Discovering ‘Templeton’
2009.08.04.23:50 - This might be the time I finally make it to the natal place of our long Templeton family saga. Although I have no direct evidence that the family Templeton ever lived at the intersection hamlet of Templeton in Ayrshire, Scotland, it’s generally assumed in chronicles of the name that our earliest ancestors took the place name of their home as their own, and that all the Templetons that now thrive in nations around the world can trace their origin to the countryside of Ayr. So I’m going to go there and get a picture of that intersection that the British Ordinance Survey calls “Templeton.”
Up til now, I’ve only done a smattering of reading and research into the place and its history. I’ve just now begun looking into how to get there and what Karin and I might want to see and do in the neighborhood. Over the years, I’ve only been able to actually locate a few probable historical kinsmen living and working in the area, the earliest of them being one Gilbertus de Tempilton, who was “rector of the church of Rothir’” (or Rothesay) in 1295. We don’t expect to be there long enough to hope to add much to the lore, but I do hope to find ways to get a sense of the place and to gain some impressions of how its history shaped the people that hail from there.
Or at least discover where the dislocations occur between an American and his Scottish heritage.
