Notes |
- - He served in the Georgia Militia in the War of 1812 and became a practicing physician in Lowndes County, Mississippi in 1815.
- From August to October of 1813, Gideon fought in the War of 1812. Out of Eatonton, Georgia, he tended sick soldiers. At this time, he was tax collector of Putnam County, Georgia. Somehow, this got him discharged. From Camp Hope, he was discharged from Captain Varner's company in Colonel Freeman's regiment of General Floyd's brigade of dragoons.
- In 1821, Gideon was appointed by the Mississippi legislature commissioner to organize Monroe County. Because of this he was a founder of the Franklin School in Columbus, the oldest free school in Mississippi.
- *See http://hillcountryhogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/hill-country-place-walls-tan-yard-post.html
- Gideon had an interview with a Choctaw Indian sage or "wisdom keeper" in Mississippi in 1822. Over the course of 4 years he wrote down the customs and traditional history of the Choctaw Indians. The one he interviewed was called Chahta-Immataha... The interviews became a book of "650 closely written pages on large letter paper."
- About 1848, Gideon moved to Texas. From there he went to Tuxpan, Mexico during 1868-1872. He became a friend and correspondent of Charles Darwin and other eminent naturalists. He published papers through the Smithsonian Institute and the Essex Institute. The Jardin des Plantes in Paris contains his collection of Texas flora and the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts has his collection of forty-eight families of ants and butterflies. He was elected a corresponding member of the Philadelphia Academy, a rare honor for an ameteur.
- From Gideon Lincecum, 1793-1874 by Lois Wood Burkhalter (1965) -- pg. 73:
"On November 9, 1848, M. Austin Bryan for $1,371.00 conveyed to Gideon Lincecum the northeast corner of League No. 5, containing 1,828 acres (Deed Records, Washington County, H, 355-356). The Lincecum land was disposed of, in differing lots and acreages and over a period of time until Gideon's death, to the following (Deed Records, Washington County): ...Leonora Campbell...Mary J. Rutherford...L. J. Lincecum...L. W. Lincecum...E. C. Lincecum...L. W. C. Lincecum...L. L. Lincecum...L. R. Lincecum...Sarah L. Doran...Cassandra Durham...Mary Matson..."
- Gideon's headstone text: "Dr. Gideon Lincecum, a veteran of the War of 1812, internationally famous botanist friend of Charles Darwin, born in Georgia April 22, 1793, died at Long Point, Washington County, Texas November 28, 1873." Erected by the state of Texas 1936.
- The 1850 Washington County, Texas census lists G. Lincecum as a farmer with a real estate value of $9,000, who was born in Georgia.
- Gideon purchased Long Point tract of land, consisting of 1,828 acres. "My settlement developed into a thriving little village." Long Point, Texas is on Farm Road 390 and Old Rocky Creek, 10 miles NW of Brenham and 85 miles east of austin in northwestern Washington County. The name was written Long Point 'til the 20th century. The settlement was founded in 1850 on land originally owned by Stephen F. Austin. Botanist Gideon Lincecum lived there on his plantation, Mount Olympus, from 1848-1874. Lincecum named his plantation for its high ground, overlooking Yegua Creek Valley, which ended in a triangular point formed by a live oak grove. He was attracted to the vicinity by its botanical diversity. On 19 February 1851, Montville postmaster Wayne Bishop changed the post office name to Long Point, but discontinued it 26 July 1852. Gideon re-established it 23 September 1852.
The Long Point community developed into a town. Its Wood Hotel had a culinary reputation throughout Texas. Lincecum and his son Lysander practiced medicine at Long Point. In 1856 Chauncey B. Shepard of Long Point was elected to represent the 20th District in the Texas Senate. Lincecum and fellow War of 1812 veteran, Sam Lauderdale led the Long Point Minute Men's march from Mount Vernon (Washington County) to Brenham in December 1860 to support the county secession movement. In 1863, Long Point blacks organized a Confederate Ball to benefit Texas soldiers.
- Gideon in Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas: Republic Hill, Section 1, Row V, Plot 2.
