City: Memphis
LATHAM, Thomas J., born Washington, DC., Nov. 22, 1831; graduated from Western Military Institute, Georgetown, Ky., 1852; one of his instructors at this institution was James G. Blaine; he studied law at Dresden, Tenn., and was admitted to the bar in 1857; after two years of practice in Memphis he was appointed register of the United States District Court in Bankruptcy by Chief Justice Chase in 1868; in 1872 he retired from the practice of law; was appointed receiver for the city of Memphis in 1879; in 1868 he held for collection as attorney for a non-resident creditor a note of $20,000.00 against the city of Memphis; he pressed the claim to judgment and levied on all city property subject to execution, when the day of sale arrived the city found itself in danger of a sacrifice of $100,000.00 of property for the satisfaction of the debt, he postponed the sale for thirty days, and at the expiration of which time the city’s financial condition being not improved, he gave his personal check to save the city from a loss; in 1880 he purchased the Memphis waterworks system, and during his term of ownership he improved the system to adequate proportions; he was appointed a member of the board of the Tennessee Industrial School March, 1887, and was later elected president of the board; married Mary H. WOOLDRIDGE in 1861; he has been largely interested in real estate and banking enterprises, but is now retired.
