Mary Boyce Temple
Encyclopedia
Mary Boyce Temple was an American philanthropist and socialite, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee
, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was the first president of the Ossoli Circle
, the oldest federated women's club in the South, and published a biography of the club's namesake, Margaret Fuller Ossoli, in 1886. She also cofounded the Tennessee Woman's Press and Author's Club, the Knoxville Writer's Club, and the Knox County chapter of the League of Women Voters
. She represented Tennessee at various international events, including the Paris Exposition of 1900
and at the dedication of the Panama Canal
in 1903.
Temple was the founder and long-time regent of the Bonny Kate Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
, and helped launch Knoxville's preservationist movement with her efforts to save Blount Mansion in the 1920s. In her later years, she donated tens of thousands of dollars to the University of Tennessee
for agricultural research, and left the bulk of her estate to the university after her death.
(1820–1907) and Scotia Caledonia Hume. Her father was a powerful Knoxville attorney who, at one point after the Civil War, had the highest personal income in Knox County. During Temple's early years, her parents' home, Melrose, was a center of the city's social life, where guests such as Governor William G. Brownlow
, presidential candidate John Bell
, and Civil War generals John G. Foster
and Ulysses S. Grant
were entertained.
Temple attended Vassar College
, graduating with a bachelor of arts in 1877. She spent several years travelling with her ailing mother in search of healthier climates. The two spent time in Europe and the Catskills
.
In 1885, Temple was elected first president of the Ossoli Circle, a women's literary club founded that year by activist Lizzie Crozier French
. The following year, she published a biography of the club's namesake, entitled Sketch of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, which she read before the club. She was later a cofounder of two other literary societies, the Tennessee Woman's Press and Author's Club (1899) and the Knoxville Writer's Club (1907). In 1912, she edited and published Notable Men of Tennessee, a collection of biographies written by her late father.
In 1893, Temple organized the Bonny Kate Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, named for Catherine "Bonny Kate" Sherill, the second wife of Tennessee frontiersman John Sevier
. She served as regent of this chapter until her death in 1929, with the exception of a couple of years when she was the state DAR regent. She also served as a vice president-general in the DAR's national organization.
In 1900, Governor Benton McMillin
appointed Temple to represent Tennessee at the Paris Exposition of that year. She also represented the state at international expositions in Stockholm
and Rio de Janeiro
, and at the opening of the Panama Canal in 1903. She was the lone woman on the Jury of Higher Education at the St. Louis World's Fair
in 1904, and helped organize Knoxville's National Conservation Exposition
in 1913.
In 1919, Temple donated $25,000 to the University of Tennessee for the establishment of a plant research foundation in memory of her father. This project developed seed for the state's Farmer's Convention. In 1925, Temple raised $35,000 for the purchase of Blount Mansion, the home of early territorial governor and Constitutional Convention delegate William Blount
, which had been threatened with demolition. Her efforts are often considered the beginning of the preservation movement in Knoxville.
An ardent suffragist, Temple was president of Knox County's chapter of the League of Women Voters
in the early 1920s. She spent her later years entertaining guests at her Knoxville home, and (during winters) at the Mayflower
and Willard hotels in Washington, D.C.
. She died at her house on Hill Avenue in Downtown Knoxville in 1929. Librarian Mary Utopia Rothrock, in a brief biography of Temple in her book, The French Broad-Holston Country, wrote, "Many interesting legends cluster about Miss Temple and her social reign for four decades of Knoxville history."
area. This house was built in 1907, and originally occupied by the Chambliss family. Temple, who had lived for many years with her father in a house built around 1830 by William Park at the corner of Market Street and Cumberland (no longer standing), bought the house now named for her in 1922, and died in the house in 1929. After a series of ownership changes and modifications over the decades, the house, threatened with demolition, was purchased in 2006 by Brian Pittman, who has since taken steps to renovate and restore it.
The two-story house exhibits design elements of Queen Anne and Tudor Revival styles. It retains its original exterior brick, iron, and woodwork, as well as many of its original interior elements, including an oak staircase. The main floor consists of a foyer
, parlor, dining room, kitchen, pantry, office, and powder room, while the second floor includes three bedrooms, a nursery, and bathrooms. The house includes a Colonial Revival style porch, bay windows in the parlor and master bedroom, and three chimneys.
In October 2010, the Southern Paranormal and Anomaly Research Society (SPARS) conducted a paranormal investigation of the house in response to reports of paranormal activity by restoration workers.
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was the first president of the Ossoli Circle
Ossoli Circle
The Ossoli Circle is a women's club located in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Founded in 1885 as a literary society, the club is a charter member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and the first federated women's club in the South...
, the oldest federated women's club in the South, and published a biography of the club's namesake, Margaret Fuller Ossoli, in 1886. She also cofounded the Tennessee Woman's Press and Author's Club, the Knoxville Writer's Club, and the Knox County chapter of the League of Women Voters
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
. She represented Tennessee at various international events, including the Paris Exposition of 1900
Exposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
and at the dedication of the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
in 1903.
Temple was the founder and long-time regent of the Bonny Kate Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
, and helped launch Knoxville's preservationist movement with her efforts to save Blount Mansion in the 1920s. In her later years, she donated tens of thousands of dollars to the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
for agricultural research, and left the bulk of her estate to the university after her death.
Biography
Temple was born in Knoxville in 1856, the only child of Oliver Perry TempleOliver Perry Temple
Oliver Perry Temple was an American attorney, author, judge, and economic promoter active primarily in East Tennessee in the latter half of the 19th century. During the months leading up to the Civil War, Temple played a pivotal role in organizing East Tennessee's Unionists...
