As with all genealogical research, it is never complete. There are always more records to connect to people and stories to explore. We never capture the complete picture of a family. There’s especially those stories and people that we do not know that we do not know. There are a few things that we can see that need to be explored further and questions that arise that may remain unanswered.
Here are a few questions and areas that I see that still need to be explored.
To Do
Women and their children
There are many opportunities to enrich the Lingo story by looking at the women who married and changed their surname. I propose expanding an effort, so far only barely started, to take a close look at every Mother born with the Lingo name and see all the stories of her children. This would start with the immediate line of descent and can spread as wide as time permits. Going a second generation would be great, although a much larger task.
Early Georgia – prior to 1800
The early settlers in Georgia are still not well documented. Patrick Lingo most likely had a son named Patrick one born in 1722 to the Father born in 1750. One of them died in 1801 but we don’t know which one for certain. We do not know the name of the wife of the elder Patrick. We’ve also not determined the relationship of the early Moses Lingo who settled in Washington county Georgia in the late 1700s. He is likely the son of the elder Patrick Lingo perhaps with a different mother as he was apparently born long after 1750, but even this is uncertain. I am also not certain that we have a clear enough picture about John Richard Lingo, whether he was an immigrant or was born here, and for certain if he was the father or direct ancestor of both Elijah Lingo and Patrick Lingo. There seems to be a connection, however, as is often the case with early histories, the exact details are still uncertain and documentation is sparse.
There are more records that are not yet online available at local libraries and the state archive. As access has been limited due to the pandemic, this essential work may need to wait a bit longer. (Feb 2021)
More records
We have not yet exhausted the available online records. There are many records that are already digitized, yet not connected into the person records on FamilySearch. A few examples are the North American Family Histories, 1500-2000 on Ancestry.com, the many documents mentioning “Lingo” on Archive.org, such as the Tanner Family History, and many mentions of Lingos in Georgia Historic Newspapers.
There is an entry for Patrick Lingo 1750-1801 in the American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) – need to request a digital copy of his page(s).
This is an ongoing effort.
Capture existing stories, documents, photos, etc.
There are lots of existing stories that are known and could be recorded or digitized for archival purposes such as family letters and oral histories. None of that work has been merged into this website as of February 2021. It is important to capture the stories and the existing documents photographs etc.
I have a high-speed, photo-friendly sheet-feed scanner that is available for this purpose. It is portable, so probably easier to move it to the photos (Feb 2021).
Clear up uncertainties
In addition to the “To Do” list above, there are the inevitable genealogical uncertainties that we list and work on.
There is a 1912 news article talking about “James Lingo, the 14-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Lingo” who was hit by a car. Need you to determine if this was Roy with nickname “James,” a different person, or if this was an error in the article.
Among the many news reports, the one in the Milledgeville Union Recorder on 27 November 1930 was intriguing, yet needs more supporting documenting. In the report from “The Children of the Confederacy” meeting, they lists unreported graves in/near this county that they want to get marked. Most of these men, copied below, are not well-documented, if at all, on FamilySearch.
“William Dennis Lingo gave seven sons to the Confederacy – Pinkney Lingo, Sam Lingo, W.T. Lingo, buried at Oak Grove church – John Lingo buried at Black Springs and N.B. and W.B. Lingo buried in Texas.”
PDF version
The closest person I can find in a William D Lingold who is attached to a mess of 20 children. The relationship between “Lingo” and “Lingold” is fraught…
We’ll keep a running list of these questions here…
People yet to connect
John and Lela’s two oldest daughters Josephine and Hattie both married men named Leatherwood – Family Search does not have a connection….
John and Lela’s youngest daughter, Lela Mae was married to a Smith?? John V Steele?? We also do not have information about her death. This has been resolved and documented on Family Search. John was the son of John V Steele and Lela Mae Lingo, and was adopted by Lela’s husband Frank Stich.
Albert J Lingo ?-1859
Albert J Lingo was executed 27 May 1859 for the 5 Aug 1858 murder of Robert Duncan in Powder Springs, Cobb County, Georgia. Neither of these men are documented on FamilySearch.org. We know from the Georgia Supreme Court case (29GA 470), that Albert’s Father was “Pinkerton Lingo” and Albert’s sister Frances was married to Robert Duncan. There is also a Matthew Lingo mentioned without the relationship noted. It is very possible that Albert was the son of Pinkston Lingo One source speculates that Robert may be the son of William Watts Duncan.
William B Lingo 1858-1896
There is also an interesting story of a William B Lingo 1858-1896, who was out drinking on a Wednesday night in Calhoun, GA, when he was shot and killed by Tom Keaton (Keyton? Tom’s conviction on Manslaughter was reversed). We are not certain of William’s father, who was “killed at the same spot many years ago.” We know that William was married to Ida Ophelia Gadden 1863–1942, and they were parents to another Asbury Pinkston Lingo 1880-1972. The best information so far, still not sourced, is that William’s father was a Malikiah Lingo, probably a brother to Albert J (above) and Asbury Pinkston Lingo 1830-1909.
More people to listed here.
Census Records
The 1810 and 1820 censuses are not well connected to the individual records. Every census should eventually be connected as best as possible.
Future explorations
I am interested in exploring any connections between the Lingos who moved to Missouri and then possibly onto Texas or to Georgia, or any moves in the opposite direction. Right now the only Missouri Lingos who are well documented are those who initially moved there with the Turner family. There is a Facebook Group for Lingos in Arkansas that has been active in the recent past.
The work to document the Lingos who moved to Ohio early on is still lacking on FamilySearch. After Delaware and Eastern Virginia, the early migration was to Ohio and Tennessee.
Since it is clear that there was a concentration of Lingos on the Delmarva Peninsula, more geographical research is needed to be done and.or collected. For example, there is almost no history of Lewiston, Delaware online. This is the origins of Elijah Lingo 1744-1830, who named Lewiston, Georgia, which is only a bit better documented.
There was also a branch of the family in Utah and Idaho that was married into the Tanner family, as documented in Maurice Tanner, Descendants of John Tanner : Born August 15, 1778, at Hopkintown, R.I. Died April 15, 1850, at South Cottonwood, Salt Lake County, Utah (The Tanner Family Association, 1923).
There are also certainly errors that need to be corrected!