James Fenimore Cooper's Frontier: The Pioneers as History

Judge Marmaduke Temple

. Founder and leader of the village of Templeton. The Judge is 

partially based on Cooper's father, Judge William Cooper of Cooperstown, but he is better 

educated than the real Judge, and unlike him is not engaged in party politics.  

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Nathaniel Bumppo

 ("

Natty

"). An elderly hunter and scout, living on the fringes of 

Templeton. He resents the inroads of civilization, and guards the secret of his cabin. Perhaps 

partially based on David Shipman, an old scout who lived in a cabin near Fly Creek.  

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Elizabeth Temple

, his only daughter. Cooper at first welcomed the notion that she was 

partly based on his beloved elder sister Hannah, but in later years emphasized differences 

between the two.  

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Remarkable Pettibone

. Judge Temple's New England housekeeper; pious, complacent, and 

resentful of authority.  

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Ben Pump

 (Benjamin Stubbs). Judge Temple's major-domo; a British sailor from Cornwall, 

who interprets everything in terms of his limited naval experience.  

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Richard Jones

 ("Dickon"). Cousin, secretary, and business assistant to Judge Temple, who 

later becomes Sheriff of Otsego County. An ambitious and egotistical know-it-all with an 

agenda of his own.  

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Rev. Mr. Grant.

 Episcopal Clergyman, mild but devout. Perhaps based on Rev. Frederick 

Tiffany, who was in 1823 the Deacon and effective Rector of Cooperstown's Christ Church. 

Tiffany later became Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives.  

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Billy Kirby

. An honest and decent wood-cutter from Vermont, though he cannot understand 

how anyone could love a tree.  

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Oliver Edwards

 (later Edward Oliver Effingham) (called "the Young Eagle" by John 

Mohegan). A mysterious and morose young man, of good education, with an "attitude," 

believed by many to be part Indian. Has recently arrived in Templeton to live with Natty 

Bumppo, but soon becomes Judge Temple's Secretary and moves to the Mansion House.  

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