Adventures of a Frontier Naturalist: The Life and Times of Dr. Gideon Lincecum

Collated from four overlapping memoirs, some not previously published, this extraordinary man's account of his life as Indian trader, physician, and naturalist is lively and abounding in humor. Lincecum's experiences of following the frontier in the early 1800s, all the way from Georgia to Texas, were not so unusual in themselves, but the intellect and wit that inform his memoirs make them unique. His scientific articles and collections of specimens, his correspondence with leading scientists of the time, and his six years among the colony of ex-Confederates in Tuxpan, Mexico, offer still other insights into the age. Lincecum portrays many aspects of frontier social life, including marriage and divorce, slavery as practiced by the small slaveholder, education, religion as critiqued by a freethinker, the social life of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, medical controversies, and the building of towns. He vividly describes the unspoiled flora and fauna of Texas in 1835 and entertains with tales of hunting deer, bear, turkey, and waterfowl. This is the testimony of a pioneering individual who possessed a discerning eye, an analytical mind, and the ability to express himself with clarity and vigor