Latshaw, William D.

Born: 1810-XX-XX Maryland

William D. Latshaw was a newspaper editor and publisher, state official, and Democratic politician. He began his newspaper career in Mount Carmel, Illinois, editing the Wabash Republican from 1840 to 1841. From 1842 to 1843, he served as engrossing and enrolling clerk for the Illinois Senate. In 1844, Latshaw launched the Wabash Democrat, which he edited and published until he sold it in 1847. In April 1846, he married Harriet S. Chapman in Coles County. Moving to Charleston, Latshaw began editing the Reporter, a Democratic Party organ, which eventually became the Illinois Globe. In April 1847, he was an unsuccessful candidate as a Democrat in elections for delegates to the Illinois constitutional convention. In 1851 and 1853, the Illinois Senate elected Latshaw to the post of assistant secretary. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election as secretary in 1855. Moving his newspaper interests to Paris, Illinois, Latshaw founded the Wabash Valley Republican, which he operated from June 1853 to 1854. In January 1857, Latshaw received appointment as assistant clerk pro tempore of the Illinois House of Representatives, and the Senate elected him assistant clerk. In 1860, he and his wife were living in Paris, where he was working as a printer and had a personal estate of $100. In 1865, Latshaw purchased the Democratic Standard, changing the name to the Wabash Valley Times.

James A. Rose, comp., Blue Book of the State of Illinois (Springfield, IL: Phillips Brothers, 1903), 306; Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 50, 250, 251, 274; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Coles County, 11 April 1846, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 441; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 7 January 1851, 3:3; 4 January 1853, 2:2; 5 January 1855, 2:1; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 6 January 1857, 2:2; 7 January 1857, 2:4-5; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Paris, Edgar County, IL, 42.