Workman-Temple family

The Workman-Temple family relates to the pioneer interconnected Workman and Temple families that were prominent in: the history of colonial Pueblo de Los Angeles and American Los Angeles; the Los Angeles Basin and San Gabriel Valley regions; and Southern California — from 1830 to 1930 in Mexican Alta California and the subsequent state of California, United States.

William ('Don Julian') Workman (November 17, 1799–May 17, 1876) was born in Temple Sowerby, Westmorland, now Cumbria, England, to Thomas Workman (1763–1843) and Nancy Hook (1771–1830). When William was eleven years old, his father inherited a substantial home and property in nearby Clifton from a childless aunt and uncle and relocated his family there. In 1814, the Workmans issued cash bequests upon their three sons, with the eldest, David Workman, using half his money to migrate to America in 1817. David settled in the new town of Franklin, Missouri, the virtual western end of the country, in 1819, opened a saddlery and returned to England three years later to retrieve the remainder of his bequest. In the process, David convinced William to join him and the two brothers sailed from Liverpool and landed at Philadelphia in September 1822.

William stayed in Franklin for three years, working for his brother, before joining an early caravan on the Santa Fe Trail, which opened in Franklin, Missouri in 1821, to Santa Fe de Nuevo México-New Spain in the spring of 1825. He then settled in Taos where he did some fur trapping, opened a store, and, in partnership with American John A. Rowland, manufactured liquor.

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