Pam: You pose an interesting question - about the TEMPLES springing up overnight. Actually, it wasn't overnight, but it was pretty quick. I have tracked the line a bit - since they are actually (near as I can tell) all TEMPLEs. The earlies I have found is Seaborn TEMPLES, son of William C. TEMPLE and Mary FRANKLIN. The TEMPLES name first appears in SC, but rather quickly dispersed west through MS and AL. By 1850, there were bunches of them throughout the South. My guess is that the change was originally phonetic, due to the dialects. Then it got instantiated in print, either by clerical error or something like it. Unfortunately, I don't have James TEMPLES, but I have found a great deal of luck in checking the names with or without the S (depending on which way you are trying to trace). Apparently, the families at the transition accepted either spelling - since I have found some records that change back and forth. There are a goodly number of folks trying to connect up TEMPLES, so maybe you will be able to connect. Good luck. Park _____________________________________ L. Parker Temple III Researching the TEMPLEs and Related Lines http://www.erols.com/lptemple/house.htm