Philip C. Latham (1804-44) was listed as a clerk in James Henry’s store at First and Jefferson streets in 1828, according to John Todd Stuart’s later remembrances. (The store is No. 13 on the reconstructed map of 1828 Springfield.) However, the centennial History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County reports Latham went to work in the county clerk’s office starting in 1827.
Philip Latham was the son of James Latham (1726-1826), who lived near Elkhart, then part of Sangamon County, starting in 1819. James Latham was appointed the county’s first probate judge in 1821, but served only “a year or two” in that post, according to the History of the Early Settlers. He was named to supervise Indians near Fort Clark and moved there about 1823.
Philip Latham was killed by a lightning strike near Shawneetown in 1844.
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