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CHAPTER EIGHT

EARLY PHYSICIANS

Physicians were few and far between in early day Maries County. The population was small and scattered over a wide territory. Every mother of a family was a fair doctor and nurse herself, after raising a family in or on the edge of the wilderness. Her experience also qualified her to act as 'granny-woman' for the younger wives of the neighborhood, refusing her services in such an event being unknown. Raising a large family also qualified any woman of thirty-five or so as a 'yarb doctor,' her teas and brews being judged for their ef­fect largely by the taste--the nastier the mess tasted the more potent it was supposed to be (this idea seems to have persisted pretty well down to the present day). Anyway, the patient got well most of the time.

 

Among the standard remedies so universally used

 

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that even the most inexperienced young housewife knew of them were catnip tea for small babies--indeed, for stomach disturbances of all ages. A thick syrup of hoar-hound and mullein was used for sore throat and coughs. Dried mullein leaves, smoked in a pipe, served for asthma. Liquor off the inner bark of slippery elm was resorted to for all stomach disorders not cured by cat­nip tea. A 'spring tonic' was made by soaking chips of wild cherry, sassafras, sarsaparilla, wahoo bark, yel­low puccoon, and half a dozen more, in whiskey; the dose was a tablespoonful three times a day. The writer will testify that it worked; no respectable disease would stay about it. A hot flaxseed or mush poultice drew a boil to a head, and either one, or a poultice made of hot onions, was used in treating lung fever. If the fever was very high a mustard plaster was used instead. A cut about the limbs or body and worms in children were both treated by the same remedy--turpentine. Polecat (skunk) grease and goose grease were sovereign 'rubbin' remedies for almost any kind of misery.

 

In addition to these remedies many diseases were supposed to be prevented, especially in children, by wearing a small lump of asafoetida in a bag about the child's neck. Grown people 'kept down' rheumatism by carrying a buckeye, or by wearing a copper wire around one arm, or by doing both.

 

Three diseases accounted for most of the calls for a doctor in the new country; pneumonia--the dreaded 'lung fever'-- which took a fearful toll of lives in the win­ter and spring months; tuberculosis, far more common than now, and then considered incurable, although a doctor was always called if one could be had; and third, typhoid fever, which was almost a yearly visitor. Since many of our very highest priced modern diseases had not then been invented, the above three covered three-fourths of the cases where a doctor was called. Any 'yarb doctor' could cure the 'aguer' if the patient would assist him by moving to higher ground. 'Accidents' in

 

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the way of gunshot and knife wounds frequently called for the attention of a doctor, but many times only the services of the local gravediggers were necessary. And too, many times the sufferer was so far from a doctor that he either died or was well on the road to recovery before the physician could get there.

 

Such population as the county then had followed the main-traveled roads into this country, and it was natur­al that the earliest physicians should settle where there were the most people. Dr. Henderson, the first resident physician, settled near the great Illinois Trace; Dr. Latham near its branch to the Osage Fork; Dr. Curtis near the crossing of the Potosi Road and the Illinois Trace, and Dr. Bumpass within reach of the Rinquelin Trace from the Missouri to Piney.

 

While Dr. William H. Bowles was the first physi­cian in present Maries County certainly known to have been graduated from a regular school, the first man known to have lived and practiced medicine here at least attended such a school for a time, but whether graduated or not is now not known. This man was David Waldo, who owned and lived on land on the east side of the Gas­conade, near to or a part of the Goodman place now owned by James Brown. He was a son of Jedediah and Polly Waldo, was born at Clarksburg (now) West Vir­ginia, April 30, 1802, and came to Missouri in 1820, having rafted logs on the Ohio River. He engaged in rafting pine logs from Piney to St. Louis, was the first Sheriff of Gasconade County in 1821 (at the age of nine­teen) and in the course of time was Clerk of the Cir­cuit Court, Justice of the Peace, Coroner, Acting Treas­urer, postmaster and a Major in the Militia. From this it would appear that young Mister Waldo made a grab at about everything in sight. Having accumulated five hundred dollars he took a medical course in Transyl­vania University in Lexington, Kentucky.

