The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 3
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Texan of 186o
Union soldier stationed in Texas in 186o, "within her limits are
citizens from every State in the Union, as well as large numbers
from foreign countries. They bring with them the habits and sen-
timents peculiar to their homes, and thus, unitedly form the basis
of a hardy, vigorous, intelligent population."' Internal migra-
tion in the United States was responsible for most of the new
residents of Texas. States which had been receiving immigrants
before 1850 were sometimes losing citizens by 186o. Arkansas and
Mississippi sent most of their imigres to Texas, which was expand-
ing its cotton frontier and following the natural geographic pat-
tern to the West. From the North, Illinois, Indiana, and New
York were the chief sources of potential Texans, with Ohio and
Pennsylvania next in line. The settlers brought their slaves with
them. The ratio of colored population to the total in Texas was
27.5 per cent in 1850; by 186o Negroes were 30.2 per cent of
the whole.
Total foreign population grew from 16,744 in 1850 to 43,422 by
186o, with Germany, Mexico, and the British Isles the three chief
sources. Almost half, 20,553, of the foreign population was Ger-
man. Coming on individual enterprise and initiative, migrants
from Germany, Prussia, and Austria, between 1831 and 1861,
became assimilated in the economic and political life of Austin,
Colorado, Fayette, Washington, DeWitt, and Victoria counties.
In Western Texas most of the Germans had been brought in by
the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas.
Gillespie County, for instance, had a population of 2,736 of which
1,363 were foreign in birth. Comal County had a foreign popula-
tion of 2,186 out of 3,837.8
French had increased over 300 per cent in a ten year period,
to a total of 1,883.9 French and Alsatians under Henri Castro
settled the Castroville area; Victor Considerant led other French
to the La Reunion or Dallas area. Norwegians settled in Bosque
7John Titcomb Sprague, The Treachery in Texas, the Secession of Texas, and the
Arrest of the United States Officers and Soldiers Serving in Texas (New York,
1862), 110o.
8R. L. Biesele, History of the German Settlements in Texas, 183z-z86z (Austin,
1930), 157-159.
9J. D. B. De Bow, Statistical View of the United States ... Being a Compendium
of the Seventh Census (Washington, 1854), 79, 85, 86; U. S. Census, z86o, I, xxix.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/21/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.