E-BAY AUCTION OF THE EDWARD LATTA PAPERS

By Randy Phillips, Vice-President

    Not wanting to let the letters slip away yesterday, I went ahead and bid on and won the auction.  One way or the other, I wanted to insure that these wound up in the hands of the LGS or the branch of origin.  Due to the short time frame I had to work there really wasn't time to try and get someone else involved even though I would have liked to see someone from that branch have an opportunity to purchase a part of their history.  I will be working on a plan for handling these in the future but this one caught me by surprise.  Here is the description of the letters as copied from E-Bay:

    Collection of Americana letters of Edward T. Latta, Union officer, Captain with the 4th Regiment Indiana home guard.  He was one of very few officers who served with Native Americans during the Civil War.  Latta became a land speculator and purchasing agent for railroads.  During the 1800s he left his family behind in Grand View, Iowa and relocated to Leavenworth, Kansas.  The collection consists of deeds, warrants, and a series of 26 letters dated 1882 and 1883, on assorted letterheads, written by Latta to his wife.  They detail commercial transactions and also poignantly reveal how difficult it was for him to be living apart from his family.  From checking our website this appears to be: 83 Edward Thompson (7) Latta.  [Branch 3].