 

Returning to Gasconade County and likely to present

 

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Maries County in 1827 he began the practice of medicine in addition to his other activities until he soon became known as Governor Waldo of the State of Gasconade, whose borders then reached to the Arkansas line for civil and court purposes. He removed from the county in 1831 to west Missouri, and finally settled in Inde­pendence, where he made his home the balance of his life.

 

He did little, if any, medical practice after leaving this county and not very much here, from which it would appear likely that he did not complete any course at Transylvania; he soon engaged in the Santa Fe trade and spent a large part of his time on the road and in Mexico, where he lived and operated a store for some time. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he was elected Captain of Company A, First Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, and made the entire overland trip with Doniphan's Ex­pedition to Santa Fe and the later march down the Rio Grande. He led his company at the battles of Brazito, Sacramento, and Chihuahua, after which the command marched overland to Brownsville, Texas. From this point they returned home by boat, having walked some­thing like three thousand miles in the course of the ex­pedition.

 

He continued to engage in trading expeditions after his return to Independence and was there married on March 27, 1849, to Eliza Jane, daughter of Edward and Margaret Norris. His later activities were confined to the Platte River country and Utah, which engaged his attention until his death on May 20, 1878. So far as in­vestigation has shown no children were born of his mar­riage, and no relationship existed between him and any other settler in this county.

 

The first physician definitely known to have lived and practiced in the present limits of Maries County was Dr. William Wallace Henderson, who came here not later than 1835 and possibly earlier. He was born

 

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April 28, 1810, and was the third of the ten children of Samuel Henderson by his marriage to Mary Goforth, which took place in Greene County, Tennessee, Decem­ber 20, 1804. Samuel Henderson, the father, the son of James and Hannah Henderson, was born in that county and state February 21, 1785, and Mary Goforth was also born there October 1, 1785. The exact date of their com­ing to Missouri is not known, but their fourth child, John, is definitely known to have been born in Bellevue Valley in present Iron County, in 1810, so Dr. Henderson may have been born in this state also.

 

Samuel Henderson lived in Bellevue Valley for about thirty years after coming to Missouri, except for a few years prior to the admission of Missouri as a state, when the uncertainty in regard to the act of admission led him to move with his slaves to either Kentucky or Tennessee for a few years. But once this matter was settled he moved back to his old home and lived there until 1838, in which year he, with at least one son, James, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) and the next year joined their colony at Nauvoo, Illinois. They finally moved to Utah in the great emigration of 1851, and he died in Salt Lake City Feb­ruary 21, 1856. His wife had died in Bellevue Valley December 13, 1825, with their youngest child, George, then ten months old. Two of his daughters were also connected with Maries County affairs, and will be noted farther along in this chapter.

 

We do not know where Dr. Henderson 'read medi­cine' but there is a family tradition that it was in Ken­tucky, and he may have practiced there for a while. If so, it was evidently not for long because he was only twenty-six years old when he rode up the Boone's Lick Trail to near its crossing with the Kickapoo Trace and established himself on the northwest corner of Lanes Prairie. Here on the west half of the northwest quarter of section 30, Township 40, Range 7, which is only half a mile north of the crossroads, he proceeded to hang

 

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out his shingle. He did not bother to enter the land, however, until June 30, 1836. The site is now marked by a lone poplar tree some hundred yards south of the Vienna and Lanes Prairie road, near the west line of the Dr. W. H. Bowles home place. It was then a part of Osage Township in Gasconade County.

 

One of the main reasons for believing he came here not later than 1835 is the fact that he was married here January 28, 1836, to Charlotta Malone, the wid­owed daughter of Abraham Smith, by the Reverend John Avery. Experienced men say it is impossible to get a widow's consent to marry in as short a time as a month, no matter how willing she might be, so the doctor likely had been prosecuting his suit during at least a part of 1835. They made their home at his first location dur­ing her lifetime. Their three children, Oliver (later killed in action in the Confederate Army, single), Al­bert Smith, and William Wallace Henderson were born there.

