I describe the current state of our knowledge of the mapping between the initial masses of stars and the compact objects — particularly neutron stars and black holes — that they produce .
Most of that knowledge is theoretical in nature , and relies on uncertain assumptions about mass loss through winds , binary mass transfer , and the amount of mass ejected during a supernovae .
Observational constraints on the initial masses of stars that produce neutron stars and black holes is scarce .
They fall into three general categories : ( 1 ) models of the stars that produced the supernova remnants associated with known compact objects , ( 2 ) scenarios through with high mass X-ray binaries were produced , and ( 3 ) associations between compact objects and coeval clusters of stars for which the minimum masses of stars that have undergone supernovae are known .
I focus on the last category as the most promising in the near term .
I describe three highly-magnetized neutron stars that have been associated with progenitors that had initial masses of > 30M _ { \odot } , and evaluate the prospects of finding further associations between star clusters and compact objects .