Maj.(CSA), Woodville Latham, Jr.

He married Eliza Trudeau in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana on 31 Jan 1861.

He married Mrs. Mary N. Estes on 6 Jan 1892 in Maury County, Tennessee.

Latham served as a Confederate officer during the War Between The States. He had served as an ordance officer.

Latham was later, a chemistry professor at West Virginia University.

Major Woodville Latham was tough-minded and ambitious. He hailed from an old Virginia family accustomed to wealth and privilege. As his fortunes altered, Latham had to seek new ventures to keep himself as well as his family in their accustomed style.

The Latham brothers, along with a school chum, came across a new fangled machine in NYC, offering moving images. It was titled: a Kinetoscope.

The young men thought the invention offered great promise - and with some tweaking, they could improve and enhance the machine till it would not only show films but spit money into their pockets!

In 1894, two of the sons of Major Latham - Otway and Grey Latham - became concessionaires for the new fangled entertainment, 'The Edison Kinetoscope.' They formed the 'Kinetoscope Exhibition Company' with partners Samuel J. Tilden plus Enoch J. Rector. The company's purpose was to photograph and exhibit exhibitions - like boxing films.

They got a contract for displaying only prize fights - which were very popular entertainments of the era. They worked on the project till they could run a longer film and present an entire recorded prize fight.

The venture was a success!

A second fight was made filmed along with the opening of a second viewing parlour. Success abounded and afterwards others facilities were opened in Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco. The men were determined to get life-size pictures on the screen.

In December 1894, the Lathams formed the Lambda Company - Lambda being Greek for the letter 'L' / chosen to stand for the family name: LATHAM. This firm was to create and perfect a motion picture camera / projector / etc...

Because of Major Woodville Latham's background / their father's military service to the Confederacy / and organizational skills, he was invited to help in his sons's new venture. He was also well trained in chemicals having been a chemistry professor and would prove helpful in a laboratory when dealing with the film stock and development of darkroom techniques. The Latham sons were planning for their father to carry their workload.

Motion picture production started in earnest like the development of a 'top loop' in the camera. It became known as: 'The LATHAM LOOP' - (a title it still holds today). This slack-portion-of-film was devised so the intermittent mechanism would not pull on the unexposed stock. This technique enabled much longer lengths of film to be taken at one time.

Films produced by his son, Gray Latham others - included a 'Bullfight' lasting more than 10 minutes. They filmed a movie shown on a screen - and premiered it in 1895.

The Lathams, who were once shabby genteel became dandies over night. Police had to control crowds wanting to view the modern marvel. The popularity of their invention did not have 'staying power.'

Unrest prevailed. Arguments and lawsuits developed between the Lathams and the Thomas Edison Co. about who did what. The legal acrimony lasted 13 years, resulting in the Latham's loss...

By 1910 his sons, Otway and Grey, whose hedonistic life styles were not endearing, had lost fortunes, endured divorces and alas, were dead.

The father, who had served as a mediator amongst squabbles and tried to be a level-headed business advisor, outlived his sons. Prior to Major Latham's own demise, he testified about the 'Latham Loop' at a hearing of the Motion Picture Patents Company.

The Latham family films are not works of art, but are very important to the history of the cinema. These are among the very first motion pictures created specifically for the screen.

Latham, G. Woodville BATTLE UNIT NAME: 11th Regiment, Virginia Infantry SIDE: Confederacy COMPANY: A
SOLDIER'S RANK IN: First Lieutenant SOLDIER'S RANK OUT: Captain ALTERNATE NAME: FILM NUMBER: M382 ROLL 33 PLAQUE NUMBER: NOTES: none