Gideon Lincecum

(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)