 

Mrs. Henderson died in the middle forties, and very soon thereafter Dr. Henderson and his sons moved to the home of his father-in-law on the Gasconade River now owned by Bert Allen, which was then in Pulaski County. Here he lived the remainder of his life. He had served as Justice of the Peace during most of the time he lived on the Prairie, and after moving to the river he owned and operated Henderson's Ferry, which then crossed the river between the present Allen and Terry places. It is a much older location than the one a half-mile north at Bloomgarden, which was not established until after the Springfield Road, was laid out. But the new location was more accessible than the Henderson site, and the latter gradually ceased doing business. He was Representative from Pulaski County in the 1848 session, and about the close of the term was married

 

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to Jansie, daughter of John Davis. Their one child, Jane, was born in Jackson County, Missouri, October 10, 1850, while the family was on a visit to Dr. Hen­derson's father prior to the latter's departure for Utah. Returning to his home here in the dead of winter he con­tracted pneumonia and died February 24, 1851, soon after reaching home. He is buried in the Allen Ceme­tery. The second Mrs. Henderson later moved to Clay County and died there. She married again, but the de­scendants of her second marriage have not been traced.

 

Albert Smith Henderson was born on Lanes Prairie July 11, 1841, and died in Vienna December 25, 1918. He served the duration of the Civil War (swimming the Mississippi at Vicksburg to escape being surrendered with the rest of his command when that city was captured). On August 15, 1867, he was married to Sarah E., daughter of Nelson and Elizabeth Miller, who was born in this county January 15, 1852, and who died here Jan­uary 22, 1907. Elizabeth Miller was a member of the Huffman family. After their marriage the young couple bought the farm, owned by Mrs. Henderson's father, which had been sold to her stepfather, William Followill, at what is known as the Henderson Ford on the Gasconade. They operated this farm for several years before buying and moving to the present Tony Schwartz farm just south of Vienna. They lived at the latter place until 1889, when they bought the Maries Hotel from Un­cle Mose and Aunt Rachel Smith. They lived the re­mainder of their lives in Vienna.

 

Eight children were born to A. S. Henderson, of whom five are now living: Victor who married Diora Simpson August 25, 1899, lives near Houston, Texas County; Charles and Mary Lee, widow of Homer Hollenbeck, both live at Vienna; Dora, wife of Price Hawkins, lives in Kansas City; and Lillie, wife of Fred E. Bodendick, in St. Louis.

 

The three children deceased are: Helen A., the

 

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oldest child, born October 22, 1869, died February 20, 1921; she was married October 23, 1892, to James H. Spratley, who survives her; of their three children Ma­bel, wife of Edward Finn, lives at Vienna; Clarence H., Lester M., Alfred L., Walter E., and Charles, with their father, live in Valparaiso, Indiana; James Alton, the remaining son, born October 29, 1899, was killed in a train accident September 25, 1921; he was married to Mayme Honse April 1, 1920, and was survived by one child. Edna, younger of the two surviving Spratley daughters is married to Eldon Kuehl and resides in Val­paraiso, Indiana. Three daughters died in infancy. Flor­ence, the second Henderson daughter, born December 22, 1875, died October 26, 1932; she was married April 23. 1899, to Elmer Camp, for many years a newspaper man at Vienna and Belle, and is survived by one son, Byron Miller Camp of St. Louis. Clifford, the youngest, was born February 5, 1892, died May 29, 1926, sur­vived by his widow, the former Ethel Ridenhour of Belle, and two children, Carl and Beatrice Henderson, both of whom, with the widow, live in Kansas City.

 

William Wallace Henderson, oldest son of Dr. Wil­liam Wallace Henderson, was born in Maries County December 5, 1837, and died March 25, 1888; he was married March 16, 1857, to Delilah Huffman, daughter of Jacob and Josephine Huffman, nee Miller, who was also born here April 22, 1842, and who died March 12, 1888. The young couple spent the first years of their married life in this county until the outbreak of the Civ­il War when Wallace Henderson promptly enlisted in the Confederate Army and served four years. He took part in the Battle of Gettysburg the same day his brother; Albert Smith was engaged at Vicksburg. The family removed to Kentucky after the close of the war and re­mained there some years before returning to Missouri where they spent the remainder of their lives.

