Migration to Texas: With Whom

Here's another example of how I spend fifteen hours researching a seemingly simple question. 

I reasoned most families in the 1800s did not migrate hundreds of miles away from home as a solo venture. They more than likely traveled in groups. And they more than likely knew someone already established at the new homeland.

My question: With Whom did each of my four families travel and/or follow to Robertson County, Texas?

To find the answer, I had to research extended family members. LOTS of them. Then I had to synthesize all the names and dates into a manageable framework.

While the above graphic concisely summarizes the findings, the following gives more detail:

The MILES family came to Texas in a circuitous fashion.

• James Cornelius Miles (my great-great-grandfather) and Nancy Catherine Duncan - along with their nine children (ages 5 to 26) - were living in Hamblen, TN in 1880. 
• Shortly after, James, Catherine, and the younger six children moved to Robertson County, TX. I surmise they traveled with Nancy's brother Andrew Duncan and his wife, Georgiana Linn. Georgiana's brothers had settled in Texas in the mid-1870s. 
• In the meantime, the older Miles children, including Mitchell (my great-grandfather) returned to Blount County, AL where the family had lived for several years prior (1855 and 1870+). Mitchell soon married Mary French and started a family.
• Around 1890, the Alabama siblings migrated to Texas. Mitchell and Mary settled in Robertson County where his father still lived, while the other two settled in Grimes County (two counties to the southeast) where some of the younger six siblings now resided.

The FRENCH family (all except Joseph Benton, my great-grandfather) migrated to Navarro, TX in 1870. To the best of my knowledge, Mary French came to Texas because she followed her husband to Robertson County. While the FRENCH family arrived in Texas first, I do not believe they were instrumental in my direct line's migration story. 

• The French families were a fruitful bunch. James Lewis French (my 3x great-grandfather) sired 12 children(!) Seven of those children migrated to Navarro County, Texas (95 miles north of Robertson County) in the 1850s. My 2x great-grandfather, Lewis Pinkney French, waited until after 1870 to make the trip. He more than likely traveled with his three younger siblings.
• Lewis Pinkney French sired a total of 14 children with two separate wives (!!) When they made the trek to Texas in the 1870s, the eldest three stayed behind in Blount County, Alabama. My great-great-grandfather, Joseph Benton French, was one of the three.
• Joseph Benton French sired a total of 14 children with three separate wives (!!!) My great-grandmother, Mary, was in the first litter. She was the only one of the six to move away from Blount County. She and her husband Mitchell Miles traveled to Robertson County, TX to meet up with his family around 1890.

The DOWDY family is the most direct route to Texas and the most curious.

• James C Dowdy and Rachael Miller had eleven children and resided in Whitfield County, GA at the start of the Civil War. While I've conducted little research into this time period, I do know two of their sons fought on the confederate side: Robert Dowdy Sr (my great-great-grandfather) from February 1963 until September of that same year when he deserted and signed the oath. John W Dowdy then enlisted in October 1864 and mustered out July 1866. That is the last known information I have for him.
• While several Dowdy siblings migrated to Texas, Robert Dowdy Sr and his wife, Ruth Payne, seem to be the first ones to make the journey. They traveled with four children ranging in age from one to nine years old. My great-grandfather, Robert Dowdy Jr was the first child to be born in Robertson County, TX in 1879. 
• The other Dowdy siblings who migrated to the area between 1880 and 1883 include Emily Jane (and husband Joseph Towler) Marcus (and wife Lydia Osborn), Marion (and wife Emma Thomas), and Joseph (and wife Sarah Osborn ... Lydia's sister). Emily and Robert Sr remained in Robertson County. Marcus and Joseph moved to Comanche County (about three hours northwest).
• One possible hypothesis: Robert Dowdy Sr and Ruth Payne followed her family to Texas. That theory is still under investigation. I have found little information for any of her six siblings.
• Because I don't believe this family of six would just set out on an 850 mile trip by themselves, I have another hypothesis: Robert Dowdy followed some Confederate army friends away from ravage-torn Georgia to the new Texas frontier. It is a research project for another day.

The CRANE family remained in Tennessee. William Granville (my great-great-grandfather) was the only one to move to Texas. I hypothesized he followed his wife's family to the Lone Star State. 

• Mary Maud COLE, (my great-great-grandmother) had roots in Franklin County, TN. Her father was born there in 1821 and her mother in 1826. They had ten children. Six of the ten eventually made their way to Texas. A few settled in Robertson County, several others moved on to Erath County (about three hours northwest of the area).
• Mary's oldest brother, James Samuel, was the first to head to Texas. I'm not sure his motivation, but I know he married his wife in Robertson County, TX in 1872. She was a native of the area.
• Mary Maud and William Granville headed to Robertson County about fifteen years later. Seven of their nine children were born in Tennessee. The eighth child, Archie Raymond, was born in Grant Prairie (a small rural part of the county) in 1887.
• I surmise that Mary's younger brother, Thomas Jefferson, went with them ... perhaps to help with the children while they traveled the 800 miles to their new home.
• Thomas Jefferson married in Robertson County in 1888. He lived there for about twelve years. He, and several of the other Cole siblings, moved about three hours away to Erath County, TX.

At some point, I'd like to research HOW they might have traveled across the country. Preliminary investigation reveals they might have traveled by covered wagon (using flatboat ferries across waterways), or the I&GN Railroad (train depot located in Franklin, TX), or steamship across the Gulf of Mexico (docking in Galveston).

But for now, I'm going to take a break from migration to the area and instead, investigate the area itself.