"Chapter 7: Lathams of Culpeper County
John Latham, the founder of this family, has obscure
origins. The pertinent evidence is almost contradictory.
His first appearance is on 11 Jun 1726, when John Latham of
Drysdale Parish in King and Queen County was granted 1000
acres in Spotsylvania County, along Muddy Run in the fork of
the Rappahannock River (St. George's Parish); this has all
the markings of a headright grant (50 acres for each of 20
persons) and is recorded in Virginia PATENT BOOK 12, page
401 (see Nugent, CAVALIERS & PIONEERS 3:300). In Chapter 1
of this Catalog, William Latham is listed as a headright
claimed in 1653 for a grant of land in King and Queen
County; one is tempted to assume a connection between
William Latham of 1653 and John Latham here (grandfather/
grandson, for example). By 3 Mar 1729/30, John Latham was
living in Caroline County, likely near Port Royal on the
south bank of the Rappahannock, just east of Spotsylvania
County; on that date, likely parlaying his 1726 grant, he
bought 1000 acres in the forks of the Rappahannock in Spot-
sylvania County from Thomas Guy of King and Queen County,
for ten pounds sterling (W. A. Crozier, SPOTSYLVANIA CO. VA
RECORDS, p. 110 [repr. 1955]). That makes the most of John
Latham's King and Queen County connections.