1691EducationOxford, Oxfordshire, England — Matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford
1700MarriedMary Deane — South Farnham, Essex, Virginia, United States
1701ArrivalVirginia
5 Apr 1701EmploymentSouth Farnham Parish, Essex, Virginia, USA — Installed as rector of South Farnham Parish, served 1701-1732
1705MarriedPhoebe Slaughter — South Farnham, Essex, Virginia, United States
1725MarriedMary Deane — Essex, Virginia, USA
—ResidenceOxford, Oxfordshire, England
(-)MarriedMary Deane

Life as they lived it

Not the dates — the person. What the records happen to show of work, habits, possessions and the odd episode. Each line says where it comes from.

1716 In December 1716 part of his vestry suspended him, after nearly sixteen years as their minister, without assigning any reason, and the churchwardens had the church shut. Governor Spotswood called it "such an exorbitant act of power, yt even ye Pope of Rome never pretended to a greater," and the Council ordered the doors opened. Their complaint, a fellow clergyman wrote in 1724, was that they could not understand him, "he having a small Tang of the French."

episode · Gov. Spotswood to the vestry, 17 Dec 1716; Council order, Jan 1716/17; Hugh Jones, The Present State of Virginia (1724) — all printed in Parson Latané (1936), pp. 25–28

1724 Answering the Bishop of London's questions in May 1724, he put his parish at "200 or thereabouts" families and his salary at 16,000 pounds of tobacco, so that its value in money was "very uncertain." Asked about "Infidels, bond or free," he wrote that the infidels in the parish were slaves, and that the means of their conversion was Sunday service at church, "which few of them attend to."

work · His answers to the Bishop of London's queries, 11 May 1724 (Fulham Papers, Lambeth Palace), printed in Parson Latané (1936), pp. 31–32

1733 His will divided sixteen enslaved people among his daughters by name. It gave his daughter Susanna, besides her share, "one negro Girl named Lucy of Eight years old," and his daughter Mariann "a negro woman called Varina." The 1936 family history that prints the will leaves out the other sixteen names.

household · His will, proved in Essex County 17 April 1733, printed in Parson Latané (1936), p. 49

1733 His will barred three daughters from taking legacies their grandmother had left them, which he said "was not in her power to give"; any daughter "so refractory as to insist" was to have twelve pence instead. He lent the rest of his estate to his wife only until she married again, when "she shall be turned out of the possession" of it.

voice · His will, proved in Essex County 17 April 1733, printed in Parson Latané (1936), pp. 48–49

1734 The inventory of his estate listed a library of about one hundred and fifty volumes, mostly theology, with some French and a few Greek and Latin titles. Beside Donne's sermons and A Short and Easy Method with Quakers stood Tale of a Tub, the second volume of The Spectator, Playford's music, Cinna, a French tragedy, a surveying manual and the first edition of Beverley's history of Virginia.

possession · Inventory of his estate, Essex County, recorded 15 October 1734, book list printed in Parson Latané (1936), pp. 46, 73–76

Records behind this page

Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007)

Ancestry.com, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012)

Find a Grave ↗

Foster, Joseph. Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714, Early Series, vol. III (Oxford: James Parker & Co., 1891)

Vol. III, p. 883

read the transcript

Latane, Lewis, s Henry, of "Jouins Auguienne", pleb. Queen's Coll., matric, 24 Nov. 1691, aged 19 (subs paup); the place names are doubtful, but may refer to Jouan in Guyenne in France. -- NAMES THE FATHER OF THE EMIGRANT: "s Henry" = son of Henry. Text read personally 3 Aug 2026 in archive.org item alumnioxoniensi01oxfogoog; page and volume established from _djvu.xml bounding boxes (leaf 29, running head "Gregory Larkworthy. 1500-1714. Henry Latham.", footer "[ 883 ]") and confirmed in two further scans. Lucy Latane, Parson Latane (1936), reports that the entry was checked against Queen's College's own manuscript register in 1908, the Provost producing "a volume marked 1691" holding "the original entry". The Provost glossed "subs paup" as meaning the student "had duties to perform for what he received, in other words was working his way".

