George Bostwick Templeton was a man of some subtlety.

At least our record of the man raises questions enough to speculate about his inner life, as he traversed his several milestones of achievement.

George Bostwick worked into his twenties on his father's farm, then through a determined self-education in his majority -- while quietly courting a daughter of the neighboring pious and long-respected Streator family, Emma -- he worked the farm and studied for his Baccalaureate and read the law in the offices of Senator L. C. Jones of Ohio, then in the office of the Honorable Judge T. W. Whiteman of Missouri.1

George Bostwick was referred to by the local press of Rich Hill, Missouri, and remembered in Family Lore, as "Judge" Templeton, in later life. The honorific, "Judge Templeton," came from his service as Justice of the Peace in Bates County, Missouri, a position that carried more weight in early days than it does today.

He was the second son of Michael Templeton, and, assessing the family photo taken on the senior Templeton's Phalanx Station homestead, circa 1887, Michael's second son was not a large man, physically, but commanded attention in his bearing: his flowing beard, extended legs and defiant attitude occupy more space in the photo than his mere physical presence.

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Judge Templeton was generally acknowledged in the neighborhood of Rich Hill as a fine judge of livestock. Particularly of horses. According to his Grandson, George Louis, his Grandfather raised Shetlands ("miniature horses") and trained them as house pets that enabled the blind and otherwise handicapped young people of the town to make use of his ponies' sight and training to navigate their daily life within their homes and on the streets of Rich Hill. George Bostwick trained ponies as "Seeing-Eye" animals, and that made an impression on his grandson, George Louis.

The Judge also had a good eye of horseflesh as applied to the track, apparently.

According to another Grandson, George Streator Templeton, Jr., George Bostwick owned a racetrack on the outskirts of Rich Hill, Missouri. As George Streator Jr. would have it (and this George had a way with a 'story') Judge Templeton hired Frank James of the notorious James Brothers outlaw gang as the "Starter" for sprint horse races at his grandfather's track.

Perhaps the Judge was an active breeder of ponies that served many purposes in the area? Yes, that's certainly true. And, was George Bostwick Templeton astute enough, and businessman enough, to hire a 'Headline Name' as an attraction to his venture, regardless of his pedigree? Regardless of their differences over the 'Slavery' question?

Probably. Yes. Of course.

But, the fact that the Judge associated himself with the Party of Lincoln, "The Great Liberator" of slaves, in a 'Rebel' Border War county of the recent, very violent and passionate "Bloody Kansas" raids that catalyzed the Great American Civil War, in his campaigns for Public Office, augers against his hiring a recalcitrant Border Raider thug, except for the fact that George Bostwick seems to have been a very pragmatic guy ... one with a feel for his neighbor's sentiments: a politician.

But, if he was so willing to set aside his "Fremont" and "Lincoln" convictions -- a moral and political commitment to the economic freedom of even the most hard-scrabble man of ability, and a belief in the dignity of every man, regardless of race -- then he would have been a common, pandering Politician that would have changed his Party in order to make use of the local machine and cater to popular opinion.

The Judge didn't change his party. But he did gather "strength beyond that of his party vote," when he stood for office in the strongly-Democratic precincts of Bates County. That feat can only be achieved by a man of character, known by his neighbors and community.

One has to consider the source in accepting many tales of the past -- and our one source for the tidbit that the Judge hired a James Gang "personality," for a commercial "Greeter," is George Streator Temp, Jr., who endears himself to our family's narrative more by his way of embellishing a story than the documental foundation of his yarn.

George Bostwick may or may not have owned a racetrack, "at arm's length," outside of town where his ponies ran; we don't know. However, we do know that his son, Frank Harold Templeton, handled the sale of many of Judge Templeton's horses and ponies, and that "Harold" was a careful manager of the business. And, that the Judge's eldest son, George Streator Templeton, Sr., became a livestock specialist with a degree in animal husbandry from the University of Missouri, and taught at the university level while studying for his Doctorate at Texas' agricultural college, and, later, at the University of Alabama, before directing a Federal research station in California.

The Judge's keen attention to farm animals, and particularly horses, rubbed off on his sons, apparently.

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We also know that George Bostwick was involved in many business ventures. He traveled often with both an inquisitive scientific interest, as well as a curious potential investor in lucrative properties. He generally followed family connections in the doing of it: He looked at Central Florida for prospective elderly retirement community developments because of the "healthy climate," while visiting a cousin in long before the scions of the Northeast discovered the place. And, before that, he went off to the World Fair in Philadelphia to investigate the latest technologies and discoveries without the encumbrance of his new family, left behind in Rich Hill, visiting his Ohio kin along the way.

Judge Templeton was a regular contributor to the local newspaper, corresponding on his cultural impressions and relating a first-person survey of business conditions as he traveled to Texas to visit his son, George Streator Templeton at his new post as professor of Animal Husbandry at Texas A & M. There, he reported to his home newspaper on the opportunities at the time of the discovery of oil near Beaumont, writing back upon further examination, that:

The boom for Beaumont and vicinity has passed, oil finds are uncertain except on the small field of Spindletop. Sale prices of ready-made gushers have declined from one-and-a-fourth $million to ten thousand dollars. And yet Beaumont and vicinity is a bee hive of activity and industry, and the phenomena of the oil deposit and its future are wonderful to behold and to contemplate and certainly the source of immense riches.

Very Truly Yours,
Geo. Templeton.

He corresponded with his local editor on his travels through Alabama, reporting upon the fruit and vegetable farming practices at the moment that railroad refrigerator cars for the maintenance of produce to northeast markets was innovated. He continued to chronicle his travels to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and, by a blue-water ship (a conveyance that occasioned over-the-boards seasickness on the part of both Mr. and Mrs. Templeton), to Tampa Bay and Polk County, Florida, where he investigated the practicality of establishing retirement communities for the elderly by examining county and newspaper records of viral infection rates and morbidity statistics.

