Milton Latham
United States Senator from California
In office March 5, 1860 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	Henry P. Haun
Succeeded by	John Conness
6th Governor of California
In office January 9, 1860 – January 14, 1860
Lieutenant	John G. Downey
Preceded by	John B. Weller
Succeeded by	John G. Downey
Personal details
Born	(1827-05-23)May 23, 1827 Columbus, Ohio
Died	March 4, 1882(1882-03-04) (aged 54) New York City, New York
Political party	Lecompton Democrat
Spouse(s)	Sophie Birdsall
Alma mater	Jefferson College
Profession	Lawyer, politician, teacher

Milton Slocum Latham (May 23, 1827 – March 4, 1882) was an American politician, and served as the sixth governor of California and as a member of the federal U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Latham holds the distinction of having the shortest governorship in California history, lasting for five days between January 9 and January 14, 1860. A Lecompton Democrat, Latham became the second governor to resign in office after being elected by the legislature to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy following the death of David C. Broderick from a duel.^[1]

Biography[link]

Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1827, Latham was educated in classical studies at Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1845. Following his graduation, Latham moved to Russell County, Alabama, working briefly as a school teacher while studying law. He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1848, working as Russell County's circuit court clerk for two years until 1850, when he relocated to San Francisco, California following the gold rush.

In San Francisco, Latham continued in law, becoming a recording clerk for the county, and in 1851, the district attorney of Sacramento. After serving for one year, Latham entered politics, and in 1852, ran as a Democrat and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. After the completion of his two-year term, Latham declined to run for another term and returned to California to again practice law, despite being renominated by state Democrats.

Only a year after returning to San Francisco, Latham was appointed U.S. Customs Collector for the Port of San Francisco by President Franklin Pierce, a post the former congressman protested initially, but reluctantly later accepted. Latham held the post until 1857.

Since the beginning of the 1850s, issues regarding slavery had effectively split the state Democratic Party. Initially divided by pro-slavery Chivalrists and anti-slavery Free Soilers, by 1857, the party had split into the Lecompton and Anti-Lecompton factions. Lecompton members supported the Kansas Lecompton Constitution, a document explicitly allowing slavery into the territory, while Anti-Lecompton faction members were in opposition to slavery's expansion. The violence between supporting and opposition forces led to the period known as Bleeding Kansas. Splits in the Democratic Party, as well as the power vacuum created by the collapse of the Whig Party, helped facilitate the rise of the American Party both in state and federal politics. In particular, state voters voted Know-Nothings into the California State Legislature, and elected J. Neely Johnson as Governor in the 1855 general elections.

During the 1859 general elections, Lecompton Democrats voted Latham, who had briefly lived in the American South, as their nominee for Governor. Anti-Lecomptons in turn selected John Currey as their nominee. The infant Republican Party, running in its first gubernatorial election, selected businessman Leland Stanford as its nominee. To make matters more complicated, during the campaign, Senator David C. Broderick, an Anti-Lecompton Democrat, was killed in a duel by slavery supporter and former state Supreme Court Justice David Terry on September 13.^[2]

Despite the party split and Republican entrance to the campaign, Latham won the election, garnering sixty percent of the vote.

Governor[link]

Latham was inaugurated on January 9, 1860. In his inauguration speech, the new Governor outlined his main priority as solving the state's creeping debt, an issue that previously challenged former Governors John Bigler, J. Neely Johnson and John Weller. Latham suggested curtailing legislative expenses, erecting more governmental buildings—such as completing the new state capitol building--without raising taxes, and increasing U.S. Mail links from the Eastern United States to California to help facilitate commerce and personal links. Latham also suggested that the Office of the Governor should not be made more powerful, and be securely checked by the Legislature and courts.^[3]

However only hours into his term, Latham's desire for political advancement were quickly known. Within days, Latham had proposed to the Assembly and Senate to be selected as David Broderick's replacement in the U.S. Senate and serve the rest of his term. (Prior to the Seventeenth Amendment, state legislatures selected federal senators.)^[4] Running against challenger Henry P. Haun, Latham was selected by the Legislature, and on January 14, 1860, just five days into his governorship, Latham resigned. Latham had become the second California Governor to resign from office.^[5]

Latham's five-day tenure as governor remains the shortest in California history.

Post governorship[link]

Latham travelled to Washington, D.C. to take his U.S. Senate seat later that year. Serving for the next three years as a Democrat, he ran for reelection once Broderick's original term expired in 1862. However, political support in California had turned away from the Democrats in favor of Unionist Republicans, who now controlled the State Legislature. Latham lost his bid for a second Senate term to Republican John Conness, himself a former Anti-Lecompton Democrat.^[6]

Following his defeat, Latham traveled to Europe, joining the London and San Francisco Bank Ltd, where he became the bank's San Francisco chief. Throughout the late 1860s and into the 1870s, Latham helped finance the California Pacific and the North Pacific Coast Railroad, earning recognition as one of California's rail barons.

In 1872, Latham bought and began renovating a 50-room Menlo Park mansion, Thurlow Lodge as a gift to his bride, only for the estate to burn down before completion. Nevertheless, it was entirely rebuilt in 1873. In 1874, Latham commissioned Carleton Watkins to photograph the huge estate and produce two presentation albums of mammoth plate prints.

