General Notes

Sir Dunning was a traitor to his Saxon heritage and was appointed by the Norman invaders as the first Norman Lord of Lathom. He and his wife, Lady Marigard De Essex are from the 2nd generation in an unbroken line of 35 generations. They share this distinction with Lord Henry De Chester, Jr. and his wife, Lady Helene Tudor. He diedof pneumonia.

The original meaning of the place name Lathom or Latham was `the barn house', which probably meant a warehouse or storehouse.

The 2nd earliest place names were the Chapelry of Lathom, in County Lancaster, England; and Latham, in Yorkshire, England.

The first one to bear the Latham surname was a Saxon traitor named Dunning, who was living in County Lancaster about the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 A.D. Because of his collaboration with the Normans and his betrayal of his Saxon heritage, the Normans reward Dunning with the lordship of the Chapelry of Lathom, the title of Earl, and with a knighthood. Thus Dunning, traitor to the Saxonpeople; became Sir Dunning Latham, Earl of Lathom in the Spring of 1067 A.D.

In both early English and American records, the surname of Latham or Lathom has taken on many different spellings. The most common of these are: Latham, Lathem, Lathim, Lathom, Lathome, Lathum, Laytham, Leatham, Leathom, Leetham, Leethem, Lethem, and Lethom. The probable reason for these various spellings is the fact that so many of ourearly ancestors could neither read nor
write. Whenever it was necessary for a name to be written down by someone who could read and write, it was sounded out by different people differently and over the years as literacy improved, the wrong spellings had become the traditional way the various families chose to spell it. The spelling Latham is the one that is the most common usage and is surely the original spelling. In early English history, 7
distinctclans of Lathams emerged and could be found in the following counties: Lancaster, which was Sir Dunnings direct decendants; York, Somerset, Chester, Essex, Worchester, Cambridge and in London.

Over the years the Latham family has been very prolific, and many of them produced very large families indeed! The average sized Latham family has been between 7 to 10 children. Early families have beenfounded both by landed gentry and by the lower landless classes referred to as yeoman.

ABBR Roots Research, Inc.
TITL Roots Research, Inc.
OCCU Knight/1st Lord of Lathom