Judge Templeton also required and inspired both of his sons to get a college education when few bothered to graduate from Grammar School. In fact, his first son went on to become a respected Academic and Federal Government animal husbandry researcher and his second son parlayed his Missouri University engineering degree into several positions of responsibility in the building-out of Kansas City's Union Station and municipal electrical, water & sewage works for civic-minded towns across the plains of Kansas after his graduation.

A "Who's Who"-type publication, torn from a book and pasted into Frank Harold Templeton's scrapbook profiled "Judge" George Bostwick Templeton under the stern visage pictured above (and may have been written by George Bostwick himself):

"Geo. Templeton, a descendant of an early family of Virginia, of Scotch descent on the side of Michael Templeton, his father, and of an old Pennsylvania family of German descent on the side of Lovina Templeton, his mother, was born in Champion, Trumbull County, Ohio, on the 26th day of May, 1850, lived and worked on a farm and in a mill in his native county until he reached the age of about twenty-two years, up to which time his opportunities for an education had been limited to a few months attendance at district school. At this age, and at his own expense, he began the task of educating himself, and the following nine years of his time was spent alternately in attending Hiram College and Medina Normal School, in teaching and working on the farm, spending part of the time 1878 to 1881 in reading law in the office of Senator L. C. Jones, at Warren, Ohio, and in the office of the Hon. T. W. Whiteman at Carrollton, Mo., at which last named place he was admitted to the bar in January of the year last named, and in the same month located at Rich Hill where he has ever since resided and practiced his profession.

"He was married on December 15, 1881, to Emma J. Streator, a resident of his native neighborhood in Ohio and a member of one of the well known families in the northern part of said state; from this union two sons were born, George S. and Frank H.

"'Judge Templeton,' as he is familiarly known, is a Republican, conservative but strong in the faith of his party. He was nominated in 1881 for prosecuting attorney and in 1898 for state representative and in both campaigns developed a strength beyond that of his party vote. As a lawyer he has enjoyed a lucrative practice, is regarded strictly upright and noted for his fidelity to his clients. The Judge's early farm attachments still cling to him as is evidenced by his ample and commodious home surroundings, he being noted for his love for fine stock, of which he is regarded an excellent judge."

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George Streator Templeton, George Bostwick's son, sent a telegram from Atlanta, Georgia, to a family friend in Rich Hill, J. R. Hales, and the tragic news was duly published in the local paper that, "his father Judge George Templeton passed away at 2:25 o'clock p. m." on September 5, 1919.

The newspaper acknowledged that:

"Judge Templeton had not been in the best of health since last winter when he had a severe attack of the flu. He had a nervous breakdown in May when he went to Boliver to visit his brother. Later he went out to Spearville, Kansas to visit his son, Harold. The Judge and Mrs. Templeton spent a couple of months there then came home here and went down to Auburn, Alabama, to visit their other son George. While down south they thought that if the Judge was given special treatment in a private sanitarium he would get to be himself sooner. It was while he was in the sanitarium at Atlanta that the accident happened that caused his death. Judge Templeton was one of the pioneers of Rich Hill. He was one of the staunch, reliable men that did more to build Rich Hill on a firm foundation than anyone else. He was a man firm in his likes and dislikes. And if you were so fortunate as to have him for your friend, you could always bank on the Judge being on your side. His word was his bond. We have [heard] several times that he [could not] see how a man could go back on his word. On the farm, spending part of the time, 1878 to 1881, in reading law in the office of Senator L. C. Jones, at Warren, Ohio, and in the office of Hon. T. W. Whiteman, at Carrolton, Mo., at which last place he was admitted to the bar in January of the year last named, and in the month located at Rich Hill where he has ever since resided and practiced his profession. He was married on December 25, 1881, to Emma J. Streator, a resident of his native neighborhood in Ohio and a member of one of the well known families in the northern part of said state; from this unto two sons were born, George S. and Frank H. "Judge Templeton as he is familiarly known, is a Republican, conservative but strong in the faith of his party. He was nominated in 1881 for prosecuting attorney and in 1898 for state representative and in both campaigns developed a strength beyond that of his party vote. As a lawyer he has enjoyed a lucrative practice, is regarded strictly upright and noted for his fidelity to his clients. The judge early farm attachments still cling to him as is evidenced by his ample and commodiounome, surroundings he being noted for his love for fine stock, of which he is regarded an excellent judge." He is survived by a wife and two sons, Geo. S. Templeton of Auburn, Ga., and Frank H. Templeton of Spearville Kan. Judge Templeton was considered one of the best lawyers of the state and was a prominent citizen and will be greatly missed by his many friends in this county. He was a devoted husband and father | will receive his just rewards for his good deeds on this earth, in the great beyond."

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And, so, perhaps it's in the Great Beyond that the truth of the man resides. Judge, father, possibly a racetrack owner, certainly a coal mine speculator. An exacting surveyor of economic opportunity at the historical turn of industrialization of the countryside and a keen commentator on the agricultural practices of the lands he traveled. A fine judge of horseflesh and stalwart Sunday School teacher in Rich Hill's Christian Church. A man of unambiguous opinions that he was happy to share on the local newspapers editorial pages and through an election campaign.

George Bostwick Templeton was an accomplished and complex man. A man of subtle contradictions.

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NOTES:

1. 0083 - FHT-GLT Papers -- Geo. B. Templeton, "Official Biography". (See also: "Frank H. Temp Scrapbook", ca. 191X...).