Lieut. Jasper Latham, Sr.

He was buried at the Starr Cemetery in Groton, New London County, Connecticut. Lieutenant Jasper Latham's death November 2, 1752 is verified by Joshua Hempstead's Diary page 597. Jasper was always referred to as Lieutenant Jasper Latham. He must have been commissioned in the Queen Anne's War (1702-1713 - the second of the four French & Indian Wars. The French and the Iroquois wiped out a Puritan settlement at Deerfield, Massachuetts in 1704 and the war was on in the Massachusetts area. By 1710, a force of New England volunteers under Francis Nicholson captured Port Royal, Acadia (renamed Nova Scotia). The war concluded in 1713.

Lieutenant Jasper Latham and Abigail (Burrows) Latham are buried in the Starr Cemetery in Groton, New London County, Connecticut according to the Hale Collection record. A lot of other Latham relatives are also in this same cemetery according to the Hale Collection record. When I (Dale W. Latham) was in Groton, Connecticut in April, 1987, I searched throughout this cemetery and could not find any gravestones from this period that had the inscriptions intact. Many of the gravestones were made from sandstone and time had washed the face off of a lot of the stones. However, Bill Thompson, of 11085 Sharp Road, Linden, Michigan 48451-9407 (Ph. 810/735-7004), was there at a later date (in 1993, I believe) and did find many of the Latham gravestones, including Lt. Jasper Latham's stone still intact and in very good condition. He also sent me sketches of the tombstones for Lt. Jasper Latham and Abigail (Burrows) Latham and this verifies their dates of death. Bill Thompson also visited the large three story home built by Lt. Jasper Latham about 1732 in Groton, Conn. and moved in March, 1983 to Hartland, Vermont (it was disassembled piece by piece in Groton and re-assembled in Hartland by Stephan P. Mack). It was used for several years as a restaurant, but the owner went bankrupt, after putting about $400,000 into it and the bank was trying to sell it for $180,000. Bill Thompson went through the house in 1993 and took video pictures of the interior and sent me a copy of the video.

In 1733 Lt. Jasper Latham bought gravestones for William Latham. In 1732 he was executor, with Christopher Avery, of the estate of William Latham, deceased per court record Dec. 6, 1732. This was was probably William Latham (3), son of Joseph Latham (2) and Grandson of Cary Latham (1). There was a Small Pox Epidermic at this time and William (3) died of Small Pox on November 5, 1732 at age 62, and his son, William (4) died on November 9, 1732 ,age 29, probably also of Small Pox. William Latham (3) was a brother to Jasper Latham and 10 years older than Jasper.

Also, August 18, 1735, Lt. Jasper Latham was executor for Cary Latham (4) son of Cary Latham (3), grandson of Joseph Latham (2). In 1746, Lt. Jasper Latham was executor for Joseph Latham (3) of Lyme, Connecticut, son of Joseph Latham (2) and brother of Jasper Latham. Joseph Latham (3) was about 7 years younger than Jasper Latham.

Lt. Jasper Latham's will was dated August 15, 1749 at New London, Connecticut.