 

Of the twelve children born to them, five died in infancy; they were Jacob, Louise Josephine, John, and

 

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twins who lived only a few days. Five are living, namely: Albert F., born December 9, 1867, in Kentucky, was married April 8, 1888, to Judy Smallwood and lives in Fort Worth, Texas; Erie Ellen, born December 21, 1875, married Louis Maneka and lives between Vienna and Dixon (the only one of the children living in this county); Fannie May, born May 8, 1878, married Bayless Copeland and lives at Dixon; Tanner, born August 16, 1880, married Rosa Wilson and lives at Mannford, Oklahoma; Sidney Earl, a Methodist minister, born Au­gust 23, 1887, married Theo McDonald and lives at Lone Wolf, Oklahoma.

 

Bruce Edward Henderson, born March 9, 1872, was drowned near Indian Ford on the Gasconade, July 20, 1895; he was single.

 

William Carl Henderson, eldest child of Wallace and Delilah Henderson, was born in this county, De­cember 7, 1857, and was here united in marriage on October 22, 1878, to Ann, daughter of James Ragan. He died in Douglas County, Missouri, March 10, 1908, survived by his widow, who now lives in Phelps County, and nine children: Mrs. Bertha Chaney of Wymere, Ne­braska; Robert Henderson and Mrs. Emma Hicks of Douglas County; James Henderson of Colorado; Homer Henderson of West Plains, Missouri; Mrs. Minnie Cur­ry, Mrs. Millie Stephenson, Delilah, and Mrs. Mary Frost, all of Arapahoe, Nebraska. The last named died recently leaving five children.

 

Some fifteen or more years after the death of Dr. Henderson, two of his sisters moved to this county and thereafter made it their home. They were Mrs. Abiel Strickland and Mrs. Wesley M. Goforth, both of whom had lived in Reynolds County, Missouri, and left it af­ter losing their property there during the war, in which Mrs. Strickland also lost her husband. Her four chil­dren were William, Samuel, Joseph, and a daughter who died single not many years after they came here. Samuel

 

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and Joseph made this county their home thereafter; William married a member of the Hoops family and re­moved to Texas in the early seventies; his biography is found with the Hoops account.

 

Samuel Strickland married Rachel Crismon and lived in the west end of the county his entire adult life, dying there January 8, 1918, at the age of eighty-one. He was the father of five children, two of whom died in infancy. Of the three living Carney married Bettie, daughter of John Krone, and lives in St. Louis; Allie, the only daughter, married William Moss and lives on the Strickland home place; Coad, the third son, also lives in this county.

 

Joseph, the youngest son, born in Reynolds County September 1, 1844, married soon after coming to this county Mahala, daughter of William Simpson. She died soon after the marriage, as did their only child. His second wife was Laura A. Mears, and to this union eight children were born: Nashville, Eva, James, and Clay died in infancy or without issue; the four living are Co­ra, now Mrs. Cora S.Andrews of Colorado; Mittie, wife of Bert Sewell; and Robert M., both of St. Louis, and Richard H. of Illinois.

 

He moved to Vienna about the time of his second marriage and after spending some time operating and clerking in stores he bid in the mail route from Dixon to Vienna, and removed to that town. For the next for­ty years he was connected with some form of mail carrying, mostly the star route from Dixon to Vienna, but later with the one from Vienna to Freeburg. During most of this time the mail was the only certain connec­tion between Vienna and the outside world and the car­rier was also the expressman. It is said that Joe Strick­land drove up to the Vienna office six days a week with from six to twenty bundles and packages of everything from clothing to machine parts, that he never made a note of anything he was asked to bring, and that he never

 

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forgot an order.

 

His third marriage was to Laura, widow of Huston Ferrell of Vichy; this marriage was childless.

