began researching his own list, which eventually grew into his 1997 book, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith.