My summer goal this year is to learn all I can about my maternal 3rd great grandfather, Jefferson LATTY. Jefferson’s daughter was Druziller LATTY who married James BULLOCK. They had a daughter, Laura Ann. Laura is the mother of my grandmother.

UPDATE: I came across a document today that I had set aside at some point rather than filing it. (Note to self: always file your documents!) The document is Felix LATTA’s Eastern Cherokee application #10748 signed on 8 January 1909. In his affidavit, Felix names his family members including his brother Jefferson LATTA. He also explains in a letter that the surname was spelled both ways – LATTA and LATTY – and that in 1851, it was spelled LATTY. This is confirmed with actual records. He states in his testimony that his brother Jefferson died in 1893. Later in the affidavit, he states Jefferson died in 1889. His application has tied up several loose ends and I was glad to find it again. I’m going to leave the original blog post as I wrote it other than this update paragraph. I think it’s value is in showing the research process and how the conclusions a researcher makes can change as each new piece of information is found.

As I worked with the information I have about Jefferson and tried to make a timeline for his life, I began to question what I thought I knew about him. It started with his date of death. All the information on Ancestry and on Find a Grave says he died in 1892 and is buried in McDonald County, Missouri. Up until now, I never questioned this information even though I could never prove it either. I’ve been to the cemetery in McDonald County and there is no marked grave there for him. Even so, this isn’t uncommon and I didn’t question it.

When I started putting together a timeline of his life though, new possibilities began to form. I can only document his life from 1850 (when he was about 23 years old) until he was listed as AWOL on 14 December 1862 on his Confederate military service records. He was in Tennessee with his parents in 1850. He appears again in 1851 in Saline District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory (now the areas of Delaware and Mayes Counties, Oklahoma) with his mother and someone I presume to be his sibling. By 1860, he’s married and living in McDonald County, Missouri. This location matches with witness testimony given in later applications for Dawes Roll numbers by other family members. The next records are his Civil War military records.

Looking at the documents, I realized I couldn’t place him anywhere at all after his Civil War service. There are no records for him anywhere I’ve looked. In 1870, his wife and daughters are living with another family in neighboring Benton County, Arkansas. By 1880, his wife has declared herself a widow and she’s living with their now-adult married daughter, Druziller. I began asking myself a lot of questions and looking at my research with a new perspective.

My First New Hypothesis

Initially, I thought perhaps he’d gone back home to visit his wife and children. I’ve been told many men did that. They’d take a “break” from the war, go home, and then return to the battlefield. In 1870, Irena had a young girl in her household who most researchers say was born in October of 1862. If the girl were Jefferson’s daughter, perhaps Jefferson snuck off after the battle of Prairie Grove to go see his newborn daughter. (I say ‘if’ because this family frequently took in each others’ children and raised them, and Jefferson had at least one child in his home that fit this scenario. Also, there are some discrepancies about her birthdate.)

Many online trees on Ancestry list 5 children as belonging to Jefferson and Irena. In the process of trying to determine which of the children actually belonged to Jefferson and Irena, I came to some conclusions. Here’s a breakdown of each child attributed to them and what I believe about each child.

James Monroe LATTY

I know that James did not belong to Jefferson, but rather to Jefferson’s sibling. I don’t know the backstory as to why Jefferson and Irena were raising James. He shows up in their household in 1860 at the age of 12. By 1870, he’s out on his own. This is a photo of James Monroe LATTY:

Sarah Ellen LATTY

I don’t know who Sarah’s parents were, but I don’t believe Jefferson and Irena were her parents. Some have claimed that the daughter who went by ‘Elen’ in the 1870 census was Sarah. I don’t believe this is true. Sarah is alleged to have been born in the same month and year as Druziller and I know for a fact Druziller is the biological daughter of Jefferson and Irena and she is not a twin. Druziller was born in McDonald County, Missouri which is exactly where Jefferson and Irena were in that time period. Sarah has both Georgia and Tennessee listed as a birthplace. Sarah isn’t listed on the 1860 census with Jefferson and Irena like Druziller is. All of this data indicates Sarah was born to a different family. As far as records go, I don’t have any record that ever lists Sarah as living with Jefferson and/or Irena.