 

Mrs. Elizabeth Goforth was the mother of nine chil­dren: four of them, Julia, Katherine, Jane, and John died young; the two last named are buried in the Lam­beth Cemetery with their mother; Mary had one daugh­ter, Erie, who married J. M. Given; Helen married Albert Arendall; the descendants of both will be found under those names.

 

Sarah Goforth married John Rutledge and spent her married life at Sedalia, where she died. Of her two daughters Elizabeth married a man named Myers, also of Sedalia; Mary's married name is not known.

 

Evelyn Goforth married Andrew Mathis and lived at Castle Rock until her death, leaving two children, India and Andrew, both of whom are now dead. Relatives here believe they died single.

 

William B. F. Goforth, the only son of Wesley M. and Elizabeth Goforth to live to maturity, first married Rachel, daughter of John Copeland. She was the mother of two children. Arendall and Alice. Alice married Mack Brown. Arendall, who learned the printing busi­ness in the office of The Iberian Intelligencer--now The Sentinel--which his father owned, married Bessie Car­ter and died at Dixon, where he owned and published The Dixon Pilot. His children, ten in number, are: Harold, Ross, Dale, Fred, Fern, Morris, Ralph, Hess, Robert, and Helen May. Nearly all the boys are printers.

 

William F. B. Goforth's second marriage was to Martha, daughter of William Eads, by whom he was the father of four children: Hattie of California; Gertie, de­ceased; and Preston and Frank of Kansas City. He and both his wives died at Iberia.

 

The seven remaining brothers and sisters of

 

 

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Dr. Henderson, Mrs. Goforth, and Mrs. Strickland were: James, John, Sarah, Rachel, Isabelle, Samuel Junior, and George. We have noted that James Henderson ac­companied his father to Utah, and some of his descend­ants now live in and around Panguitch in that state; son George died in infancy. It is believed that the other five married and settled in Washington and Iron counties and their descendants still live there, as do some of the Goforths and Stricklands.

 

No exact record remains of the date when Dr. Valsain Gaylove Latham came to this county, but the date can be reasonably fixed as 1838. He settled first at the mouth of Clifty Creek, which was then in Pulaski Coun­ty, whose records were totally destroyed by fire in 1904. However, he is known to have been on the upper river before Dr. Henderson moved into that territory in the early forties. In fact, the two men practiced together a lot, although never actually forming a partnership.

 

He was born in North Carolina June 25, 1814, and when a boy moved with his father, James Latham, to present Tishomingo County in northeastern Mississippi, where he grew to manhood and where he studied medi­cine under Squirrel Skin, chief medicine man of the branch of the Choctaw tribe of which Tishomingo was chief (lest any of our present day physicians turn up their highly-educated noses at the idea of an Indian teaching medicine, it can be said of Dr. Latham that in his practice of over fifty years, covering parts of four states, all in a wild and thinly settled state and with absolutely no modern facilities, he lost exactly two obstetrical cases, both from accident in no wise connected with his handling of the case. He might, and no doubt would, have called appendicitis 'locked bowels,' and he might, and no doubt would, have considered 'impetigo' as a two-dollar name for the itch. But he knew the peo­ple of his times and their ailments, and also knew what was good for them, and his professional record was likely a lot higher than that of many of the men of this

 

 

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day who might deride his lack of scientific knowledge).

 

Dr. Latham was married in McNairy County, Ten­nessee, November 13, 1831, to Nancy Wolverton, who was born in that state July 16, 1814. The young couple seems to have lived in both states at different times for the next few years (McNairy County, Tennessee, and Tishomingo County, Mississippi, are adjoining). Their oldest son, William James Latham, was born in the for­mer county February 18, 1833, and their youngest, George Washington Latham, in Mississippi on Septem­ber 1, 1837. Shortly after the birth of the latter the fam­ily moved to Missouri settling near the mouth of Clifty Creek. The party included the doctor, his wife, and their three children (the daughter, died in early girl­hood), his father, James Latham, reputed to have been a Revolutionary War soldier, and their 'Aunt' Betsey Childers, a member of the family for many years, but not related. Some time afterwards, just how long is not known, Dr. Latham's sister, Clarinda Loveworth, wife of Elias H. Kenner, came to this county and lived a num­ber of years near the Kenner Church and school. During this time her husband was Justice of the Peace and a minister in the Methodist Church. The Kenner family, however, met with financial reverses here and moved to Arkansas, after which they had no further connection with this county. In addition to his daughter, Dr. Lath­am lost his father while the family lived on Clifty Creek.

