The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949 Page: 13
512 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Migration into East Texas, 1835-1860
entire state, the efficiency of the method cannot be statistically
determined. As a result, the present study keeps for the most part
within the prison of per cents. Only in the fifth section, devoted
to estimates, are there figures purporting to measure actual totals
of migration into East Texas.
This probing of technical problems may end with a plain
warning. Migration data obtained in East Texas are accurate for
East Texas only. There, immigration from foreign sources was
almost nil; in Texas west of the Trinity, on the contrary, 15 per
cent to 20 per cent of all migrants were of foreign origin. In the
years immediately preceding 1850, migration into East Texas
apparently averaged larger than migration into the area west of
the Trinity; between 1850 and 186o, the growth of East Texas
suffered a relative lag, while settlement west of the Trinity
spurted ahead. These east-west differences, discerned from the
printed census reports, are ample proof that migration into East
Texas cannot be held strictly typical of migration into Texas
west of the Trinity, nor of migration into the whole state.12
immigrants, sent out even more emigrants. Other counties, such as Cherokee,
were still gaining population, but the number of departures was sufficient to
render the apparent detection rate grossly wrong. In a county receiving numerous
settlers from within the state-Kaufman is probably the best example-the situa-
tion is reversed, making the apparent detection rate deceptively low. Intrastate
movements thus defeat the attempt to calculate the true detection rate in sample
counties from one region. On a state-wide basis, indicated immigration would
be practically synonymous with total interstate and foreign migration into Texas,
and the per cent ratio of ascertained arrivals to indicated immigration should
be the true detection rate. If this per cent is ever sought, it ought not be calculated
in terms of families, as essayed in Table 2, because the conversion of indicated
immigration of persons into indicated immigration of families involves not only
the fiction of "numerical equivalents" but also a doubtful assumption about the
average size of all migrant families. See below, under "Estimates and Comparisons."
Instead, since the average size of detected immigrant families is measurable,
ascertained arrivals of families should be converted into arrivals of persons, and
the per cent found in terms of persons.
21In 186o, 95.1 per cent of all foreign-born in Texas resided west of the Trinity,
where they amounted to 16.9 per cent of all free inhabitants. In East Texas
foreign-born were a mere 1.2 per cent of all free inhabitants. The per cents have
been calculated from the numbers of foreign-born by counties in Eighth Census,
186o, vol. [I], Population, 487-489.
The greater migration into East Texas in the years just before 1850 may be
inferred from the fact that in populations of equal size the per cent of Texas-born
east of the Trinity was decidedly lower than the per cent of Texas-born west of
the Trinity. See Table 2.
The per cent increases of white population, 1850 to 186o, were 127.2 per cent
east of the Trinity, and 220.7 per cent west of the Trinity. See Table 1. A west-
ward movement within Texas probably accounts for a good part of the difference.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949, periodical, 1949; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101121/m1/19/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.