Families have sad stories and tragedies. The Linogs are no exception. Here are a few of those stories, along with the connections where known.
A lost twin
A story told to Dorothy Ruth (Lingo) Smith 1914-1996 by her mother Clement V. Lingo: “Clemmie’s father, Matthew Harris Lingo 1838-1925, was a twin. His family was leaving Georgia on their way to Texas in a covered wagon. Some Indians started chasing after them. They made the horses go as fast as they could. They went so fast that the other twin baby boy fell out of the wagon. The family couldn’t stop to pick him up. They got away from the Indians but they never saw their baby again.“
Matthew Harris Lingo was uncle to John Asbury Lingo.
Story is an oral history via Dan Cuny, great-grandson of Clemmie, great-nephew of Dorothy. The story has some issues in that there is no record of his father, Pinkston, or mother, Mary Ann Smith Lingo moving to Texas, and Matthew apparently didn’t move to Texas until between 1870 and 1880. Somewhere, there is some basis for this story, perhaps in early moves to Texas by other family members. Perhaps they started to move to Texas and then turned back to Georgia after the tragedy. It’s hard to know for certain.
Ethel Louise Lingo 1896-1898
Ethel was a grandaughter of Asbury Pinkston Lingo 1830-1909, making her a second cousin to John Asbury Lingo.
Americus (GA) Times-Recorder obituary, 18 Feb 1898, page 8:
SAD DEATH OF A LITTLE ONE.
Ethel Louise Lingo Passes Away Yesterday.
“Her suffering ended with the day.
Yet lived she at its close.
And breathed the long long night away,
In statue-like repose.
But when the sun, in all his state.
Illumed the eastern skies,
She passed through glory’s morning-gate.
And walked In Paradise.” [1]
So passed away the spirit of little Ethel Louise Lingo into the morning light through the dark portals of death, a rare and radiant spirit, a flower of beauty and purity as fair as the heavenly asphodels.
The death of this baby girl last night at 6 o’clock was a fearful shock to her loving and devoted parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lingo.
Click the image of her obituary to enlarge to read
Others who died young
Lela and John Lingo’s son Arthur Neil Lingo, with his wife Jewel Brock had two children die young, a infant boy born premature on 23 May 1923, and Arthur Neil Lingo Jr born 9 July 1925 and died of cholera ten days after his second birthday.
Joseph Andrew Lingo 1900–1979 and Gladys Lucille Hutchins 1907–1978 had a daughter in 1933 who lived less than an hour.
Billy Lingo 1929–2000 (unknown father, not Joseph’s son Billy Ray) and Dorothy Mae Munsinger 1935–2008 had a baby boy in 1959 who lived only about 8 hours.
There is no record yet found that nephew of John Asbury, Daniel Neil Lingo Jr, lived into adulthood. He was last seen as a 15 year old in the 1870 Census. There is a Daniel Lingo listed in the 1880 Census, of the right age, however, this Daniel is listed as being born in Arkansas with a son born the year before in Tennessee (of course, people do lie!).
War and war scars
John Asbury’s great grandson, the grandson of Mabel Dorothy Lingo Acebo 1908-2001, Richard Allen Brooke 1950-2018, was drafted into the Vietnam Conflict. In a Life Sketch by Lisa Brooke, we learn that although he was able to build a good life for himself after his military service:
Richard had battle scars left from vietnam, and as time past his health continued to decline, spending a lot of time in an out of the hospital. It was a struggle he endured until the end.
Life sketch of Richard Allen Brooke, Lisa Brooke, Family Search
More to come…
There are more details about William B Lingo being shot in 1896. Asbury Pinkston Lingo 1830-1909 had a son George who apparently killed a man during a drunken night out partying. An then there’s Albert Lingo who was executed for the murder of Robert Duncan.
Notes
[1] Opening poem is “A Death-Bed” by James Aldrich