Meixner Family History #11 - The Journey (Part 6)

Frank Meixner was able to turn a disastrous situation at Castle Garden, where he was swindled out of his money, into a workable situation of having a job in Texas and transportation to get there.  I wonder if he and Theresia were able to stay excited abut being in a new country?  Were they looking forward to Texas or dreading it?  Were they already second guessing their decision to come to America or were they pushing forward with hope and optimism?

I don't know how long it took to ride the train 1650 miles to Waco, Texas.  I'm sure they didn't take the same route Google prescribes (as shown in this picture) and I would think the distance was most likely longer than the 1650 miles shown on this map.

Google Map

How many train changes did they have to make?  In late August it would have been hot.  It couldn't have been a pleasant ride.  Hot, dirty, crowded, poor accommodations all come to mind though I do not know that as a fact.

In 1880 Texas had a population of 1,591,749.  Hearne, Texas had a population of 1,421.  Located in the south west section of Robertson County (pop. in 1880 22,383), Hearne is some 90 miles north east of Austin and 65 miles south east of Waco.  Robertson County is named after Sterling Robertson.  In the 1830s Robertson received a contract for colonization from Mexico to bring colonists into Texas.  He worked diligently for many years to bring settlers into a part of Texas that became known as Robertson's Colony.  The first Texas Congress established Roberson County in 1837.  The present limits were set by The Texas Legislature in 1846. (2)

In 1852 the Hearne family, led by their patriarch Christopher Columbus Hearne, settled in Robertson County.  Hearne, Texas was named for the elder Hearne.  They owned 10,000 acres of land and operated large cotton plantations on this very fertile Brazos River bottom land.  Horatio "Rasche" Hearne's plantation consisted of 3600 acres of land. (3)

Cotton was a major crop in the mid 1800's.  Crop production was limited by how long it took to get the crops to market.  In 1869 the railroad line made it's way in to Hearne.  This momentous event set off a significant change in the way the plantation owners would work their plantations.  Bales of cotton could now be shipped the 50 miles to the nearest market in one day instead of the two weeks it took 1000 ox carts to get the same amount of cotton to market before.  This development meant the owners could plant more acres of cotton, however there was one small hitch, they had to have laborers to work these additional acres.   The plantation owners tried working local convicts but this practice didn't last long before it was stopped. (4)

In the early 1870's Rasche Hearne and other owners solved their labor problem by traveling to North Carolina to hire laborers to transport back to Texas to work the plantations.  This worked well until the North Carolina plantation owners started running short of laborers.  One source said this practice stopped when Mr. Hearne was "escorted" out of the state. (5)  We know that by 1881 Rasche Hearne had found a new source for labor:  immigrants.  So Rasche Hearne ended up at Castle Garden on Aug 26, 1881 and hired my great grandfather to come to Texas to work.

The Meixner family got off the train in Texas after 35 days of traveling.  This time frame came from my cousin Henry Meixner who said he heard the story from his father Frank, Jr. I'm assuming this is the time from their homeland to Texas.

Finally the Meixner family was ready to settle down in Texas and their long journey was over.

Next:  Texas, Their New Home

References:

1) Google Maps

2) James L Hailey and Christopher Long, "Robertson County," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcr09), accessed August 20, 2012.  Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

3) James L. Hailey, "Hearne, TX: Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hfho2), accessed August 27, 2012.  Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

4) Robertson County books, Masters Theses -  Early Development of Robertson County, by Ivory Freeman Carson, 1954, North Texas State College Master's Thesis, taken from U.S. GenWeb Project - hosted by Roots Web an Ancestry.com community.

5) Hearne, by Melissa Freeman, Copyright 2012, Published by Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S.C.