2014 Fall Edition Newsletter

Robert Lykins Donates Medical Bag *O NPSF UIBO B EFDBEF CFGPSF 1BPMB XBT JODPSQPSBUFE %S %BWJE -ZLJOT +S ĕ STU DBNF UP UIF BSFB UP IFMQ establish the Wea Baptiste Mission east of where the Miami County Medical Center stands today. For nearly a decade, David and his wife, Abigail Ann, along with fellow instructor Sarah Osgood, taught the Indi an children in the area at the Wea Baptiste Indian School. David and his partner, Dr. Woodson Hoover, also practiced medicine together at the mission. Any sick mem ber of the Wea, Kaskaskia, Piankishaw or Peoria Indians likely would have found themselves treated by David or Woodson. Now, more than 170 years later, local residents can visit the Miami County Historical Museum in Paola and TFF UIF TBNF CSPXO MFBUIFS NFEJDBM CBH UIBU %BWJE -ZLJOT VTFE UP USFBU IJT QBUJFOUT ć F CBH XBT EPOBUFE UP UIF museum earlier this month by one of Lykins’ descendants. Robert David Lykins of Hutto, Texas, is the great-great-grandson of Dr. David Lykins. Museum volunteer and local Indian expert Lloyd Peckman said he couldn’t believe it when he answered the phone at the museum a few weeks back and Robert David Lykins was on the other end of the line. As it turned out, another Lykins family member recently passed away, and several family heirlooms changed IBOET ć F CBH XFOU UP 3PCFSU %BWJE -ZLJOT BOE IF UIPVHIU JU XBT BQQSPQSJBUF UP SFUVSO JU UP .JBNJ $PVOUZ )F arrived with his son Phillip earlier this month, and museum volunteer Jim Bousman said the bag will be dis played with a small Bible that was owned by Mary Elizabeth Lykins, who was married to Dr. Woodson Hoover. In 1852, Dr. David Lykins lost his wife, Abigail, and their 6-year-old son, Charles, as well as his fellow teacher, 4BSBI ć F DBVTF PG UIFJS EFBUIT JT OPU EPDVNFOUFE BMUIPVHI 1FDLNBO BOE #PVTNBO TBJE UIFZ TVTQFDU JU XBT some type of illness, such as smallpox, cholera or typhoid fever. ć F NVTFVN BMTP IBT UIF POMZ LOPXO QJDUVSF PG %S %BWJE -ZLJOT ‰ B DIBSDPBM ESBXJOH PG IJN MFBOJOH BHBJOTU his wife’s tombstone in a cemetery near the Wea Baptiste Mission. ć PTF XIP TUPQ CZ UIF NVTFVN NBZ BMTP MFBSO B MJUUMF CJU BCPVU UIF -ZLJOT GBNJMZ BOE MFHBDZ -ZLJOT IFMQFE ESBę UIF *OEJBO 5SFBUZ XIJDI XBT TJHOFE CZ 1SFTJEFOU 'SBOLMJO 1JFSDF BOE MBUFS SFTVMUFE JO the removal of the Indians to Oklahoma. He also was one of the incorporators of the Historical and Philosophi cal Society of the Kansas Territory. Between 1855 and 1858, Dr. David Lykins was elected as the 4th District senator for the Kansas Territorial -FHJTMBUVSF BOE .JBNJ $PVOUZ XBT OBNFE Bę FS IJN XIFO JU XBT PSJHJOBMMZ DBMMFE -ZLJOT $PVOUZ *U XBT MBUFS changed due to his pro-slavery views, and he was asked to leave the county. When the free-staters took over in 1861, Lykins moved back with his brother, Johnston, who was an early set UMFS BOE ĕ STU NBZPS PG ,BOTBT $JUZ .P In 1909, Edward Lykins erected a memorial for his father and mother, and it is still located in the west Oak Grove section of Paola Cemetery.

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