My Genealogy Hound

William R. Latimer was born in what is now Howard County, Ark., on January 29, 1843, and passed the greater part of his youth at Centre Point, attending school. When twenty-four years old, he left home and devoted his attention to farming. He enlisted in the Nineteenth Regiment Arkansas Infantry in 1861, under Col. Hutchison, and afterward had command of the regiment. Mr. Latimer was in the battles of Arkansas Post, Chickamauga, and all through the Georgia campaign. He left the regiment at Tuscumbia, Ala., was taken prisoner at Arkansas Post and confined at Camp Douglas for three months; was then exchanged and sent to Richmond, Va., after being kept at Petersburg for some weeks; was wounded at Chickamauga by a ball in the right hip, a wound from which he has never recovered. A heavy loser by the war, both in stock and cotton, Mr. Latimer has since been highly successful in agricultural pursuits, owning 320 acres of valuable land in Howard County. He was twice married; first, to Miss Nancy A. McCown, a daughter of Jackson McCown, of Arkansas. She died August 14, 1886, leaving seven children: James J., Annie E. L., J. W. H., George P., Floretta R., Mamie O., Clarence E. June 29, 1887, Mr. Latimer married Miss R. A. Willis, of Mississippi, who was born October 11, 1848, and is still living. They have three children: Claud A., Mary C, Willis V. Mr. Latimer is a son of Isham P. Latimer, who was born in Kentucky in 1812, and died in 1876. He married Miss Mary C. Henry, of Tennessee, who died in 1847, leaving nine children. In 1850 Mr. Latimer married Mrs. Mary A. Meers, of South Carolina, and they have four children, of whom Lydia P., Samuel M. and Isabella V. are now living.