James M. Templeton was born on March 11, 1822, in Franklin County, Indiana, to William Templeton and Mary Churchill. His father died in 1826. He probably moved to Missouri in the 1840s, and he married Susan Elizabeth White in Atchison County, Missouri, on May 14, 1846. They had at least eleven children: Mary Susan, born around 1847; Martha, born around 1848; William Newton, born around 1850; Nancy, born around 1852; Oliver, born around 1854; James Wright, born around 1856; Fanny, born around 1859; McClellan, born around 1861; Stella, born around 1864; Charlotte, born around 1867; and Richard, born around 1870.

 

Templeton worked as a farmer, and by 1850, he owned $1,000 of real estate. He became a clerk of the county court in the 1850s, and he served one term in the state legislature. By 1860, he owned $7,000 of real estate and $1,200 of personal property. He probably remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, and he named one of his sons after Union General George B. McClellan. In 1870, he reported $8,000 of real estate and $3,000 of personal property. He died in Atchison County on October 12, 1879.

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