 

Shortly after the county was organized in 1855 Dr. Latham and his family moved to Vienna, where he lived; he practiced medicine until January 1, 1864, when the family moved to Rolla. During that time he dealt exten­sively in land. His home here, which he bought from Ake Rowden, is still stand ing on the land owned by Travis John in the south end of Vienna. After his removal to Rolla he continued the practice of medicine and went in­to the hotel business, one he had followed to some ex­tent in Vienna. He continued in both lines of activity un­til September 1, 1875, when his own family and that of

 

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his oldest son moved to Texas, in which state his son, George, had lived some fifteen years. All settled up the Colorado River above Austin near Marble Falls, which general vicinity was thereafter the family home. His wife died there April 30, 1885, the doctor surviving her until September 29, 1892.

 

He married a second time some years after the death of his first wife, the second marriage being child­less. In his old days he became a member of Macedonia Baptist Church, a sketch of which is given in the chapter on Early Protestant Churches, and which was organized originally on the Big Maries in this county. His activity seems to have lasted during almost all his life, he hav­ing engaged in ranching and other forms of business af­ter his removal to Texas, in addition to his medical practice which was as large there as it had been here.

 

William James, the oldest son of Dr. Latham, was born in McNairy County, Tennessee, February 18, 1833, and came to this county with him as a boy. He was mar­ried here about 1855 to Patsy, sister of William Clayton (the families had been acquainted in Tennessee). They lived in and near Vienna during her short life. She was the mother of two children, Valsain Gaylove Junior (Bud), and Nancy Elizabeth (Sis), who were taken into the doctor's household and raised by him after their mother's death, went to Texas with him, and thereaf­ter made that state their home. Bud Latham, the older of the two children of the first marriage, was born here December 3, 1854, lived to manhood here and at Rolla, and went to Texas with his grandfather in 1875. He was married in that state October 27, 1881, to Miss Ida Tate and died there February 28, 1932, his wife having pre­ceded him in death March 30, 1928. Their entire married life was spent in Texas.

 

Of the nine children of their marriage two died in infancy. The other seven, all yet living, in their age order, are: Mrs. Lola Simpson of Kress, Texas;

 

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Mrs. Emma Harvey, 321 Northeast Third Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Mrs. Mabel Hunt of Dumas, Texas; Mrs. Eula Riley of Shirley, Montana; Rolla Latham (named after Rolla, Missouri) in Petersburg, Texas; Mrs. Jewell Harris of Brownfield, Texas; and Mrs. Thelma Glimp of Leveland, Texas.

 

Sis Latham was born in November 1856, and in No­vember 1878 was married in Llano County, Texas, to Hickman L. Tate. She died July 14, 1931, leaving four children and her widower who may yet survive. The children, about whom little information has been re­ceived, are Roscoe R., Mamie Verna, Audrey, and Veda Gertrude, the last now the widow of G. G. Gallo­way lives at Pearson, Texas. Mamie married A. D. Simpson and lives at Houston, Texas. Their daughter, Rowena, was on the Athenia when she was sunk at the beginning of the war, but was rescued and reached home safely. She later married J. Ford Townsend and lives in Austin, Texas.

