"BLACKLEG" OF THE FAMILY - Branch 46
By Sue Lattea Cox

    Many of us have a black sheep in the family, but few of us can say that we have a "blackleg" in the family.  In researching my own family tree, I have a William Latta, son of John Latta, who disappeared from Huntington County, Pennsylvania.  John's sons supposedly "went west," so I decided to search on www.google.com and see if I could find anything on a William Latta.  In searching the results, I came across several William Lattas, but one in particular caught my attention.  In the History of Copley, Ohio, I came across an interesting article about a William Latta of Bath, Ohio.  The history stated: "The busy commercial activities in Montrose are not really all that new.  Also called Ellis Corners or Latta's Corners, Montrose has a long history of business.  When it was Latta's Corners, a tavern keeper, William Latta actually, was chiefly interested in counterfeiting and his hotel became a hangout for the gang of dandies he was in cahoots with."  In the 1820's with the commerce developing from the opening of the Ohio canal, a man by the name of James Brown formed a counterfeiting ring, "the blacklegs," in the Akron, Ohio area.  Historian Samuel A. Lane, Sheriff of Akron, Ohio, and editor of The Buzzard wrote under the pen name of "Jedediah Brownhead, Esq.," in 1825, about James Brown and his followers - "for your own protection, you should note the stature of the men who have taken up storekeeping in the little neighboring town of Boston.  They are......William Latta of Bath...these men are counterfeiters; and on a vast and damaging scale."
    Finding this interesting, I started searching for "William.Latta" and "counterfeiter."  I came across an article on The Life and Death of McGregor McDougle, aka Gregor McDougle, or Blackhawk.  Mr. McDougle was originally from Ontario, Canada, but had fallen into the band of counterfeiters in Ohio and New York.  He had been arrested in Ligonier, Indiana, by the Noble County "Regulators," and gave his confession before the committee before his hanging.  He stated that "I then went to Chemung County, NY where I fell in company with one Sherman Mallett, and with our wives came to Burr Oak, Michigan, and there met with Wm. Latta.  Bought a place opposite, and stayed there several weeks repairing the place.  Mallett hired a horse at a livery stable and drive to Port Mitchell; broke open a store, and stolen a lot of silk goods and kid gloves; he put in an overcoat and started for home, but lost a piece near the tamarack; took rest to Latta's.  About six weeks after Latta came, and proposed to John McDougle, Sherman Mallett and myself that he would furnish us with some counterfeit money if we would get some goods."  Mr. McDougle and the men broke into another store and stole dry goods and "sold a part to Latta." 
    I noted that William Latta must have moved from Bath, Ohio to Michigan, so I began looking at the Branches to see which branch he might be from.  I noted in Branch 46 that Moses Latta of Westmoreland, PA, had moved to the Bath, Ohio area, and that some of his children had gone on to Michigan.  I sent out an inquiry to the Latta Newsletter and received a reply from Barbara R. Smith of West Valley City, Utah.  She had information on Moses Latta; that he had died in Medina, Ohio, and that his son, William Latta, was Administrator of his estate.  This was in 1825.  Moses Latta and his family came to Bath in 1810.  Barbara had information on the whole family, which I have added to the Branch 46 notes. We felt that since William was Administrator of the Estate and was listed in the census, that he was the oldest son of Moses Latta and Rachel Todd.  Moses and Rachel had 4 sons and 7 daughters in the 1820 census and William showed up in the 1830 census.  Looking at the Branch 46 notes, I noted that several of William's sisters married in Branch County, Michigan.  Barbara also enclosed a history of DeKalb County, Indiana which mentioned the notorious "blacklegs" counterfeit ring as being in Noble County, Indiana.  Apparently, William was an early settler and built a saw mill in Orange township in 1836.  It later became a hangout to the blacklegs.  Looking at the 1850 census for DeKalb County, I found William Latta, age 40, male, farmer, born in PA.  His wife was Eliza, age 37, born in PA.  His children were Christiana, age 12, Lydia, age 10, Joseph T. H., age 6, and Catharine Cidelia, age 3, all born in Ohio.  
