Dear List, I am attempting to trace a group of travelers who started in Polk Co. MO about the mid 1840s and came into Texas. It has been supposed that they came into Hopkins County, TX. Do any of you know what route may have been taken for this trip. Would they have gone south through Arkansas or into Oklahoma? Evidently they did not find the land that was desired and began a trek to the counties west of Hopkins. We have a record of them paying taxes in Collin County in the early 1850's. Most of them have not been located on the 1850 Census. Would it have been possible that they did not have a permanent residence and just failed to be listed on the Census? Families in this troup were Samuel and Margery LeForce and some of their younger children. Samuel is supposed to have died in Hopkins County, no evidence has been found to prove this. Abasalom and Eleanor Leforce Casebier, Henry and Sarah Hale LeForce and Benjamin Hale. Whitfield Collins LeForce married the daughter of Benjamin Hale in 1851. Benjamin Hale may have been the only one to stay in TX. The others left Texas and went to Benton Co. AR. where other family members had settled. Thanks for any light you can shine on this, Pat