Letha Elizabeth Gandy and Her Marriage to Doc Lincecum

Letha Elizabeth Gandy was born on 25 September 1873 at Gandy Bend in Lavaca County, Texas to Barnabas Pipkin Gandy (d. 1914) and Mary Elizabeth Allen. The community in which Letha was born was settled by her grandfather Daniel "in the big bend of the Navidad" River.

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At the "spinsterish" age of 24, Letha married Dr. Addison Lysander "Doc" Lincecum (1874-1965). He was a son of Dr. Lucullus Garland Lincecum (d. 1900) and Louisa Frances "Fannie" Rainwater (1843-1878). Soon after the young couple's marriage, they moved to Lampasas, where their arrival was noted in the local paper:

Friday, 3 December 1897

Lampasas Leader (Texas)

Marriages

LINCECUM - GANDY. -- Lampasas has captured another prize. Dr. Ad. L. Lincecum and Miss Letha Gandy of Hallettsville, Lavaca county, were happily married, and arrived in this city last Saturday.

And thus it is that Lampasas has added another bright star in her constellation of fair daughters.

The bride is of one of the oldest and most highly respected families, and a young lady of culture and refinement.

The groom is the son of Dr. L. G. Lincecum and is well known to everybody, having lived in Lampasas since early childhood. He is a promising young physician, and all Lampasas has a warm welcome for the young couple -- the groom to his old and the bride to her new home.

For the present they are domiciled at the groom's father's residence on West Third street.

Letha and Doc had three children: Barnabas Pipkin Gandy (1900-1999), who was named after Letha's father; Ruth Elizabeth (1903-1982), whose middle name is the same as her mother and maternal grandmother; and Addison Turney (1913-1989), whose middle name is the maiden name of Letha's paternal grandmother.

Historian Clarence Wharton wrote the following about Letha in Texas Under Many Flags (pub. 1930):

Mrs. Lincecum is a Texas author, has been an investigator and writer on historical topics, and many of her writings have been published and have secured for her special recognition and honors from the university and other institutions.  Her 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.

 

Letha died two days after Christmas in 1959, and burial was in the family cemetery at Gandy Bend. Her tombstone bears an emblem for the Order of the Eastern Star.