ELDER J. L. LATTIMORE was born in Benton county, Miss., March 2, 1836. His father, S. S. Lattimore, was a well known minister in Mississippi for many years. His maternal grandfather, Rev. Lee Compere, was one of the early English missionaries to the Indies. J. L. Lattimore was educated at Georgetown, Ky., and Marion, Ala. He afterward taught school at Enterprise, Miss. He was ordained in October, 1861, by Elders D. P. Bester and N. L. Clark. He entered the Confederate army the second year of the war and continued till the surrender. A part of the time he was in the ranks as a private soldier and part of the time chaplain. He baptized many soldiers. After the war he taught school and labored as pastor in Mississippi, in Alabama, and finally in Texas. He came to Falls county, Texas, about 1874, and for several years preached for churches. Hope, Liberty, Blue Ridge, Marlin and Union enjoyed his ministerial labors. He died after a long illness, while on his way to Florida in search of health, December 12, 1887. Mrs. Lattimore writes: “He was earnest, faithful, devoted and self-denying.”
Source: J. L. Walker and C. P. Lumpkin, History of the Waco Baptist Association of Texas (Waco: Byrne-Hill Printing House, 1897), p. 335.