BIO: William H. TEMPLE, Centre County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JO Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/ http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/1picts/commbios/comm-bios.htm _____________________________________________________________________ Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898. _____________________________________________________________________ WILLIAM H. TEMPLE, a representative and valued citizen of Snow Shoe, Centre county, has for many years been connected with the railroad service in this section of the State, and is now engineer on the Tyrone division of the Pennsylvania railroad, running between Bellefonte and Snow Shoe. Mr. Temple is a native of Petersburg, Huntingdon Co., Penn., born December 25, 1842, and a son of James and Margaret (Long) Temple, natives of Chester and Centre counties, Penn., respectively. For a number of years the father served as a patent-right agent. In 1855 he removed to Bellefonte, where his home was at the time of the accident in which he lost his life; in 1874, while returning from Philadelphia, he was in a wreck on the Pennsylvania railroad in which he was killed, at the age of fifty-seven years. His wife, the mother of our subject, was born in 1822, and was the first white child born in Snow Shoe, where her parents, John and Margaret Long, had located at a very early day, and were the owners of much of the present site of that village. Our subject is the eldest of five 410 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. children, the others being: Mary J., wife of Robert Thompson, a railroad engineer residing in Bellefonte; John R., also a railroad engineer, making his home in Florence, S.C.; Ellen, deceased; and Sallie, wife of William Reasoner, a watchman on the Pennsylvania railroad, living in Bellefonte. At the age of fifteen years William H. Temple became connected with the railroad service, as brakeman on the Bellefonte & Snow Shoe railroad, and coupled the first cars to an engine at Bellefonte, or in fact, in Centre county, the cars and engine being built at Philadelphia, Penn., and sent to Bellefonte on canal boats. After serving for a time as brakeman, he was promoted to conductor, was later made fireman, and since June 13, 1863, he has been a locomotive engineer. On June 11, 1878, he was in a terrible wreck on the Snow Shoe railroad, his engine with four cars going through a trestle seventy-two feet high. He had three of the ribs in his right side broken, but on the 8th of the following July he was able to again take charge of his engine. He is a most cautious and careful engineer, knowing that in his hands are entrusted many lives and much property, and his service has ever proved satisfactory to the company by whom he is employed. Mr. Temple has had many narrow escapes in railroad accidents; at one time his engine jumped the track, went down an embankment and turned over. At another time his engine ran off an open switch and turned over, he jumping and sustaining a broken shoulder. At still another time, on the main track near Bellefonte, his engine collided with the day express. He has been a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers some twenty years. In 1864 Mr. Temple enlisted in Company B, 210th P.V.I., under Capt. John Nye, and participated in a number of hotly contested battles. While in front of Richmond, March 31, 1865, he was wounded in the left leg, which caused his confinement in Columbian Hospital at Washington, D.C., for six months. He had served as color guard, a most perilous position, but was always found at his post of duty. On June 14, 1865, he was honorably discharged and returned home. Mr. Temple was married in Snow Shoe, May 10, 1871, to Mrs. Victoria Lucas, and they have six children, all at home, namely: John S., born March 17, 1873, died of typhoid fever December 12, 1897; Elizabeth Bella, born May 8, 1874; married October 29, 1897, to Leo J. Hopton; Harry, born November 27, 1876; Edward W., born January 6, 1880; Mary L., born October 6, 1881; and Charles R., born December 30, 1886. The older sons now conduct a livery stable at Snow Shoe, of which Harry is manager, and also runs a bus line between that place and Clarence. Mrs. Temple was born September 2, 1847, in Schuylkill county, Penn., a daughter of James and Mary L. (Hirsch) Walker, who were natives of Tamaqua, in the same county, and at an early day came to Centre county, where the father died. The mother, who is still living, now makes her home in Brisbin, Clearfield Co., Penn. She is a daughter of Nicholas and Margaret (Smith) Hirsch, who came to America from France in 1826, and located at Tamaqua, where her father followed huxtering. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Temple, John and Hester (Wenchum) Walker, were natives of England, and also crossed the Atlantic in 1826, locating at Tamaqua, where the grandfather was a coal operator until his death. Mrs. Temple is the eldest in a family of nine children, who in order of birth were as follows: Henrietta, wife of Jerry Nolan, a railroad engineer of Bellefonte; Emma, wife of Jacob Rapp, who is also an engineer residing at that place; Edward, a merchant of Brisbin, Penn.; Martha, wife of Robert Forsyth, a coal mine prospector living in Houtsdale, Penn.; George, who is engaged in clerking in Brisbin; Daniel, a merchant tailor of Trenton, N.J.; Seneca, a railroad fireman living in Bellefonte; and John, a merchant tailor of Trenton, New Jersey. Politically Mr. Temple is a firm adherent of the Republican party, and an active supporter of its principles, while socially he has been for twenty-seven years a member of the I.O.O.F. at Bellefonte, and has filled many offices therein. Religiously he belongs to the Presbyterian Church, of which he has been a trustee for the past four years. He is a broad-minded, enterprising citizen, winning the confidence of all with whom he comes in contact, and has the happy faculty of easily making and retaining friends. The first husband of Mrs. Temple was Samuel Lucas, who was a conductor on the Snow Shoe railroad, and died June 10, 1869. By that marriage she had one son, James S., born May 24, 1868, and who now resides with Mr. Temple.