Sunday, April 24, 2011

Letter from Baden Dingwall to Isabel Butler 26 August 1982 - Latto Family Information

Dear Mrs Butler

Thank you so much for your most informative letter, it was very much appreciated, any information no matter how small, when added to what has already been researched can be of great value in the study of Genealogy.  Please excuse the 'one finger typing' I do it for two reasons, one my writing is terrible and second, it enables me to keep track of what I have written to who.

I did not know of all the children of James and Mary, only George and David, I knew there was another brother but did not know his name.  Do you know if William was in New Zealand or if Catherine died in Scotland or New Zealand?  I also did not know the ship that they came on from Scotland, if you ask at the library in Christchurch you may be able to get a copy of the shipping list, which would then show the Latto's arrival in New Zealand.  I will also try to get a copy from here. 

I have copies of the following certificates if there are any that you would like pelse feel free to ask and I will photostat them for you.

James Latto; death certificate
Mary Latto; death certificate
David Latto; birth, marriage (Hislop) death certificate
Janet Latto; birth certificate

Unfortunately James and Mary were born and married before civil registration started in Scotland (1855) and these details will only be written in the old Parish Registers.  These registers have been microfilmed and I hope to later on view the films and extract information.  

The death certificates may sound a bit morbid but they have a vast amount of information on them and are a great  help in family research.  James Latto's was one that didn't, who ever gave the information did not know his parents' names and that is one thing we look for in a death certificate.

I will list below what information I have, it may be of interest to you;

James Latto, born about 1826, Fife, Scotland, agricultural labourer, married about 1845, parents unkown, died 20 May 1907, buried at Cust.

Mary Brown, born about 1825, Fife, Scotland, parents George Brown/Catherine Hutchison, died 5 November 1888, buried at Cust.

David Latto, born 11.30pm (the Scotch even put the time) 3 July 1859 at Woodside in the Parish of Markinch, Fife (if you look at a map you will see Markinch) married 16 December 1881 to Janet Hislop at Kaiapoi, died 1926 at Moora, West Australia.

Janet Hislop, born 12 noon, 2 November 1861 at Bonnyrigg in the Parish of Cockpen, Fife, parents Robert Hislop (a teacher in Scotland) and Jane Dalgleish (do not know if they came to New Zealand) they were married 12 June 1855 at Bonnyrigg and their parents were John Hislop/Janet Johnston and Robert Dalgleish/Jean Hastings.  I only know this information because by luck they were married the year registration started and I got a copy of their marriage certificate from Scotland. 

David Latto, second marriage, 16 January 1888 at Fitzroy a suburb of Melbourne to Anne Valentine, born January 1860 at Warrnambool on the western coast of Victoria, parents James Valentine/Jane Anderson.

David and Annie had six children, the first three in Victoria, the others in Western Australia, they were Annie Lizzie, James David, George Stanley, John Alexander, Raymond Burrage and Elspeth Dora May.  I have other information re birth, death and marriage if you are interested, Raymond is the only one still alive.  I contacted the family just by accident, I knew there were Latto's in the West so got a Perth phone book and found about 12 of them, shut my eyes and picked out 2 of them and would you believe both of them replied and both were relations of David Latto, that is where I got my information from.

The following are notes from their letters regarding David Latto.  When the family shifted to Western Australia they settled at Midland Junction where David was a Labourer in a brick works, he was then a blacksmith on the Goldfields Water project.  He later worked for the Midland Railway Company as a 'length runner', he later became 'ganger in charge' and lived in a converted rail van overseeing track repairs.

I have further information on James Latto and Mary Tarling but you would possibly know about that, if you don't and would like to know please ask.

Well that's about all for now, thanks again for your letter and I hope that this letter finds you and your family in the best possible health.

Regards, 

Baden Dingwall 

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