 

William Latham's second marriage, which was about 1858, was to Celia Hawkins of this county. The two boys born to them died in infancy, and the daughter, Sarah Jane (Sadie) was the only child of the second marriage living to maturity. She was married in Texas June 22, 1876, to Ben Major Gibson, son of James probably the most noted Indian fighter in that part of Texas. He is known to have had ten Indians to his 'credit' and took part in the battle with them on the Pecos in 1869 when his brother, Silas, was killed. Both he and his wife are long since dead, as are three of their children, Ida, Walter, and Eli. The six yet living are Mrs. Rose Crider, Mrs. Geneva Cherry, Mrs. Christina Tatum, William, Charles, and Ira Gibson, all of Marble Falls.

 

   William Latham's third wife was Margaret Mary Newberry, to whom he was married in this county No­vember 22, 1866. She was a daughter of William Newberry

 

 

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and a granddaughter of the Joseph Newberry who settled here before 1828. She was born here April 12, 1849 and died in Texas September 19, 1916, and was survived by her husband until February 10, 1918.

 

Samuel Latham, a son of this marriage, is dead. His wife was Sallie Crider and he was the father of three children, of whom one died in infancy; a daughter lives at Austin, and his son, William, a lawyer, at Houston. The six other children born of the last marriage and yet living are: Henry who also lives at Houston; Clarinda Frances, widow of Courtney Lane at La Mesa, in Texas; Hiram at Johnson City, Texas, where he is in the hotel business; Dudley at Cypress Mills, Texas; Hickman T., a veteran of World War I, lives at Goose Creek, near Houston; and Dora, wife of William Moore at Junction City, Texas.

 

George Washington Allen, youngest son of Dr. V. G. Latham, was born in Tishomingo County, Missis­sippi, September 1, 1837. He came to this county as an infant with his father, and was just reaching manhood when his father moved to Vienna, where one of his first jobs was hauling sand for the original courthouse in the county. He was married here October 7, 1858, by his uncle, Reverend Elias H. Kenner, to Sarah Jane, daugh­ter of James Gibson, who was born in Missouri in 1836. They made their home in this county until some time in the early part of 1861, when they moved to Texas. Their first home there was in Blanco County where they re­sided until 1870. Continual Indian depredations caused them to move to Llano County (Sam Strickland, who went to Texas with them, had returned to Missouri before this move). He engaged in general farming and cattle raising there, was initiated into the Masonic Lodge dur­ing the Civil War period, and became a member of the Macedonia Baptist Church, afterwards rising to and for years continuing as a minister of the Baptist faith. George Latham and his wife and at least two of their children moved to Almagordo, New Mexico, in 1898,

 

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where the children still live, and where both parents died--he on February 17, 1924; his wife had passed away May 23, 1917.

 

Of the twelve children born of this marriage, the five now, or very lately, living are: (1) Joseph Young Latham, their fourth child, who was born February 22, 1865, lives at Alamogordo, New Mexico, with his wife the former Anna Shulte, to whom he was married De­cember 11, 1890. He has been chief of police of his home city, and taught school there for many years. (2) Clara Loveworth Latham, born April 7, 1867, also lives at Alamogordo, where she taught in the public schools and now conducts a private school; she is single. (3) Benjamin Ely Latham, eighth child, born November 1, 1872, was married about 1925 to Miss Herrie Sherrill; they live at Alzada, Montana. (4) Sarah Jane Iantha Latham, tenth child, lives at Bertram, Burnet County, Texas; she was born October 16, 1876, and was mar­ried in 1898 to G. G. Hardin, who has been dead many years. (5) Georgia Bessie May Latham, the youngest child, born March 9, 1881, was married October 12, 1898, at Highrolls, New Mexico, to A. J. Perrett and now lives at 532 Raymond Street, Glendale, California.

 

The seven children of George Washington Allen Latham, who have passed away are (1) James Valsain Latham, the oldest child, who was born at Vienna July 7, 1859. He made the trip to Texas with his parents, grew to manhood there, and in 1880 joined the Texas Rangers at Fort McCavatt, in which service he stayed seven years. He was married in Blanco County in 1887 to Miss Mattie Johnson, who died April 6, 1892. The two daughters born of this marriage are now Mrs. An­nie Rokeh of 800 Arizona Street, El Paso, Texas, and Mrs. Florence Honsted, 4900 Westminster Street