Gideon Lincecum
Brenham, Washington County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1793-1874) As a boy Gideon Lincecum moved with his family to various frontier sites in his native Georgia and in Mississippi. It was during this time that he developed insights about natural habitats and cultivated an understanding of Indian culture which later characterized his various 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. He gained a reputation for rejecting commonly-used contemporary medicines, dispensing herbal remedies instead. As a naturalist Lincecum 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 records of the weather in Washington County for the Smithsonian Institution. Lincecum conducted much of his work and wrote his autobiography in a cabin on his property at nearby Longpoint. The cabin was moved to this site in 1994 to ensure its preservation. Lincecum is buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, where he was reinterred during the 1936 Texas Centennial celebrations. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Gideon Lincecum grew up on the moving edge of the southern frontier, in Georgia and Mississippi, where he absorbed both the natural world around him and the cultures of the Native peoples he lived near. A veteran of the War of 1812, he settled in Texas in 1848 and opened a medical practice built on herbal remedies rather than the harsh medicines of his day. As a self-taught naturalist he won international notice for his patient study of Texas harvester ants and kept weather records for the Smithsonian, working from a cabin later moved here to preserve it.
Why it matters
Lincecum embodies the restless, self-taught scientific curiosity of frontier America, where a country doctor could earn a place in the world's naturalist correspondence.
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Related people
- · Gideon Lincecum
- · Sarah Bryan
Themes & tags
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