- Gideon practiced medicine using mostly herbal remedies, much of which he learned from the Choctaw Indians. In 1848, he moved to TX where he practiced medicine, made geological explorations, charted drought cycles, recorded daily activities of insect life, and assembled a plant collection which included 500 species with medicinal properties.
- In 1821, acting as the first postmaster, Gideon opened the first batch of mail that came to Columbus.
- Lowndes County has long been known as one of the most prosperous and wealthy sections of the state of Mississippi. As early as 1817, some scattered settlements were made in this region, and in 1818, Dr. Gideon Lincecum built the first house on the present site of Columbus. In 1818, Gideon lived on the Tombigbee River. According to the USGS Mapping Service, it is a stream in Lowndes County, Mississippi.
- "Lincecum, Sarah, and their surviving ten children, a number of grandchildren, and ten slaves arrived in Long Point on his 55th birthday." ["LINCECUM, GIDEON." The Handbook of Texas Online. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/LL/fli3.html> - Accessed Sun 09 Jul 2000]
- According to the 1860 Washington County, Texas Federal census, G. had real estate valued at $18,250. His personal estate was valued at $12,000.
- "He sought a new frontier in 1868 and, at the age of 76, with a widowed daughter and her seven children, joined a Confederate colony in Tuxpan, Vera Cruz, Mexico. He spent 5 years there working his banana plantation, exploring Indian ruins, and continuing his natural history collection and correspondence." ["LINCECUM, GIDEON." The Handbook of Texas Online. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/LL/fli3.html> - Accessed Sun 09 Jul 2000]
- Gideon's death was covered in the NY Times, 26 December 1874:
"DEATH OF AN ABLE AND ECCENTRIC MAN
The Texas papers speak in the highest terms of Dr. Lincecum, who died recently near Brenham, Washington County, in that State, in the eighty-third year of his age. He was a native of Georgia, but lived about twenty years at Columbus, Miss., before going to Texas in 1848. After the surrender of the Confederate armies, he went to Tuxpan, Mexico, and spent about four years. The papers from which we taken the above facts says: "Among other studies he spent his idle hours for fourteen years, in Washington County, in studying the habits of the large red ant, common all over the State, and then wrote a pamphlet giving the results. It possesses the interest of a novel. For this production he was awarded costly gold medals by the Academies of Science both in Philadelphia and Paris. His writings on the grasses of Texas - its minerals and its agriculture - have been numerous and valuable. In Mexico, he stated to Hon. John H. Brown that for fifty-eight years, at daylight on each Christmas morning, he had stood in the door, barefoot, in his nightclothes, and played the Scottish air of 'Killie-crankie,' and that on forty-eight of those occasions he had used the violin then in his possession, made to order for him in Paris in 1820, whereupon he repeated the piece in his own hospitable home, opposite the City of Tuxpan. He was then seventy-five, and on his birth-night, a few nights before, had been fire-hunting, killed a deer, and carried it home on his shoulders, a distance of two or three miles. He at the same time said he had reared ten children to be married and settled. He was long the neighbor and friend of such men as Judge R. E. B. Baylor, Chauncey and James Shepard, and others of the like excellence, and was ever distinguished for his benevolence and wisdom as a citizen."
- In the book, WHO WAS WHO AMONG THE SOUTHERN INDIANS 1698 - 1907, by Don Martini, published 1998 the following is given:
LINCECUM, GIDEON- Chickasaw- Choctaw Trader, was born in Warren County, Georgia, on April 22, 1793, the son of Hezekiah Lincecum and Sally Hickman Lincecum. Sally was the sister of James and John Hickman of Tn., and was a second cousin to John Pitchlynn Sr.'s mother. Gideon's father (Hezekiah) was the son of Gideon Lincecum (died in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1783), and Miriam Bowie (died at Eatonton, Georgia in 1813). Miriam was a sister to Jim Bowie's grandfather, James Bowie. Gideon and Miriam lived on the Saluda River in South Carolina for 15 years after their marriage. They then removed to Georgia, where Gideon was murdered. Their children: Hezekiah, Edward, John, Sally, Dolly, and Nancy. Hezekiah first married Sally Strange, then seperated from her and married Sally Hickman. In 1818, Hezekiah and his son, Gideon, moved to Columbus, Mississippi. Hezekiah died in Ponotoc on March 4, 1839 at age 70. Gideon remained at Columbus, was a member of the Masonic Lodge there from 1823 to 1827, and entered into partnership with John Pitchlynn Jr. in the Indian trade. He remained in Mississippi until 1848, when he removed to Texas. He died in Washington County in that state on November 28, 1874.
