The Family › Temple

John Temple

c. 1770–1812

Mary Molly Hill 1732–1820Col. Joseph Temple 1730–1819Frances Baylor 1708–Colonel Humphrey Hill 1706–c. 1775Ann Arnold c. 1705–1781Col. Joseph Temple 1699–1749Hannah GregoryRobert BaylorEdith Bell 1683–1710Major Thomas (Virginia Militia) Hill 1634–1720AnnBenjamin Arnold 1661–1723Hannah Liston 1650–c. 1705Joseph Temple 1666–c. 1699Anne Merrifield 1628–John I Baylor 1619–1657Joanna 1628–1677Anthony Arnold 1635–1677Mary ListonMarye Grund 1640–1690William Temple c. 1614–c. 1685Anne Bower 1603–1637John Baylor 1600–1632Mary Seaman 1577–1642John Temple 1571–1637William Seaman 1550–Thomas Temple –c. 1594
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✦ direct ancestor — Owen's 4×-great-grandfather · Temple line

Life

Born
between 1770 and 1771 · Walkerton, King and Queen, Virginia, United States
Died
20 May 1812 · Wood County, West Virginia

Parents

Father✦ Col. Joseph Temple (1730–1819)
Mother✦ Mary Molly Hill (1732–1820)

Marriage & children

Spouse✦ Mary Latane (1785–1848) m. 10 Jan 1804 · Richmond and Essex, Virginia, USA
Arthur John Temple (1804–1878)
Lucy Latane Temple (1807–1882)
John Taylor Temple (1809–1828)
✦ Rev. Henry Waring Latane Temple (1812–1871)

Timeline

Records behind this page

Unnamed source
images 2 (1812 decree) and 14 (1817 bill)
read the transcript
The 1812 decree, read personally on the manuscript (image 2), lists among the plaintiffs: "Mary Temple widow of John Temple, who was before her marriage with the said John Mary Latane." The 1817 bill (image 14) carries the same recital independently. Two recitals in one court record of the [79] Mary Latané × [78] John Temple marriage — a junction previously resting on compiled sources only. The decree divides the residue of Thomas Waring's estate (~30 enslaved people, named on image 15) between his sisters Ann Latané and Susanna Lewis for life; Mary Temple sues as one of Ann's children. Worksheet: ancestry/waring-contradiction-resolution-2026-08-03.md, read 3 Aug 2026.
Unnamed source
Deaths: John Temple, 20 May 1812
Departed this life May 20th 1812 Mr. John Temple in the county of Wood aged 41
Ancestry.com, Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014)
Virginia Marriages, 1851-1929
Virginia, Marriages, 1740-1850
Dodd, Jordan R., Et Al.; Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850; Publication Place: Bountiful, UT, USA; Publisher: Precision Indexing Publishers

Research notes

Working notes from the research, kept verbatim — what was read, what it proved, what stays open.

Research note · 30 Jul 2026
Audited 30 Jul 2026 - BIRTH YEAR CORRECTED from a flat 1771 to the range 1770-1771, and the Latane Family Bible cited as the source of the death date. THE BIBLE GIVES AN AGE, NOT A BIRTH DATE. Read directly from the image 'Latane Bible Page 4.jpg' (RM media M198) and from the Library of Virginia scan, Bible Records item 52218: 'Departed this life May 20th 1812 Mr. John Temple in the county of Wood aged 41'. Nothing in the Bible states a birth date. ARITHMETIC: aged 41 on 20 May 1812 means born between 21 May 1770 and 20 May 1771. That window is 365 days, of which 225 fall in 1770 and 140 in 1771 - so 1770 is the likelier year, and the value previously recorded was the LESS likely half of the range. WHERE THE 1771 CAME FROM: both circulating transcripts append a parenthetical - Owen's reads '(meaning, that John Temple would have been born in 1771)' and the shorter copy reads '(would have been born 1771)'. That is the TRANSCRIBER'S inference, not the Bible's text, and it had been promoted into the tree as a recorded fact. LEAD, NOT YET WORKED: 'in the county of Wood' is clearly legible in the original hand and is the only place-of-death evidence there is. It should point at a probate or estate record. Verify whether this is Wood County, Virginia (now West Virginia) or a mis-transcription before searching - the family's seat was Essex County. An estate record or a tombstone giving an age in years AND months would close the birth window to a single year.

Elsewhere

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