Notes |
- - Gideon Lincecum: 1793 - 1874 by Lois Burkhalter (1965) -- pg. 68
"FROM HIS little patriarchy in Long Point, Texas, Gideon wrote in 1866 to an old friend: 'We have lost four children, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 13 are dead; the balance are all near and are going well enough...'
...The first Lysander died in Mississippi in 1832. Gideon once explained his death: 'I, with the assistance of another poison doctor, while I was practicing the old school of medicine, killed one of my children, fourteen years old, by administering the tobacco smoke injection.'
...Most of the children were born in Cotton Gin Port. When the top six were old enough to go to school, Gideon bought a house in Columbus, Mississippi, where he sent them, with their mother, to be educated, while he remained in Cotton Gin Port to continue the practice he had established as a doctor.
At the end of six months he went over to Columbus to see what progress the children had made. He expected great things of them, as they were all 'sprightly minded.'...Gideon questioned them about geography, history, and arithmetic. Their answers were vague and evasive...
I had strained every financial nerve in getting a house at Columbus for them and had exerted my utmost powers to furnish provisions, clothing, etc., to keep them comfortable, and from the oft-repeated high reputation given the teachers in the newspapers I had hoped that I should experience the gratification of seeing signs of progress in my children. I was overwhelmed with disappointment. I felt like the whole world was a sham. My children, after six months' constant attendance at that highly praised institution could answer no question of use..."
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