Oliver Perry Temple

Background

Temple was born near Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1820. He was the son of James and Mary (Craig) Temple, and a descendant of William Temple, a native of England who was living in Goshen, Pa. , in 1721.

Education

While a student at Greeneville College in 1838 Oliver volunteered as a soldier to aid regulars under Gen. Winfield Scott in his work of pacifying the Cherokee Indians then being moved beyond the Mississippi. In 1841 he entered Washington College, Washington County, Tenn. , and was graduated with the class of 1844.

Career

He entered the field of politics, delivering speeches throughout his congressional district in behalf of Henry Clay, candidate for the presidency. Subsequently he read law in Greeneville under Robert J. McKinney, and in 1846 was admitted to the bar. In July of the following year he was the Whig candidate for Congress against Andrew Johnson, and in a campaign of three weeks, by dexterous attacks on his opponent's record he cut Johnson's usual majority of about 1500 to 314 votes.

In 1848 Temple removed to Knoxville, where he practised law in partnership with leaders of the East Tennessee bar. He was appointed in 1850 one of the commissioners to negotiate with the Indian tribes of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

He took a leading part in the Southern Commercial Convention held in Knoxville in 1856, as proponent and advocate of resolutions against the reëstablishment of the slave trade. In 1860 he was a delegate to the National Union Convention, held at Baltimore, and aided in the nomination of John Bell as candidate for the presidency; subsequently, as a Bell and Everett elector, he canvassed his congressional district. In November of the same year he made the first speech in Tennessee, after Lincoln's election, in behalf of the Union, and in December he planned a meeting of East Tennessee Unionists at Knoxville to consolidate the sentiment of that section against secession.

The following year he stumped East Tennessee for the Union cause, and took a leading part in the Greeneville Convention of June 17, 1861, which declared for a separation of East Tennessee from the state of Tennessee. In July 1866, he was appointed one of the chancellors of Tennessee by Gov. W. G. Brownlow, and continued as such until September 1878. He then returned to the bar but after 1881 devoted his attention to his large estate. When more than seventy-five years old he turned to authorship. His first production was The Covenanter, the Cavalier and the Puritan (1897). This was followed by East Tennessee and the Civil War (1899), and Notable Men of Tennessee, published in 1912, after his death. He wrote in a vigorous and interesting, though not graceful style, and drew copiously from his own rich store of reminiscences.

His contribution to the progress of transportation and agriculture in East Tennessee was considerable. He was one of the originators of the Knoxville & Ohio Railroad; a director of the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad Company, and president of the first macadam turnpike company in his section of the state. Before the Civil War he was a member of the state board of agriculture, and in 1872 he was the prime mover in the organization of the East Tennessee Farmers' Convention. For many years he was active as a trustee of the University of Tennessee, and for a period served as chairman of the board. His work for the institution was directed principally toward the development of the agricultural department.

Achievements

• After the war, Temple promoted agricultural and industrial development in East Tennessee, most notably by assisting in the development of the Rugby Colony, and in later years wrote several books on the history of East Tennessee. After his death the Farmers' Convention built Temple Hall on the experimental farm of the University, in his honor.

Works

More photos

• book

  • An Address Delivered Before the Knoxville Industrial Association (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from An Address Delivered Before the Knoxville In...)

  • John Sevier: Citizen, Soldier, Legislator, Governor, Statesman; 1744 1815 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from John Sevier: Citizen, Soldier, Legislator, G...)

  • Notable Men of Tennessee from 1833 to 1875: Their and Their Contemporaries - Scholar's Choice Edition

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Covenanter, the Cavalier, and the Puritan (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Covenanter, the Cavalier, and the Purita...)

  • East Tennessee and the Civil War

    (East Tennessee and the Civil War by Oliver Perry Temple)

Connections

Temple married Scotia Caledonia Hume in 1851. Their only child, Mary Boyce Temple (1856–1929), compiled and published Notable Men of Tennessee, a collection of biographies her father had written about various Civil War-era figures.

Father:

James Temple

Mother:

Mary Craig Temple

Spouse:

Scotia Caledonia Hume

Daughter:

Mary Boyce Temple