William Temple (1812 - came to Bloomington from Kentucky as a young bachelor. He started up a store in Bloomington and married Elizabeth Parke. Eventually he went into business with his brother in law and formed Parke & Temple. Later he was associated with Allan Withers and Duncan Funk. He worked as a merchant all his life and in the early days would travel to St. Louis with a list of the items that were needed in the store.  On one occasion he was in St. Louis and had a list that called for “M” quills. When ordering he completely forgot that “M” stood for one thousand and ordered one million quills. When the order arrived in Bloomington his partner Withers thought it a great joke and continued to tell the story for as long as he lived.

 

            None of Temple’s children would settle in McLean County. Sons William and Parke both fought in the Civil War, William with CP Butler and Parke with the 3rd Illinois Cavalry.