Robert Ray Latta, son of John A and Mary Elizabeth (McConnaughey) Latta. His nickname was "Freck". He married Mary A Cain Edson, a widow with seven children, on April 7, 1921 in the Harris Settlement, Valley township, Page Co., Iowa. He and Mary had five children: Rose,Alice, William Ray, Florence and Robert Presley. Freck wrote a book entitled "Reminiscences of Pioneer Life" published in 1912 by Franklin Hudson, Kansas City, MO.(no longer in print) The following is an excerpt from the book, page 162:
"Freck, like thousands of others, surely lost his head over holes in the ground, which were called "mines." In the process Mary and Freck's babies all married, except their "baby boy" and Florence, the sweet little baby girl who was born in the dark, shady woods while the cannon down in the South-land belched forth fires of death and a loaded musket stood by the bedside. For twenty years Freck trailed over the ranges, and up and down the canyons and the gulches, at times working for a "grub-stake," and again digging holes in the ground and panning dirt by the streams,, and living in cabins and tents and covered wagons. And Mary stayed with Freck through all these long and weary years, and shared his discouragements, his failures, his hopes, his cabins, his tents, and his covered wagon homes in the Rocky Mountains. And in the evenings, while the mountain wind sobbed and moaned in the pines or shivered through the aspen groves, with a miner's glass they would examine the bits of rock and be almost persuaded that the hidden treasure was almost within their grasp. From the far north to the far south end of the Rocky Mountains, thousands of men were doing as Freck was doing, and meeting with the same disappointments; and many grew discouraged and reckless, and became dissolute gamblers and drunkards, and went to the dogs. But during all these years Freck never stood at the bar and drank a glass of whiskey, nor played a game of cards, nor crossed the threshold of a dance-hall; no, thank God! not once; because Mary stayed with him and was his guardian angel.
For three years Freck worked in a lumbering-camp in the Rocky Mountains and dug no holes in the ground, and had gotten together fifteen hundred dollars in gold and three teams; for Freck and Mary worked with their might and early, and late.
Then they, by a schemer, were induced to turn their faces to the south and take up land under the great Toas....."
Freck and Mary eventually settled in southern Missouri, in Garrison, Christian County where it is believed, but not proven, that Freck had family. They are buried in the Garrison cemetery, their graves being one of the oldest.
"Freck, like thousands of others, surely lost his head over holes in the ground, which were called "mines." In the process Mary and Freck's babies all married, except their "baby boy" and Florence, the sweet little baby girl who was born in the dark, shady woods while the cannon down in the South-land belched forth fires of death and a loaded musket stood by the bedside. For twenty years Freck trailed over the ranges, and up and down the canyons and the gulches, at times working for a "grub-stake," and again digging holes in the ground and panning dirt by the streams,, and living in cabins and tents and covered wagons. And Mary stayed with Freck through all these long and weary years, and shared his discouragements, his failures, his hopes, his cabins, his tents, and his covered wagon homes in the Rocky Mountains. And in the evenings, while the mountain wind sobbed and moaned in the pines or shivered through the aspen groves, with a miner's glass they would examine the bits of rock and be almost persuaded that the hidden treasure was almost within their grasp. From the far north to the far south end of the Rocky Mountains, thousands of men were doing as Freck was doing, and meeting with the same disappointments; and many grew discouraged and reckless, and became dissolute gamblers and drunkards, and went to the dogs. But during all these years Freck never stood at the bar and drank a glass of whiskey, nor played a game of cards, nor crossed the threshold of a dance-hall; no, thank God! not once; because Mary stayed with him and was his guardian angel.
For three years Freck worked in a lumbering-camp in the Rocky Mountains and dug no holes in the ground, and had gotten together fifteen hundred dollars in gold and three teams; for Freck and Mary worked with their might and early, and late.
Then they, by a schemer, were induced to turn their faces to the south and take up land under the great Toas....."
Freck and Mary eventually settled in southern Missouri, in Garrison, Christian County where it is believed, but not proven, that Freck had family. They are buried in the Garrison cemetery, their graves being one of the oldest.
