About

MILTON SLOCUM LATHAM was born in Columbus, Ohio, on May 23, 1827. In 1845 he graduated from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Latham studied law in Russell County, Alabama, and was elected circuit court clerk of Russell County, serving from 1848 to 1850. After moving to San Francisco in 1850, Latham became a court clerk. In 1851 he was elected district attorney of Sacramento and El Dorado Counties, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1853 to 1855, and in 1855, he was appointed collector of the port of San Francisco, serving for two years. On September 7, 1859, Latham was elected governor. Two days after his inauguration on January 9, 1860, Latham was selected to fill the vacancy of U.S. Senator David C. Broderick, who had been killed in a duel. On January 14, 1860, Governor Latham resigned from office to take his seat in the U.S. Senate. He served in the senate until 1863. Latham was the manager of the London and San Francisco Bank from 1865 to 1878, and after moving to New York in 1879, he became the president of the New York Mining and Stock Exchange. Governor Milton S. Latham died in New York City on March 4, 1882, and is buried at the Lone Mountain Cemetery, San Francisco, California.

Source

Official Records: California State Archives

Personal Papers: Stanford University, Special Collections and University Library

Image source: California State Library: Governors' Gallery

Governors of California 1849-2002

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.: Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.