Latham later moved to New York City in 1879 to become president of the New York Mining and Stock Exchange. The former governor died in New York three years later in 1882 at 54.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• "Thurlow Lodge, Menlo Park - Lawn and House". J. Paul Getty Trust. http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=131389. Retrieved 2007-05-21. 
• Jesse Hamlin (15 April 2005). "The New de Young". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/15/DDGF3C7MAF1.DTL. Retrieved 2007-05-21. 

External links[link]

• Milton Latham biography at the California State Library
• Milton Latham Milton Latham at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

v t e Governors of California Pre-statehood de Portolà Fages Rivera de Neve Fages Roméu Arrillaga Borica Alberní Arrillaga J. Argüello Solá L. Argüello Echeandía Victoria P. Pico Zamorano / Echeandía Figueroa Castro Gutierrez Chico Gutierrez Alvarado Carrillo Alvarado Micheltorena P. Pico Flores A. Pico Ide Sloat Stockton Frémont Kearny Mason Smith Riley Statehood Burnett McDougall Bigler J. Johnson Weller Latham Downey Stanford Low Haight Booth Pacheco Irwin Perkins Stoneman Bartlett Waterman Markham Budd Gage Pardee Gillett H. Johnson Stephens Richardson Young Rolph Merriam Olson Warren Knight P. Brown Reagan J. Brown Deukmejian Wilson Davis Schwarzenegger J. Brown Pre-Statehood list Statehood list Statehood list by time in office Statehood list by age

v t e United States Senators from California Class 1 Frémont Weller Broderick Haun Latham Conness Casserly Hager Booth Miller Hearst Williams Hearst Felton White Bard Flint Works Johnson Knowland Engle Salinger Murphy Tunney Hayakawa Wilson Seymour Feinstein Class 3 Gwin McDougall Cole Sargent Farley Stanford Perkins Phelan Shortridge McAdoo Storke Downey Nixon Kuchel Cranston Boxer

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Neev Kennedy, Irish singer-songwriter, born 1989.

Kennedy is a native of Loughrea, County Galway, and became popular with internet users by broadcasting performances from her bedroom. Her song "Gullible" has become an internet hit on Livewebstars.tv.

I decided to go on Livewebstars.tv because I have not yet got the sort of money I need to get out there gigging constantly. I normally have to borrow gear for gigs or use house equipment which sometimes is not the best. Plus I don’t have a car so I need to rely on friends to get me around. Livewebstars has helped me to grow a fan base from home and I couldn’t believe it when I got into the charts. I owe much of my success to them

"Gullible" entered the Irish charts at number thirty-five, outselling Snow Patrol and entering one place behind Pink.

Kennedy can also currently be heard on Ørjan Nilsen's 2011 single "Anywhere but Here", as well as Max Graham's 2010 single "Sun in the Winter". This song has received numerous plays on A State Of Trance with Armin Van Buuren and Global DJ Broadcast with Markus Schulz She also features on the follow up single in 2011 "So caught up", also played by Armin Van Buuren

In 2010, Kennedy became the first winner of the Youbloom online song contest which was judged by Bob Geldof, Rupert Hine and Nigel Grainge. Her winning song was titled "10 Times". Kennedy performed in front of a full house at the Youbloom award ceremony along with her band in London in February 2011.

External links[link]

• http://www.irishpressreleases.ie/2009/01/12/new-19-year-old-irish-artist-neev-uses-live-streaming-to-get-into-the-charts/
• http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/16119
• http://www.myspace.com/neevmusic2008

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2011)

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (September 2011)

Ellie Lawson is a British folk music singer-songwriter.^[1][2]

Ellie Lawson is a British Acoustic/Folk/Pop writer and recording artist. Born in South London, the vocalist/lyricist/musician/composer has released 2 albums independently and recently co-wrote and recorded 3 singles with Dutch Trance producers.

Ellie is an ambassador for the clothing brand Quiksilver Women and in 2010 toured Quiksilver stores in the UK and Ireland as part of her sponsorship deal. The singer who was previously signed with Atlantic records in the USA with her debut album was championed by chat show host Ellen De Generes where Ellen predicted live on air that Ellie would become 'the hugest, hugest star.' Ellie has tracks produced by William Orbit and DJ Lethal who signed her to his production company alongside lawyer/Publishing head/Manager David Mantel for her first album The Philosophy Tree.

The independent Singer-Songwriter has her own label called 'Create your Own reality' and previously sold 25,000 records with the USA book retailer Barnes and Noble. Lawson's performances include opening for the BBC presenter Jimmy Doherty's festival where KT Tunstall and Jose Gonzalez headlined, the Abbey Road studios as part of the Brit awards, Sundance film festival, Relentless Boardmasters festival and many others.                                                    

Discography[link]

• The Philosophy, 2005^[3]
• Lost Songs, 2009
• Safe From Harm, 4 Strings, (File, MP3, 320), Liquid Recordings, 2010
• Wide Awake, Richard Durand, Magik Muzik, 2011^[4]
• Place in the Sun, Menno De Jong, Intuition Recordings, 2011
• Lost Without You (Ellie Lawson's song), 2011
• A Day Without Rain (Ferry Corsten's track), Ferry Corsten, Flashover Recordings, 2012^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• "Ellie Lawson", PETA
• "Music Review: Ellie Lawson - Lost Songs", Eurorock, Jeff Perkins