Gideon Lincecum

As a boy Gideon Lincecum moved with his father to various frontier sites in his native Georgia and in Mississippi. During this time he developed insights about natural habitats and cultivated an understanding of Indian culture that later characterized his scientific and social achievements. He participated in the War of 1812, and in 1814 married Sarah Bryan. After settling near here in 1848, the self-taught Lincecum opened a medical practice and gained a reputation for rejecting commonly used contemporary medicines and dispensing herbal remedies instead. As a naturalist, he recorded detailed observations of a variety of flora and fauna in Texas and achieved international recognition for a long-term study of an agricultural ant common to the state. He conducted scientific research in numerous fields and for many years maintained weather records in Washington County for the Smithsonian Institution. Except for a 5-year stay in Mexico during Reconstruction, Lincecum lived and worked in Washington County, where he completed his autobiography. Initially buried in nearby Mt. Zion Cemetery, his remains were later removed and reinterred in the Stephen F. Austin lot in the State Cemetery in Austin in 1936.

Texas · United States