Migration to Texas: When and Why

For the next several weeks, I want to delve into farm life in rural Boone Prairie, Texas. 

I'm interested in knowing what Mom's childhood may have looked like ... and I'd like to understand why my grandmother chose to leave and sever ties with most relations. While it may not be possible to answer that last question, I hope to take a few steps forward in making an educated guess.

First a bit of historical context. When, Why, and How did they travel across the South and settle in Robertson County?

Migration to Texas

When I first started this genealogy quest, I knew I was a southern mutt. What I didn't realize was the depth of those roots.

With a high degree of certainty, I can trace seven of my eight family names back to the early 1800s. And all those families resided in the deep south (Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina).

For now, however, I'm going to focus on my mother's side.

The makeshift chart above reveals all four families lived in either Georgia, Tennessee, or Alabama between 1840 and 1885. Elementary knowledge of U.S. History puts them in the middle of the Civil War which resulted in the fall of the South. The Reconstruction Era was difficult for these family farmers, and they searched for a way out.

(I still need to research this time period. I know I have relatives who fought in the war, but that is an in-depth project for a future date).

While I understood why they left, I wanted to know why they chose Robertson County. 

One viable answer is familiar soil.

Robertson County, TX

By the early 1850s, Robertson County was a thriving plantation economy based largely on cotton. The area also staunchly supported the Southern cause. From 1860 to 1870, this area doubled in size. Over the next ten years, it doubled again. (Migration into Texas: 1860-1880 by Homer L Kerr)

As I mentioned in a previous post, my grandmother recorded Mom's first cotton picking experience when she was one year old. 

Were they cotton farmers?

I obtained copies of the 1880 Agriculture census for all four families. While many of them had not yet settled in Texas, I thought this information would help shed light on their farming history.

Robert Lee Dowdy, Sr., his wife Ruth Payne, and their 3 young boys were living in Robertson County at the time. According to the Agricultural Census, they owned their farm (valued at $700) as well as 43 tilled acres of land and 17 woodland acres. In addition, they had:

• 1 horse
• 1 mule
• 4 Milch cows
• 8 "other" cows
• 3 dropped calves
• 8 swine
• 35 barnyard poultry
• 12 acres of Indian corn (125 bushels)
• 10 acres of cotton (2 bales)
• Earned $200 in butter sales in 1879
• Earned $250 in egg production in 1879

I'm guessing Mom may have helped harvest cotton on her grandfather's farm!

Interestingly, I also learned the French family (still living in Alabama in 1880) farmed 10 acres of cotton (2 bales). While I don't know for certain if they continued this kind of farming in Texas (the Miles family did not harvest cotton in Alabama), that is a distinct possibility.

Travel in Family Units

While familiar soil is a likely reason for migration, I'm not sure it is the sole explanation. Texas is a long way from Georgia and Alabama, at a time when travel was limited to covered wagons, railroad, and/or steamboat along the Gulf Coast. (Again... more research for another day).

But I do think family units stayed together. Did perhaps another relative forge the way for future families to join them?

Next week I'll explore the likelihood of family units traveling together to begin a promising life in Texas.