Lathan, Edmond

LATHAN

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/22/2019 at 15:53:12

Edmond Lathan

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.675)
EDMOND LATHAN of section 1, Hardin Township, came to this county May 5, 1851. He was born on Elk River, Clay County, Indiana, July 14, 1824, the son of John and Nancy (BOLLARHIDE) LATHAN, both natives of North Carolina, the former of English ancestry and the latter of German. They were married in North Carolina and afterward removed to Indiana about 1812, where they were among the early settlers. They reared a family of eight children, namely: Utley Ann, Elizabeth, Edmond, Laborn, John, Carhlotte, Harrison and Eliza Ann. The parents died in Boone County, Iowa, near Des Moines, the father at fifty-two years of age and the mother at the age of sixty-five.

Edmond LATHAN was reared on a farm in Clay County, Indiana, until twenty-four or twenty-five years of age, and his youth was passed at farm work in chopping, clearing, and grubbing. After his marriage, he bought a farm in Clay County, where he lived until 1850 when he sold out and came West to Pottawattamie County, with two teams of horses. He brought his wife and three children with him, and was on the road about twenty days, fording many streams, and crossing the larger ones on ferry-boats, camping out at night most of the time. When he arrived in this county, he settled above Crescent City, ten miles from Council Bluffs. Here he lived several years and improved quite a tract of land, and in 1855 built the first school-house erected in the county, which was of hewed logs and shingled roof; he made the shingles with a drawing knife. He sold out some years later and moved to Council Bluffs, where he resided for three years, engaged in teaming and gardening. Mr. LATHAN then moved to Keg Creek Township, where he resided for several years, and in 1878 came to his present farm, which was partly improved and contained a small prairie house.

Mr. LATHAN was united in marriage when twenty years of age to Nancy REEL, who was born near Greencastle, Putnam County, Indiana, the daughter of William A. and Sarah (REEL) REEL. The father was born in Dayton, Ohio, of Irish ancestry. They had nine children, six of whom are now living, namely: John William, who resides in Colorado; Mrs. Martha ALDRIDGE, who resides in Nebraska; Joseph Riley, who lives in Monroe County, near Mapleton; Mary Etta, wife of George COX, who resides in Missouri Valley; Anna, wife of Silas JONES, who resides in Monona County near Mapleton; Edmond, who resides in Nebraska. They lost three children by death: Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the age of forty-four years; Edith, who died in childhood; and a babe. Mrs. LATHAN died in 1859, when thirty-five years of age. Mr. LATHAN was married to his present wife in 1861, to Mrs. Jessie MARTIN, nee UNDERWOOD, who was born in Scotland, and a sister of Samuel G. UNDERWOOD, of Keg Creek Township. They have four children: Nancy Ann, wife of G. L. BROWN, residing in Washington Township; Samuel, engaged in the timber business in Butte, Montana; Harrison, at home; and Jessie, also at home. Politically, Mr. LATHAN is a Democrat and has been a member of the Baptist Church for forty-five years. He was at one time a member of the Methodist Church and a moderator in the Baptist Church.