GORDON S. TEMPLETON'S name first appears on the roll of Texas Synod
in 1847. He was for many years its Stated Clerk. He engaged in
preaching and teaching in the Texas
Presbytery until his death in 1869. His brother, Rev.
Alison Templeton, had a fruitful ministry in Tennessee
and Georgia and came to Corsicana Church in 1879 for a successful
pastorate, all too short by reason of his death in 1882. In 1880
he was Moderator of the Cumberland General Assembly and was a
member of the Assembly's Committee on revision of the Confession
of Faith.
[Source: A Paper on
Early Cumberland Presbyterian History in Texas. Read in Part by
Rev. S. M. Templeton in a Joint Session of the Synods of Texas
U.S. and U.S.A. in Fort Worth, Texas, September 23, 1931,
page 20]
1847
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Texas
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, November 1847 page 44]
1848
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Texas
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, November 1848, page 49]
1849
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Marshall
Presbytery
Commissioner
to General Assembly, May 15-23, 1849, Princeton, Kentucky
Served on Committee on the Minutes of Hernando Synod.
[Source: Minutes of the General
Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1849, pages
4 & 9]
1850
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Marshall
Presbytery
Stated
Clerk of Texas
Synod
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, November 1850, page 64]
1851
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Marshall
Presbytery
Stated Clerk of Texas
Synod
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, November 1851, page 69]
1852
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Marshall
Presbytery
Stated Clerk of Texas
Synod
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, page 78]
1853
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Marshall
Presbytery
Stated Clerk and Treasurer of
Texas
Synod
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 1863, pages 79 & 80]
1854
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Marshall
Presbytery
Stated Clerk and Treasurer of
Texas
Synod
Moderator
of Texas Synod
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, Augist 1854, page 86]
1855
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Marshall
Presbytery
Stated Clerk and Treasurer of
Texas
Synod
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, Augist 1855, page 94]
1856
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
Stated Clerk and Treasurer of
Texas
Synod
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, Augist 1856, page 108]
1857
G. S. Templeton,
Wimesboro [sic Winnsboro], Texas
Minister
- Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1857, page 68]
1857
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
Stated Clerk and Treasurer of
Texas
Synod
Moderator
of Texas
Synod
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 12, 1857, pages 122 & 124]
1858
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 12, 1858, page 137]
1859
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 1859, page 150]
1860
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 1860, page 168]
1864
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 1864, page 195]
1865
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 1865, page 202]
1866
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 15, 1866, page 209]
1867
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 14, 1867, page 219]
1868
G. S. Templeton
Minister - Greenville
Presbytery
[Source: Minutes
of Texas Synod, August 12, 1868, page 239]
1869
Committee
on Deceased Ministers report
Rev. Gordon S. Templeton,
________ Presbytery, at home, near Charleston, Texas, March 14,
1869, aged about 53.
[Source: Minutes
of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
1869, page 37]
The Rev. Gordon Templeton was one of the early pastors of the Cleveland church prior to 1868. The Session records are either lost or were not kept during his pastorate.
Templeton was born about 1818, the son of Edward and Sarah Howard Templeton, who were of Scotch-Irish descent and were very religious people. A census record lists his birthplace as Kentucky, but the family in 1820 was living in Meigs County, Tennessee. They moved to Coker Creek, North Carolina, in 1830 and shortly thereafter to Madisonville, Tennessee, then to Bradley County in 1837. The family was closely associated with early Cumberland Presbyterians in the area, such as John and Robert Tate, who often had them in their homes. Gordon's brother Allison became a well-known Cumberland Presbyterian minister in Southeast Tennesee and North Georgia.
The two brother, Gordon and Allison, attended Holston College in Maryville. Gordon came under the care of Ocoee Presbytery on September 28, 1843, and was licensed on March 22, 1844, to preach south of the Tennessee River. He was ordained on October 2, 1844, at Harrison, Tennessee. In March 1845 he was appointed to act as a missionary within Ocoee Presbytery. He requested a letter of dismissal from the Presbytery on October 1, 1846. Census records list him as a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher in Upshur County, Texas, in 1850, where he was known to be an outstanding leader in both foreign and domestic missions.
[Source: History of The First Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cleveland, TEnnessee 1837-1987. Edited by Ann Morelock and Katharine Trewhitt. Cleveland, Tennessee, First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, Tennessee, 1989, pages 202-203.]