Robert Ray Latta, son of John A and Mary Elizabeth (McConnaughey) Latta. His nickname was "Freck". He married Mary A Cain Edson, a widow with seven children, on April 7, 1921 in the Harris Settlement, Valley township, Page Co., Iowa. He and Mary had five children: Rose,Alice, William Ray, Florence and Robert Presley. Freck wrote a book entitled "Reminiscences of Pioneer Life" published in 1912 by Franklin Hudson, Kansas City, MO.(no longer in print) The following is an excerpt from the book, page 162:
"Freck, like thousands of others, surely lost his head over holes in the ground, which were called "mines." In the process Mary and Freck's babies all married, except their "baby boy" and Florence, the sweet little baby girl who was born in the dark, shady woods while the cannon down in the South-land belched forth fires of death and a loaded musket stood by the bedside. For twenty years Freck trailed over the ranges, and up and down the canyons and the gulches, at times working for a "grub-stake," and again digging holes in the ground and panning dirt by the streams,, and living in cabins and tents and covered wagons. And Mary stayed with Freck through all these long and weary years, and shared his discouragements, his failures, his hopes, his cabins, his tents, and his covered wagon homes in the Rocky Mountains. And in the evenings, while the mountain wind sobbed and moaned in the pines or shivered through the aspen groves, with a miner's glass they would examine the bits of rock and be almost persuaded that the hidden treasure was almost within their grasp. From the far north to the far south end of the Rocky Mountains, thousands of men were doing as Freck was doing, and meeting with the same disappointments; and many grew discouraged and reckless, and became dissolute gamblers and drunkards, and went to the dogs. But during all these years Freck never stood at the bar and drank a glass of whiskey, nor played a game of cards, nor crossed the threshold of a dance-hall; no, thank God! not once; because Mary stayed with him and was his guardian angel.
For three years Freck worked in a lumbering-camp in the Rocky Mountains and dug no holes in the ground, and had gotten together fifteen hundred dollars in gold and three teams; for Freck and Mary worked with their might and early, and late.
Then they, by a schemer, were induced to turn their faces to the south and take up land under the great Toas....."
Freck and Mary eventually settled in southern Missouri, in Garrison, Christian County where it is believed, but not proven, that Freck had family. They are buried in the Garrison cemetery, their graves being one of the oldest.
"Freck, like thousands of others, surely lost his head over holes in the ground, which were called "mines." In the process Mary and Freck's babies all married, except their "baby boy" and Florence, the sweet little baby girl who was born in the dark, shady woods while the cannon down in the South-land belched forth fires of death and a loaded musket stood by the bedside. For twenty years Freck trailed over the ranges, and up and down the canyons and the gulches, at times working for a "grub-stake," and again digging holes in the ground and panning dirt by the streams,, and living in cabins and tents and covered wagons. And Mary stayed with Freck through all these long and weary years, and shared his discouragements, his failures, his hopes, his cabins, his tents, and his covered wagon homes in the Rocky Mountains. And in the evenings, while the mountain wind sobbed and moaned in the pines or shivered through the aspen groves, with a miner's glass they would examine the bits of rock and be almost persuaded that the hidden treasure was almost within their grasp. From the far north to the far south end of the Rocky Mountains, thousands of men were doing as Freck was doing, and meeting with the same disappointments; and many grew discouraged and reckless, and became dissolute gamblers and drunkards, and went to the dogs. But during all these years Freck never stood at the bar and drank a glass of whiskey, nor played a game of cards, nor crossed the threshold of a dance-hall; no, thank God! not once; because Mary stayed with him and was his guardian angel.
For three years Freck worked in a lumbering-camp in the Rocky Mountains and dug no holes in the ground, and had gotten together fifteen hundred dollars in gold and three teams; for Freck and Mary worked with their might and early, and late.
Then they, by a schemer, were induced to turn their faces to the south and take up land under the great Toas....."
Freck and Mary eventually settled in southern Missouri, in Garrison, Christian County where it is believed, but not proven, that Freck had family. They are buried in the Garrison cemetery, their graves being one of the oldest.
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