Sources of info:
1 GIDEON LINCECUM, written by Burkhalter
2 EARLY RECORDS OF WILKES COUNTY GEORGIA pages 40 and 42
3 MISSISSIPPI MARRIAGES AND DEATHS, by Wiltshire
4 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GIDEON LINCECUM, by Burkhalter
- "The Dallas Weekly Herald," 19 December 1874:
DR. GIDEON LINCECUM
"... He...was a member of Captain Varner's company, in the regiment commanded by Colonel Freeman, of General Floyd's brigade of dragoons, in the war of 1812..."
- In January 1835, Gideon joined an exploring exhibition in Texas (leaving from Monroe County, Mississippi). ["The Handbook of Texas Online"]
- Gideon was the first postmaster in Columbus, Mississippi. [A History of Columbus, Mississippi During the 19th Century]
- "Another of the settlers at Tuxpan (Mexico), Gideon Lincecum, restated his reasons for leaving Texas in an April 27, 1871 letter to John Henry Brown, who also had lived at Tuxpan and encouraged others to move there: 'As for myself, I do not, neither can I care one cent for the "United States of America." The victorious Yankee has trampled under foot every principle of justice and equality, and are now encouraging the triumphant negro to put the finishing stroke on the degraded condition of the Southerner by conjugal union with his daughters; While the Southerner, those who are most capable, and best able to do something, for the fear of losing a few dollars have joined the loyal league. No, no, John Henry Brown, I can't care for such a demoralized nation. But I can remain here in this calm, peaceful, clean washed country, where Bowie knives and six shooters are not regarded as the indespensable equipments of a gentleman, and where man shooting is not considered an honorable occupation. Where, as you know, doorlocks are not necessary, and, where indeed there is nothing to fear.'" [Gideon Lincecum to John Henry Brown, 27 April 1871, Gideon Lincecum Papers, The Center for Americam History, University of Texas, Austin]
- 14 November 1872 edition, Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Texas:
The Brenham Banner says: "By a letter received from Tuxpan, Mexico, from Dr. Gid Lincecum, we learn that Sam Houston, Jr., is a visitor at his house. We wonder what caused Sam to seek a home among a people whom his father has so often thrashed?"
- From presentation by Peggy Redshaw (wife of Jerry Bryan Lincecum):
"An Unconventional Texas Physician of the 19th Century: Dr. Gideon Lincecum"
Peggy A. Redshaw, Austin College [Texas]
Lincecum practiced medicine in both Mississippi (~1830-1848) and Texas (1848-1868). Initially he read and practiced allopathic medicine. In the 1830's, he spent six weeks traveling with a Choctaw Indian Nation doctor, Alikchi chito, who trained him in an Indian/botanical approach. For a time, he carried medicines for allopathic and botanical systems but soon became an agent for Howard Horton (1838) and destroyed his allopathic drugs. With the move to Texas in 1848, he turned his practice over to son Lucullus; however, Gideon continued to treat patients via correspondence. Additionally, he sent letters to the Galveston Tri Weekly News after the Civil War with natural cures the Texan citizens could use to treat themselves and their families. Lincecum felt very strongly that the allopathic appraoch caused the death of some of his patients. He felt just as strongly that his mixture of Indian/Botanic remedies was much more suitable for the illnesses of southerners. Specific examples of his treatments will show his approach. However, when Lincecum expressed his opinion of his profession late in life, he once stated "I practiced medicine for 40 years. It's a humbug and does more harm to humanity than all the wars."
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