Gale Research, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s

Place: Virginia; Year: 1701; Page Number: 30

Latane, Lucy Temple. Parson Latane, 1672-1732 (Norman, Remington Co., Baltimore, 1936) - archive.org full text

pp. 38-43 and 49-50 (the three marriages, the note-book list of children, the 1748 indenture, the 1721 Liverpool letters, his death year)

read the transcript

[Read 16 Oct 2026 in the archive.org full text, sources/latane-parentage-2026-08-10/parsonlatane_djvu.txt.] p. 38: 'Of the first wife who came with him from England we do not know even the name. Of her death there is no mention; we have only the fact that she left one daughter, Charlotte. The second wife was Phebe, the Widow Peachey'. pp. 39-40, the note-book list of his children: 'Charlotte Latane, Dec. ye 28th' [with '1700' written across the page near her name], then 'Phebe Latane, September ye ... Susanna Latane, February ye . Henry Latane, January ye 28 . William Latane, Dec. ye 11, . Henrietta Latane, December, ye .', then the death of his wife Phebe, January 10, 1710/11, and the marriage to Mary Deane, 1716; then Catherine 1717, Lewis 1720, John 1722, Maryanne 1724/5. p. 40, the 1748 indenture: 'Lewis Montague of the County of Essex, Planter, Eldest son of and Heir of Abram Montague late of said County of Essex Planter dec'd, by Charlotte his late wife (also deceased) only daughter of said Lewis Latane Clerk, dec'd by his first wife, Susanna Latane of the County of King and Queen, Spinster one of the daughters of the said Lewis Latane, Clerk, dec'd by his second wife, Susanna Jones only daughter and Heir of William Jones ... by Henrietta his late wife (also dec'd) another of the daughters of the said Lewis Latane by his second wife, and his daughter Phebe since deceased without issue'. p. 41: 'The two sons, Henry and William, were sent to England to be educated ... both boys died of smallpox.' pp. 41-43, Eliz. Evered to 'The Rev'd Mr. Lewis Latane', Liverpool, 25 Oct 1721: 'only Henry hath been troubled with a quinsey in his throat ... William Latane att Present is the best scolar ... your sons hath both write to you'; and 3 Nov 1721: 'youre son Henry and Mr. Meriwether hath been seased with the Small Pox ... about ye 30 of October ... they are very likely to get well throu them'. p. 50: 'the exact date of Lewis Latane's death is unknown. It was certainly in the year 1732'.

Research notes

Working notes from the research, kept verbatim — what was read, what it proved, what stays open. Many open with a line grading the parentage; what the grades mean.

Research note · 16 Oct 2026

AUDITED 16 Oct 2026 - TWO SONS ADDED, A DAUGHTER RE-HOMED, A DATE CORRECTED. (1) His sons HENRY and WILLIAM LATANE, children of his second wife Phebe, were not in the tree and are now added. His note-book's list of his children, printed in Parson Latane (1936) pp. 39-40, runs 'Charlotte Latane, Dec. ye 28th', then 'Phebe ... Susanna ... Henry Latane, January ye 28 ... William Latane, Dec. ye 11 ... Henrietta Latane, December' (the years torn away), and then the death of his wife Phebe, 10 January 1710/11. Two letters from Eliz. Evered of Liverpool to 'The Rev'd Mr. Lewis Latane', dated 25 Oct and 3 Nov 1721 (pp. 41-43), report on 'your sons', name Henry and William, and say Henry was taken with smallpox about 30 Oct 1721. The book says both boys died of smallpox in England. That is the family's account: the second letter itself expected Henry to recover. The 1748 indenture (p. 40) names none of his sons among his heirs, so each son's death is entered as before 1748, with no place. (2) His daughter [559] Charlotte was by his FIRST wife (the 1748 indenture, p. 40) and now sits in a family of her own with an unknown mother. (3) His Employment fact read 'served 1701- 1733'. He died in 1732 (p. 50: 'It was certainly in the year 1732'); 1733 is the year his will was proved, 17 April 1733 (p. 49). Corrected to 1701-1732.

Elsewhere

This person on Ancestry (sign-in required)