Latta Ancestry – Emigration from the United States to Canada

John Latta (1782-1846) and Susannah Pitman (1783-1854)

John William Latta (1782-1846)

When John William Latta was born on August 11, 1782, in Manhattan, New York, United States, his father, William John Latta (1761-1796) and his mother, Anne Jackson (1761-1847), were both 21 years old. It is noteworthy that William John Latta was born in Ireland and emigrated to the United States with his parents about 1768 at the age of 7 years.

John William Latta married Susannah Pitman on November 17, 1800, when he was 18 years old at Adulphustown, Lennox Addington Prince Edward, Ontario (known as Upper Canada at the time). The family tree of John William Latta and Susannah Pitman shows that they had 13 children (6 boys and 7 girls) over a 30-year period. Our direct Latta lineage is with Gilbert James Latta (1822-1906), who was their youngest son.

Family of John William Latta and Susannah Pitman
(click to enlarge)

According to family records, John William Latta was a Quaker. He moved to Canada where he acquired and developed the Latta Mills property in 1833. He put up a flour mill, saw mills and a factory about 11 miles north of Belleville, Ontario. There, he followed the trade of his ancestors in manufacturing flour.

Latta Mills Painting

Latta Mills Ruins (click to enlarge)

John William Latta died of dropsy on December 5, 1846, in Latta Mills (pictured above), Thurlow, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 64. He is buried at Denyes Cemetery. In his will, dated April 5, 1847, he leaves all his property to his sons Archibald and Gilbert Latta.

Susannah Pitman (1783-1854)

When Susannah Pitman was born about 1783 in North Hero, Vermont, United States, her father, Russell Pitman (1750-1815), was 33, and her mother, Diannah Fraser (1760-1837), was 23. Susannah was the oldest of 5 children in their family (3 girls and 2 boys).

Family of  Russell Pitman and  Diannah Fraser

According to the 1851 Canada Census, Susannah Pitman (age 68) was living with her son Archibald Latta. She died about 1854 in Thurlow, Ontario, at the age of 71, and was buried there.

Latta Ancestry – Four Generations in Canada (Part 4)

Gilbert James Latta (1822-1906) and Margaret Ann O’Donnell (1820-1912)

Gilbert James Latta (1822-1906)

Gilbert James Latta was born on December 15, 1822 in Hastings, Ontario. He was the first in the Latta ancestry to be born in Canada. At that time, his father, John William Latta (1782-1846), and his mother, Susannah Pitman (1782-1846), were both 40 years of age. The family tree shows that Gilbert was their youngest son and one of 13 children (6 boys and 7 girls). According to family records, John William Latta originally moved from the United States to Canada where he acquired and developed the Latta Mills property in 1833. He willed the property to his two youngest sons, Archibald and Gilbert upon his death in 1846.

Family of John William Latta and Susannah Pitman
(click to enlarge)

The Ontario marriage registration records indicate that, when he was 20 years old, Gilbert Latta married Margaret O'Donnell on June 13, 1843 in Victoria, Talbot, Ontario. The marriage was performed by Rev. John Douse and the witnesses were Charles and Elisabeth Harper.

Gilbert Latta and Margaret O'Donnell - Marriage Record 1843

Margaret Ann O'Donnell and Gilbert James Latta

The 1851 Canada Census (Canada West, Hastings County, Thurlow Township) records that Gilbert was a farmer. It notes that he was born in Canada and his wife, Margaret, was born in Ireland. The 1861 Canada Census states that Gilbert was 40 years old, a lumberman by trade and a Bible Christian by religion. It also states that Gilbert’s wife, Margaret, was born in Ireland. The 1871 Canada Census records that Gilbert was a miller and by the 1891 Canada Census, Gilbert was a teamster.

According to the 1910 US Census, Gilbert and Margaret had moved to North Dakota, USA in 1905. That Census confirms that Margaret (age 90, therefore born in 1820) was living with the family of her youngest daughter, Margaret Jane Latta (1863-1952) who had married Robert Mitchell (1860-1941), a harness maker who owned his own shop.

Gilbert James Latta died on October 28, 1906, in Hunter, Cass County, North Dakota, USA, having lived a long life of 83 years, and was buried there at Hunter Cemetery.

Margaret Ann O’Donnell (1820-1912)

Margaret Ann O'Donnell was born on April 15, 1820, in Cork, Ireland. Little is known about her parents or family history but she came to Canada in 1838. She married Gilbert James Latta on June 13, 1843, when she was 23 years old. Between 1843 and 1863, they had seven children. Their family comprised 4 boys and 3 girls. The first-born son, John, died as an infant. The direct Latta lineage continues with the youngest son, James Gilbert Latta (1852-1938).

Family of Gilbert Latta and Margaret O'Donnell

As previously mentioned, Gilbert and Margaret had moved to North Dakota, USA in 1905. The 1910 US Census records that Margaret lived in Hunter, North Dakota, USA, that she was widowed at that time and that her relation to Head of House was mother-in-law.

Margaret Ann O'Donnell died on April 6, 1912, in North Dakota, USA at the impressive age of 91 years (a few days before her 92^nd birthday). She was buried in Hunter Cemetery in Hunter, Cass County, North Dakota, along with her husband.