The following article pertains to the Latta Brothers, settlers in Orange Co., N.C. near Hillsborough. The family line at the bottom pertains to James Latta. My family line is with John Latta.

Mark Phelps

Latta Brothers of Orange County, NC

Contributed by Louise Overton

Family tradition says that during the first half of the 18th Century there came

to the State of Pennsylvania, from Ireland, five brothers LATTA, and that three

of them, James, John and Thomas came to Orange County, North Carolina, and

settled there.

From the deeds, marriage bonds, wills and litigation some view of the LATTAS'

progress through the Eno River is possible. They lie buried in the graveyards of

St. Mary's Chapel, New Sharon Church, Mount Lebanon Church and in a well kept

corner of a field off Umstead Road.

Of the three original brothers, James, Thomas and John, James appears to have

been the landowner with the livestock. He was a homesteader on the lands of

Michael SYNOTT whose 500 acres were traversed by exactly one mile of the Great

Indian Trading Path. Little is known of Thomas. It was said "he could not speak

a word of English and could only be understood when he got angry and cussed".

John seems to have been in the swing of Orange County development with other

surveyors and attorneys. His descendants still live near the north bank of the

Eno in Durham County where Latta Road takes their name about 1928, but there was

an early history of road building in the LATTA family beginning with two of the

original brothers.

In the Orange County Court Minutes of 1783, "John and Thomas LATTIE were

appointed to lay out a road from the Caswell line near TAP's Mill to cross Enoe

River at Charles and Robert ABERCROMBIE's Mill." This road now is NC Highway

501, passes by West Point Mill through the counties of Durham and Person to the

county seat of Roxboro and the North.

There is a theory with a bit of the Irish in it, that the curious name LATTA is

a corruption of the word "Loveletter" Local pronunciation in the form "LATTIE"

James O. LATTA was a son of Simpson O. LATTA and Hawkins LATTA. James traded

land on present day Alson Avenue on the southside of Durham for land in northern

Durham. This land was approximately bounded by Guess Road, Latta Road, Roxboro

Road and Eno River. James O. LATTA and Eugenia DUKE lived in a log house

consisting of two sections, one for living and one for cooking. The entrance was

from Guess Road, near the present Riverside Baptist Church. The Latta family

were members of Mt. Lebanon Church.

1...James LATTA b. Ireland, 1750-1825

2...James LATTA, 1785-1870 married Nancy Hannah HOLLOWAY 1788-1853

3...Simpson N. LATTA and Hawkins ALSTON

4...James Osborne LATTA 1853-1921

5...Sarah Everette LATTA 1873-1970 married ROBERTS

Maternal line of Sarah Everette LATTA

1....Taylor DUKE and Dicey JONES

2...Griff DUKE and Mary COZART

3...Green DUKE and Mary HALL

4...Eugenia Hellen DUKE 1851-1929 and James Osborne LATTA

5...Sarah Everette LATTA ROBERTS 1873-1970

Sources:

Latta Estate Records in NC Archives.

Orange Co. NC Deeds Orange Co. Courthouse

Orange Co. NC Historical Society

Mt. Lebanon Church History

1842 Will of Thomas LATTA

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