John Templeton

GEDCOM Note

Member of the Territorial Legislature in 1811

Biography John arrived in SC in 1772 and was the son of Robert Templeton Senior of County Antrim, Ireland, and later of Laurens County, SC. When Robert Senior received a land grant of 250 acres in Laurens County it meant 100 acres for Robert, 50 for his wife, 50 for his son Robert Junior and 50 for his son John.

Some information on John can be found in L. B. Templeton's book on the Laurens County Templetons. In particular, on page 148 there is some data from a family Bible.

John appears in the 1790 and 1800 census records for Laurens County, SC. In the 1800 census he is referred to as Capt. John Templeton. In L. B Templeton's book it is stated a Captain John Templeton sold 100 acres on 12 October 1801 and the action was also signed by Mary Templeton. It states Mary Templeton was the wife of Capt. John Templeton. John may have sold the land in anticipation of moving to Indiana.

John later moved to Indiana with a group from Laurens County known as the Carolina Colony. The group also included John's brother Robert. They left SC in the spring of 1801. A descendant of John and his wife Mary has written a nice article on the trek of the Carolina Colony from SC to Indiana. It can be found at [1].

Some of the items of interest for John in the article include: trek from SC to Indiana with stay over at Dry Fork in 1801; names and ages of children at arrival in Indiana; early life in Indiana; burials on the family farm.

Historical Note Regarding John's Farm: Old cemeteries which would have been under Brookville Lake in Franklin County, Indiana, were moved when a dam was built and, in addition, tombstone data was recorded separately. The following is a quote regarding the movement: "In 1974 the United States Army Corps of Engineers built an earthen dam across the East Fork of the Whitewater River, right at the edge of Brookville. The purpose of the dam was flood control and storm water management, and it created the beautiful Brookville Lake. Trouble was, it covered the town of Fairfield with hundreds of feet of water and thus buried a lot of Franklin County history. It also would have drowned 13 pioneer cemeteries, but they dug up all the graves and moved them to higher ground. Most were moved to a cemetery at the top of the valley named "New Fairfield," which is also known as "Sims-Brier."

When John arrived in Indiana, the area where he settled was then in Franklin County and not far from where his brother Robert had settled. In 1821, Union County was formed from pieces of three counties, the southern portion being from Franklin County. Per the above mentioned article, John was one of the first two settlers to enter land at the Cincinnati land office for an area which later became known as Harmony Township, Union County, Indiana.

When Brookville Lake was created it extended north from Franklin County into Union County, inundating the farm of John Templeton. Graves or the grave stones from the family plot, known as Leviston and Templeton (Cemetery #10), were moved to the Sims-Brier cemetery in Brookville. Most of the stones are very worn but do provide some data. Those that are known belong to John, his wife Mary, and two daughters, Mary Hanna and Nancy. John's tombstone has his name and the year of his death.

Sources

Land grant information from the SC archives. Templeton Family History, p. 148, L. B. Templeton, Jr., Self Published, 1953. Various histories on Franklin and Union Counties, Indiana. Cemetery/tombstone data. Above referenced article on Union County, Indiana. House of Hanna by Sarah A. Hanna, Brookville, Indiana, published 1909.