Maybe Letha Gandy Lincecum Wasn’t a Daughter of the American Revolution?

Letha Elizabeth Gandy was born 25 September 1873 in Lavaca County, Texas to Barnabas Pipkin “Tip” Gandy (1831-1914) and Mary Elizabeth Allen. Letha was my 3rd cousin by her 1897 marriage to Addison Lysander Lincecum (1874-1965). I know Letha wanted to join Daughters of the American Revolution because she wrote as much in a letter to the Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, DC dated 30 June 1928:

[Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files via Fold3]

El Campo, Tex
June 30 – 28
Commissioner of Pensions
Washington D.C.

Dear Sir: – Please help me find the Rev. war record of Edward Fitz Patrick or Edward Patrick, the Fitz was dropped from the name but we do not know when but after coming from Scotland. He served in the Rev war in the State of N. Carolina and his wife and widow Mary (McCord) Patrick drew a pension from the U.S. Gov. while living in the State of Tenn – after her removal to that State after her husbands death —

Please help me get this war record so can join the D.A.R.
Most sincerely
Mrs. A. L. Lincecum
El Campo
Texas

Letha received a reply dated 11 July 1928.

…[I]t appears that Edward F. Patrick, or Fitzpatrick, while a resident of Rowan County, North Carolina, enlisted in the winter of 1780 and served three months as a private in Captain Abel Armstrong’s Company, Colonel Francis Lock’s Locke North Carolina Regiment.

He enlisted in the fall of 1781 and served three months as a private in Captain George Gordon’s Company under Major William Lewis in the North Carolina Troops.

He moved from Rowan County, North Carolina, to Tennessee, thence to McLean County, Illinois, where he was allowed pension on his application executed June 3, 1833. He died November 24, 1834 in McLean County, Illinois.

Soldier married February 13, 1798, in Iredell County, North Carolina, Polly McCord.

She was allowed pension on her application executed October 20, 1849, in Woodford County, Illinois, at which time she was aged seventy-eight years and a resident of Tasewell County, Illinois…

In addition to the above, Clarence Wharton notes the following in Texas Under Many Flags (American Historical Society, Chicago, 1930):

…[Miss Letha Gandy’s] great-grandfather, John Gandy, of North Carolina, was a soldier in the American Revolution. Her parents were Barnabas P. and Mary (Allen) Gandy, her father a native of Alabama and her mother of Mississippi…

Yet with all this (albeit anecdotal) information, it doesn’t appear Letha joined DAR. I was unable to locate her in the Genealogical Research System. In fact, I could not find either of her patriot ancestors, either.

Letha Elizabeth Gandy Lincecum died 27 December 1959 at El Campo, Wharton County, Texas and was buried in the family cemetery at Gandy Bend in Lavaca County. While there is no DAR membership marker nearby, her gravestone bears the symbol for the Order of the Eastern Star.

Visit Letha Elizabeth Gandy Lincecum’s page in the Lincecum Lineage database.

[Example of Order of Eastern Star Symbol]

Ruth Elizabeth Lincecum: Thrice Married, Thrice Widowed

She begged him to stop flying, but he only laughed at her fears.

Ruth Elizabeth Lincecum was born 28 August 1903 at Morales, Jackson County, Texas. She was one of three children born to Dr. Addison Lysander Lincecum (1874-1965) and Letha Gandy (1873-1959). At the age of nineteen, Ruth married her first husband. He was Albert Ray Hilton, son of Wade H. Hilton, Jr. (1879-1959) and Lillie Bell Johnson (1880-1970). Ruth and Albert were married 23 December 1922 at Harris County, Texas.

Sharp-Hughes Tool Company – Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library, Public Domain

Albert was firstly a chemist and metallurgist, at one time connected with the Hughes Tool Company (est. 1908 as Sharp-Hughes Tool Company). By the end of 1930, he and Ruth had three children: Dorothy Ray (d. 2001), Addison Hampton (d. 2004), and Albert Jr. (d. 2018).

In the summer of 1950, Ruth’s first marriage came to a fiery end when Albert died in a plane crash.

Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) – 11 August 1950

Another news article published the same day in the Gladewater Daily Mirror (Texas) said Mrs. Hilton “had been begging him to stop flying, but that he only laughed at her fears.”

But her fears seem to have been well-founded. A few years prior, Albert was piloting a plane and had to make a crash landing after his aircraft had engine trouble. “Burned in aeroplane accident” was Albert’s official cause of death.

Three years and five months after Albert’s death, Ruth married again. On 15 January 1954, she wed Travis Audley Crosby. He was born 16 March 1901 at Ennis, Ellis County, Texas, a son of Audley C. Crosby and Etta Brown.

Less than six weeks before their 11th wedding anniversary, the character of death dealt Ruth a double blow. On 6 December 1965, she lost both her father Addison and second husband Travis. The following sentence was found in an obituary for her father published in the 7 December 1965 Dallas Morning News (Texas):

Moments after his daughter, Mrs. Ruth Crosby, a want ads employee for the Houston Post, learned of [her father’s] death at his isolated ranch near El Campo, her husband, certified public accountant T. A. Crosby, 64, suffered a fatal heart attack.

Enhanced image. Original by Sue (2014) via FindAGrave. Permission for use granted in bio.

Finally, Ruth was married to Archie Robert “Bob” Trussell. He, a salesman for General Electric Co., was born 25 September 1900 to Andrew Jackson Trussell and Catherine Joel.

I don’t know how long Bob and Ruth were married, but I do know she was widowed again when he died on 24 April 1979. Cardiac arrest was the cause of his death.

Ruth E. Trussell died 16 May 1982 at Houston, Harris County, Texas. Her obituary noted she was “past president of A&M’s University Mother’s Club,” and also “a member of the Jefferson Davis Daughters of Confederacy.” She was laid to rest next to her third husband in Pleasant Grove Cemetery #1 at Decatur, Wise County, Texas.

Visit Ruth Elizabeth Lincecum’s page in the Lincecum Lineage database.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.