When the Womack, Chapman, and McClendon families arrived in the booming town of Town Bluff, a settlement on the navigable Neches River, they would have been warmly greeted by relatives.
Their uncle, James B. Franklin, and his wife, Mary Chapman, seem to have been the first members of the Franklin clan to move out of Rankin County and on to Texas. Their son Benjamin "Bud" was born in Rankin County on the 5th of December 1845, just before Texas attained statehood. The next child, "Babe," was born in Texas in February 1848.
Aunt Alicy Franklin and her husband Thomas Cryer probably moved with them. Their youngest child, William, had been born in Rankin County in 1844.
There was surely a great deal of talk about starting a new life in Texas during these tough times in Mississippi. Letters from family who had made the move would have greatly influenced those considering following that path. James and Ailcy surely sent letters on to their eldest brother, Henry, about their experiences along the way, and the new land they had settled on in Tyler County, Texas, which sat just across the Neches River from Louisiana.
By 1850, James was 43, and Mary ten years younger. They had a thriving family; William Plummer 13, Thomas Harrison 11, Sarah 9, Benjamin "Bud" 6, Robert Baker "Babe" 3, and a baby, Eliza.
Thomas Cryer was 54 and Aunt Ailcy Franklin was 42. Their family consisted of Francis 23, Emanuel 22, Wade 16, Marshall 14, Henry 12, Lucinda 10, Fanny 8, and William 6.
There would have been quite a celebration when the Franklin, Cryer, Womack, Chapman and McClendon families were reunited in Town Bluff.
Sources:
Year: 1850; Census Place: Tyler, Texas; Roll: M432_915; Page: 170B; Image: 322
More information:
Town Bluff, Texas - a plan for a "Natchez on the Neches"
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