The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 57, July 1953 - April, 1954 Page: 63
585 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Statistical Review of the Settlement of Peters Colony
to give precedence to the earlier locator. Over 4 per cent of the
colonists were thus unfortunate and were forced to move.
A much larger percentage had not located their land in 1850.
Many of the certificates belonging to these persons passed into
speculation, while others, when they got around to locating their
own certificates, were forced to move west. Those who in 1850
had Not Selected (see page 44) their land were 22 per cent of the
colonists; 9.6 per cent had located on a Fraction; 59 per cent were
located on Company Surveys; 5 per cent had Not Surveyed their
land; and 4.4 per cent were on Old Surveys.
About 2 per cent of the colonists died between the time they
migrated and 1850. This was about 22 per cent of those who
came prior to 1844, 13 per cent of those who came in 1844-1845,
3 per cent of the 1845-1846 arrivals, and 9.9 per cent of those who
came in 1847-1848. The largest percentage of deaths in the early
arrivals is chiefly a result of the time increment of measurement;
the early arrivals figure in the statistics for six years, the late
arrivals for only two years. The hardships of opening the area
to settlement, however, fell on the early arrivals, and at least a
dozen (probably twice that many) met death at the hands of the
Indians. By 185o death had come to about 11 per cent of the
heads of families, 9 per cent of the single men, 12 per cent of
the widows, 24 per cent of the widowers, and 7 per cent of the
colonists who came single but later married.
Illiteracy was about equally divided between the first wave and
the second wave: 13 per cent in the first and 17 per cent in the
second. Forty per cent of the illiterates were single men (16.5
per cent of the single men were illiterate) , while 44 per cent were
married (13 per cent of the married men were illiterate). A sur-
prisingly low percentage (12 per cent) of the widows were found
to be illiterate, but it is interesting to observe that at least 40 per
cent of those widows who remarried were illiterate.
A final item that may be of interest and that should be added
for completeness is the percentage of colonists in the whole area
in 185o. Denton, Cooke, and Tarrant are the only counties wholly
within the colony. About 89 per cent of Denton, 78 per cent of
Cooke, and 75 per cent of Tarrant were in 185o members of the
colony. This can be interpreted as meaning that 11 per cent of
the population of Denton County, 22 per cent of Cooke, and 25
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 57, July 1953 - April, 1954, periodical, 1954; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101152/m1/81/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.