Hello fellow researchers of the name Idom, Idam, Eidom, Eidam, Idum, Idome, Item, etc. This is a message I just sent someone summarizing everything I know about this family. I hope it helps someone.
Hi. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, but things have been extremely rushed the last two weekends. I'm finally caught up. This is what little I know about the Idoms-Idams-Eidoms-Eidams. They have used at least these 4 spellings of the name, so researching them is difficult. I believe all the Idoms, etc., are from the same family since all of them I have been able to find any records of lived in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas.
My mother's mother was Jewel Erma Eidom (Cherokee. Co., TX - 1892-1977.
Jewel's father was John Robert Eidom (born Cherokee, Co., TX, 1860, died same place 1931).
John Robert's father was Joel David Eidom (born in 1832, not sure where. Died in Cherokee, Co., TX in 1874. He served as an officer in the Confederacy in the Civil War.
I believe Joel's father was named John, but I can't prove it. I don't know when the Eidoms moved from Germany (I think) to the U.S. A story was handed down by word of mouth that there was a title in the familly in Germany, but I can't prove it. Joel and John had the courtly bearing of the old southern aristocracy, from what I heard from my grandmother. the Eidoms moved from MS. to East Texas in about 1848-1850.
In April 2001, I received an email from Bret Idom. The earliest Idom he has a record of is Jacob, born abt 1791. He had 3 sons: James Jackson, John M., and William Young. John M. went to MS in the 1850s. Bret says the name has been spelled Idam, Idum, Idome, Item. He says his family thinks the surname is Scots-Irish in origin, but the name was in England in the 1500s, and in Denmark in the 1800s. In Denmark there are towns named Idom and Idomlund.
In August 2000, I received an message from someone name Dorrell. His or her (not sure) gg granmother was Martha Elizabeth Bugg. Her parents were Willis Lemeul Bugg and Caroline Jane Eidom.
In December 2000, Paul Plowan sent me an email about his Eidoms. One of his relatives was Sarah Sutton who married John Eidom and went to Texas. There were from Yallabusa, Co., MS.
In October 2000, I received an email from Dorrell Spence that told more about Caroline Eidom. She was born in 1819 in Okibbeha, MS. She moved to Cherokee, Co., TX.
In October 2000, I received an email from Rose Idom Lance. Her grandfather was Walter Idom from the Collins, MS area. He died in the early 1950s.
That is what little I know about this family, except that some members of the family still live in the Port Arthur, TX, area. I have had no contact with them for many years. I hope this helps.
Jimmy Clark