    Mr. Abram F. Beecher, one of the early settlers, tells of an account in which he tangled with William Latta.  A friend of his, Dr. Pink was living in Hamilton, and the "blacklegs" of Noble County stole his horse.  "Mr. Beecher and a Willard Eddy started on horseback for the Tamarack House to look for the horse.  Although they did not find the animal, they did find about a dozen of the most noted blacklegs in a barn, distributing their counterfeit money to their runners. They had quite a pile of it.  Beecher made a lunge among them and grabbed a lot of their money, and started to run away; but Latta, their President, knocked him down, and they got all the paper back.  It was certainly lucky that the two did not get hurt.  They went to a Justice to take law, but the Justice was either one of the gang or afraid of his life or property.  It was about that time that several barns were burned in Noble County by the blacklegs.  Pity Beecher's strength had not be equal to his noble courage.  Pink went out to look for his horse, but got nothing but a severe raw-hiding from Latta for his trouble and his horse.  I myself have lost about $200 by the same gang of villains.  This Belle Fountain road was one of the principal routes leading to their nest."
    I began searching for a history of Noble County, Indiana, and came across an article on Auburn and Vicinity.  Since I have not received permission to print the article from the writers, I will shorten the story for you.  If you would like to read the whole account, you can find it at http://www.rootsweb.com/~indekalb/other/auburn.html.

    The time was 1863 and the civil war was in full swing.  Many young men in the Noble County area were enlisted in the war and several had returned to the area as deserters.  As it happened, "Capt. Latta," deputy provost marshal of the district, helped round up deserters and return them to duty.  The following story tells about the night of August 17, 1863, when Captain Latta, while proceeding to arrest a deserter named Odell at the home of his mother in Fairfield township, was shot dead by the soldier, who then fled and escaped a hot pursuit. 
    Latta had a bad reputation to begin with, and this made his work all the more disagreeable to the people in the area.  He had, whether justly or not, the reputation of being connected with the gang of horse thieves, counterfeiters, etc., that had for years infested Noble and adjoining counties.  D. Z. Hoffman, of Noble County, described Latta as a man of great strength, he remembered him well, having seen him often.  In Auburn, in 1863, Latta was very active in looking up deserters and such.  Mr. Latta had been trying to catch some deserters and suggested to a Mr. Houser of Auburn that he should get up a party and have a dance at some convenient place.  This was about a week or ten days before his murder.  Mr. Latta had figured on the young boys who were deserters coming to the party, and thus he could find them.  The dance was scheduled and "Latta came with the rest, coming over from headquarters at Kendallville, having a woman in the buggy with him.  It was later learned that she was one of the tough characters that swarmed about the then military headquarters at Kendallville."  Mr. Houser borrowed Latta's buggy to go after a girl in the area, and on his return found the party broke up and nothing doing in that line, and Latta had a boy by the name of Hewitt handcuffed.  The people soon disbursed and Latta left in his rig, with the prisoner and woman, and proceeded alone, across the road, to arrest Odell.  "He knocked at the door and Mrs. Odell got up, lighted a lamp, and without dressing asked what was wanted.  Latta asked if "Jim" was at home, and was told he was.  He told her to have him get up and come out as he wanted to see him.  As Mrs. Odell hesitated, Latta broke open the door, forced his way into the house, and stared for the stairway, as Mrs. Odell had told him her son was upstairs.  Odell himself had heard the trouble, and realized what was wanted, jumped out of bed, got his revolver and stood at the head of the stairs.  He warned Latta not to come up, as he would surely kill him.  But Latta's blood was up, and springing forward, he reached about the middle of the stairs when Odell fired.  The aim was deadly, for the bullet struck his heart.  With an exclamation "I am shot!" he stepped down on the floor, put the lamp, which he had wrested from Mrs. Odell as he came in, down on the table, walked to the door, then out into the yard several steps toward the gate, then fell dead."  The woman in the buggy took the handcuffs off of the prisoner, and Latta's body was put into the rig and taken across to Buchanan's, where it was cared for, and returned to Kendallville the next morning.  "But Odell was never seen again.  It is apparent, too, that Latta's touch character made the people care much less about punishing his slayer, than they would had he been a decent man."