Druziller Mahala LATTY

Druziller is the biological child of Jefferson and Irena. This is documented with vital records and backed up by census records. DNA research also backs up this relationship.

Lucinda Cynthia LATTY

To be honest, I don’t know why some list Lucinda as a daughter of Jefferson and Irena. There is never a child by this name in the census records with Jefferson or Irena. I have no documentation that shows her to be a daughter. This same child is also listed with the TYNER family. So is she a TYNER? Did she ever live with Jefferson and/or Irena? Did Irena have a child she couldn’t keep that she gave to the TYNER’s to raise? Did the TYNER’s give Lucinda to the LATTY’s for a time? I don’t know. The TYNER family was closely related to the LATTY family so it could have gone in any of these directions. For now, I don’t believe Jefferson and Irena had a daughter named Lucinda.

Martha Ellen LATTY

This is the child I believe is listed as ‘Elen’ and as Irena’s daughter in the 1870 census. She is the only one other than Druziller and James who shows up on a record with Jefferson and/or Irena.

Most people show Marth Ellen being born in October of 1862 even though the 1870 census indicates she was born in 1858 or 1859. If she were born in 1862, the timeline would have looked like this: Irena got pregnant in January of 1862, Jefferson enlisted in August of 1862 and his muster-in date was September of 1862. Elen was born in October of 1862. Jefferson fought in the Battle of Prairie Grove in December of 1862 and then disappeared from records and was counted AWOL by the military.

This is why my initial “new” hypothesis was that he snuck away after the Battle of Prairie Grove and went to see his newborn daughter.

My Current New Hypothesis

My new current hypothesis has become this: Jefferson LATTY died in, or shortly after, the Battle of Prairie Grove.

In December of 1862, Jefferson fought for the Confederacy at the Battle of Prairie Grove in Prairie Grove, Washington County, Arkansas. According to Wikipedia, this battle “secured the Union control of northwestern Arkansas”. (Wikipedia) The Confederacy lost a lot of men in this battle. Wikipedia says:

The Confederates had to leave many of their dead on the field, in piles and surrounded with makeshift barriers to keep feral pigs from eating the corpses. 

Wikipedia

So in the middle of winter, the surviving Confederate soldiers quickly piled up the bodies of their fellow soldiers – friends, and some of them family – and put a barrier around as many of them as they could before retreating to save their own lives. Sounds horrifying! Even worse, I’ve come to believe Jefferson was one of many left on that battlefield either dead or dying soon after the battle. Jefferson’s military records list him as AWOL from 14 December 1862 on.

By March of 1863, the Confederates were fighting the Union at the Battle of Pea Ridge but during that time period (March-April, 1863), Jefferson’s military records reveal that he was still AWOL and had not been seen since the Battle of Prairie Grove.

Considering that Jefferson never shows up in another record after that, I have to assume that he either died in the battle or shortly thereafter (within a week). IF he ever made it back home, I believe he died shortly after getting there – maybe even before he made it all the way home. The lack of records is so complete as to paint the picture that he didn’t survive the Civil War. Of course, my hypothesis could be proven wrong with the discovery of more military records or some other record that has yet to be found.

Future Research

This summer I’m planning to take research trips to the Cherokee National Research Center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma to delve into the Drennan Roll that Jefferson was on and to look for more LATTY records in witness testimonies given on tribal citizenship applications.

I’m planning to go to the courthouses in McDonald County, Missouri, and Benton and Washington Counties in Arkansas to look for records. Beyond that, I’d like to get to the Missouri State Archives to research the Missouri Confederate service records that are kept there. I also plan to call the Midwest Genealogy Center in Kansas City, Missouri, to see if they may have records I won’t find elsewhere.

Hopefully, by the time summer is over I will have solved some of the mysteries of Jefferson’s life. If I do, I’ll be sure to update you.

Until next time,

Lisa at Days of Our Lives blog