(1820–1907) and Scotia Caledonia Hume. Her father was a powerful Knoxville attorney who, at one point after the Civil War, had the highest personal income in Knox County. During Temple's early years, her parents' home, Melrose, was a center of the city's social life, where guests such as Governor William G. Brownlow
William Gannaway Brownlow
William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875...
, presidential candidate John Bell
John Bell
- Law and politics :* John Bell , English barrister* John Bell , professor of law and Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge* John Bell , Member of Parliament from Thirsk...
, and Civil War generals John G. Foster
John G. Foster
John Gray Foster was a career military officer in the United States Army and a Union general during the American Civil War whose most distinguished services were in North and South Carolina. A postbellum expert in underwater demolition, he wrote the definitive treatise on the subject.-Early...
and Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
were entertained.
Temple attended Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, graduating with a bachelor of arts in 1877. She spent several years travelling with her ailing mother in search of healthier climates. The two spent time in Europe and the Catskills
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
.
In 1885, Temple was elected first president of the Ossoli Circle, a women's literary club founded that year by activist Lizzie Crozier French
Lizzie Crozier French
Margaret Elizabeth "Lizzie" Crozier French was an American educator, women's suffragist and social reform activist...
. The following year, she published a biography of the club's namesake, entitled Sketch of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, which she read before the club. She was later a cofounder of two other literary societies, the Tennessee Woman's Press and Author's Club (1899) and the Knoxville Writer's Club (1907). In 1912, she edited and published Notable Men of Tennessee, a collection of biographies written by her late father.
In 1893, Temple organized the Bonny Kate Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, named for Catherine "Bonny Kate" Sherill, the second wife of Tennessee frontiersman John Sevier
John Sevier
John Sevier served four years as the only governor of the State of Franklin and twelve years as Governor of Tennessee. As a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1811 until his death...
. She served as regent of this chapter until her death in 1929, with the exception of a couple of years when she was the state DAR regent. She also served as a vice president-general in the DAR's national organization.
In 1900, Governor Benton McMillin
Benton McMillin
Benton McMillin was governor of the U.S. state of Tennessee from 1899 to 1903. A Democrat, he was a native of Monroe County, Kentucky and an attorney.-Biography:...
appointed Temple to represent Tennessee at the Paris Exposition of that year. She also represented the state at international expositions in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, and at the opening of the Panama Canal in 1903. She was the lone woman on the Jury of Higher Education at the St. Louis World's Fair
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...
in 1904, and helped organize Knoxville's National Conservation Exposition
National Conservation Exposition
The National Conservation Exposition was an exposition held in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, between September 1, 1913 and November 1, 1913. The exposition celebrated the cause of bringing national attention to conservation activities, especially in the Southeastern United States...
in 1913.
In 1919, Temple donated $25,000 to the University of Tennessee for the establishment of a plant research foundation in memory of her father. This project developed seed for the state's Farmer's Convention. In 1925, Temple raised $35,000 for the purchase of Blount Mansion, the home of early territorial governor and Constitutional Convention delegate William Blount
William Blount
William Blount, was a United States statesman. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention for North Carolina, the first and only governor of the Southwest Territory, and Democratic-Republican Senator from Tennessee . He played a major role in establishing the state of Tennessee. He was the...
, which had been threatened with demolition. Her efforts are often considered the beginning of the preservation movement in Knoxville.
An ardent suffragist, Temple was president of Knox County's chapter of the League of Women Voters
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
in the early 1920s. She spent her later years entertaining guests at her Knoxville home, and (during winters) at the Mayflower
Mayflower Hotel
The Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, known locally as simply The Mayflower, is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, DC located on Connecticut Avenue NW, two blocks north of Farragut Square . It is the largest luxury hotel in the U.S. capital and the longest continuously operating hotel in the...
and Willard hotels in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. She died at her house on Hill Avenue in Downtown Knoxville in 1929. Librarian Mary Utopia Rothrock, in a brief biography of Temple in her book, The French Broad-Holston Country, wrote, "Many interesting legends cluster about Miss Temple and her social reign for four decades of Knoxville history."
Mary Boyce Temple House
The Mary Boyce Temple House, located at 623 Hill Avenue in Knoxville, is the last single-family residence in the city's downtownDowntown Knoxville
Downtown Knoxville is the downtown area of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It contains the city's central business district and primary city and county municipal offices. It is also home to several retail establishments, residential buildings, and the city's convention center...
area. This house was built in 1907, and originally occupied by the Chambliss family. Temple, who had lived for many years with her father in a house built around 1830 by William Park at the corner of Market Street and Cumberland (no longer standing), bought the house now named for her in 1922, and died in the house in 1929. After a series of ownership changes and modifications over the decades, the house, threatened with demolition, was purchased in 2006 by Brian Pittman, who has since taken steps to renovate and restore it.
The two-story house exhibits design elements of Queen Anne and Tudor Revival styles. It retains its original exterior brick, iron, and woodwork, as well as many of its original interior elements, including an oak staircase. The main floor consists of a foyer
Foyer
A foyer or lobby is a large, vast room or complex of rooms adjacent to the auditorium...
, parlor, dining room, kitchen, pantry, office, and powder room, while the second floor includes three bedrooms, a nursery, and bathrooms. The house includes a Colonial Revival style porch, bay windows in the parlor and master bedroom, and three chimneys.
In October 2010, the Southern Paranormal and Anomaly Research Society (SPARS) conducted a paranormal investigation of the house in response to reports of paranormal activity by restoration workers.
External links
- Portrait – Tennessee Portrait Project
- Sketch of Margaret Fuller Ossoli – Archive.org
- "A Celestial Marriage" – an 1889 poem by Temple, published in Tennessee Centennial Poems