To all: The Essential TEMPLE Research Library After fairly extensive research into the TEMPLE family, the following represents the core of an essential reference library, in my opinion (you are welcome to disagree, in other words). I am well aware of other books, but these seem to be the best set to get a comprehensive view of the TEMPLE lines in America. First, with caution, is Levi Daniel Temple's pioneering work, Some Temple Pedigrees, A Genealogy of the Known Descendants of Abraham Temple who settled in Salem, MASS in 1636, David Clapp & Son, Boston, 1900. Users of this work ought to recognize the momentous achievement of Levi's in pulling so much together in one place. However, ANY fact in the work ought to be taken as tenuous until verified by some other source. Be careful of the other sources, too, since many of them will also cite Levi's work. With this caution in mind, most TEMPLE researchers can get a good start on their New England heritage. Next, and nearly as essential, is the work by Albert R. Temple and Danny D. Smith, The Rise of the Temples: A Millenium of Power and Progress, 716 AD to the Present, The Temple Family Association, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1973. This was incorrectly cited in early versions of my web page without the "Rise of the TEMPLES" portion - and I apologize to those who searched in vain for a book entitled "A Millenium..." Both Albert and Danny were first rate genealogical scholars, and took Levi's effort several steps farther. While correcting many errors in Levi's book, they introduced a few new ones of their own. However, The Rise of the TEMPLEs is a resource that should be more jheavily relied upon than Levi's book in areas of conflicting data. For a subset of the lines followed by Levi, I also highly recommend Teneriffe Temple Larrabee's The Descendants of Roswell Temple and Elizabeth Case, who lived in Washingtn County, New York, from 1801 to 1893. Also, the genealogy of all their offspring to and through the year 1946, being a supplement to "Some Temple Pedigrees" Los Angeles, CA, 1947. This book will help get the New York and Pennsylvania lines (some of them, in any case) going, but it is unfortunately very limited by the choice of Roswell as the nexus. Excellent work, but of narrow focus. Another narrowly focuassed by very valuable work is Danny D. Smith's Descendants of Levi Temple, 1751-1821, of Bowdoin and Montville, Maine, through 1987, Gardiner Maine, printed for limited circulation by the author, 1988. I understand that Albert and Danny did not always agree on some of their conclusions, and this work shows the degree of scholarship of Danny. Again, an excellent effort, about 150 pages, with a high degree of error-freeness. Although hard to get ahold of, it's a really valuable resource. For those interested in bridging the gaps between England and the US, at least in the elite lines of TEMPLEs, two works might be of interest. First of those is W.H. Whitmore's An Account of the Temple Family With Notes and Pedigree of the Family Bowdoin, Button and Wentworth, Boston, 1856. This tracks the lines of some of the royal governors and the Bowdoin family. It is an older work, hard to get ahold of, but it has a good deal of valuable information. A similar book in this category, much more easy to find, is Temple Prime's work. If your interest is to track back to England, then these works will help you if your lines went through New England and Canada. Now, there are many TEMPLE lines which went through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and then spread west. There is NO single source for these disparate lines, and in fact, it is most difficult to track these lines back to their progenitors. Having said that, however, there are some very good resources to help get started. Probably the best place to start is Joyce Temple Barnett's Temple People, Volume 1, Privately published, 1988. It is availabe in the DAR Library in Washington DC. A monumental work, of greater scope than the combined work of Levi, Albert and Danny. It traces sourthern TEMPLE lines along with extensive family lore. Fascinating reading, and I have found that it can be generally relied upon to be correct. Over 600 pages long, it is incredibly comprehensive. I do not know if Joyce followed her original work with a second Volume - but having seen this first effort, one wishes she had. For Virginia folks, we have an important work by Lucy Temple Temple (that's not a typo), William Temple of Prince George County, Virginia and His Descendants, privately pubished in 1980. The book is extensive, and ends up branching out into a number of related lines. Well over 300 pages packed with TEMPLE family connections, and extensive discussions about the underlying documentation she used to arrive at her conclusions. A thorough and excellent job of scholarship. For North Carolina specifics, we have Eunice Temple Kirkpatrick's The Temple Family of Wake County, NC and Related Families, Durham, NC, 1978. Another comprehensive work, it also has a high degree of accuracy. As with all such works, however, conclusions by the author need to be checked against other sources, but this is a very good starting point for the Carolina connection. Books of Limited, Very Focussed Value: The work by Ethel Temple Jensen, Temple-McNulty Genealogy, is useful in its tying together two families with extensive interactions. It does not, however, extend the breadth of TEMPLE research - but that's okay, since that was not the intent of the author. A similar comment can be made about Eunice Temple Kirkpatrick's The Parker and Temple Families, Privately published, 1984. Again, lots of good insight to family lore and some of the interactions between these two families. Having come from a PARKER line myself, however, I found that there are gaping holes in this book, which focusses more on the sourthern lines than my northern lines. If the southern TEMPLEs and PARKERs are of interest, however, this book is fascinating reading. Books of Unknown Utility: I have found citations, but not the books, for some other works. In particular, I know of Henry Curtis Temple, M.D.'s work, Genealogy of family from 856 A.D. TO 1930 A.D., Alliance, Ohio, 1930. However, I do not know what it adds to the pool of knowledge of the TEMPLE family (if anything). Another book whose citations I have found, and some pages extracted in other works, is Ancestors & Descendants of Orson Temple 1821-1871, which I believe can be found as Gc 929.2 T247b. Allen Co Library in Ft. Wayne IN. I don't have more information on this book, but it appears to be an excellent source. -- L. Parker Temple Researching the branches of the TEMPLE family See my home page at http://www.erols.com/lptemple/house.htm