Yocums of the Ozarks Specialists?

Question

Hi all.  I am new to this particular site.  Being born and raised in the Ozarks, I have been familiar with the tales and stories of many of my ancestors and their scandalous behavior.  I am working to sort though all the Yocum's who passed through here and helped settle this land.  I look forward to making whatever contributions I can to the community and all of our stories as a whole.

Is there a particular Ozarks specialist active here?

Answer 1

There are 703 with the Yocum surname at Wikitree. You can check them out if you go to the upper right of the page and click on Find. Scroll down to Surnames. Then, enter the Yocum surname to get to the list. There was a George Washington Yocum who lived in Missouri.

The states that include the Ozarks include Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

You may want to initiate a Yocum one name study.

Answer 2

Oh my! You have a task ahead of you. I worked on the first three generations, but have mostly worked on my specific lineage after that. I would like to suggest The Lives and Legends of the Ozark Yoakums by Audrey Lee Clouston-Becker. It is very useful although I believe it does have some errors. I love the story of the Yoakum Gold MIne! It was available through Arkansas Research, Inc. I still have info I haven't added to this site. Cari Yocom (from Kentucky>Virginia>Indiana) 

PS Sarah Patton (Stevens-2498) has done a tremendous amount of work on these families and it was on the ground courthouse work, so you can pretty well take what she says as right. Steve Smith is another Yocum researcher who has done splendid work.

Comments

Thanks Cari.  I was hoping you'd chime in and give me some guidance.  I've looked through your work and all I can say is, "Wow!"  I've been studying the stories since I was a kid and read all of the old genealogy pages when the Internet was new (1995ish), but couldn't make heads or tails out of anything.  The system they use here (wikitree) is so much better equipped to sift through the details.  I stumbled across a major intersection between The Big Book of Yocums and the Longstreth Family Records which aided my search.  The connection is distant, but helped me corral certain lines away from my own.  I'll take a look at the references you so kindly provided.  Thanks again.

Answer 3

I know this is rather late but thought it may help. My grandmother was a Yoakum daughter of Jesse Yoakum. This Yoakum family was from Dixon Missouri and surrounding area. They connect to the Yoakums from Sagamon Illinois, TN and VA. There are several people who have done considerable research although there are discrepancies and difference of opinions especially when you get back to late 1600’s and 1700’s.  One site Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, The Yoakum Pages has a wealth of information. Also do a Google search on Yoakum Station. I found some interesting news and historical articles. I will help you out if I can but I am not an expert.