A Migration Pattern

Happy New Year and welcome back to The Hogue Connection! Seems hard to believe, but my last post here was on July 8^th! We’ve had a bunch going on of late, which is how I finally came up with the subject matter for this new entry, looking at a migration pattern of our own or two. We had a busy camping summer anyway, but, during our last trip to Lebanon, OR with our camping group, we ended up buying another house.

The property went on the market on September 18^th; we pre-qualified and submitted our offer on Monday, the 23^rd, and it was accepted on Tuesday, the 24^th. Long story short, the new house closed on October 22^nd, we moved on November 13^th and closed on the other house November 22^nd. We are now Washingtonians, relocating to Port Townsend.

So, amazingly, 64 days was all it took. We weren’t even considering moving on September 17, 2024, and look what happened! I now live 878 miles from my birthplace at San Jose Hospital, 725 E. Santa Clara Street, San Jose, California. That got me to thinking about things. How does my migration pattern compare to some of my ancestor’s moves?

Let’s Look at the Roads Traveled…

…if not the roads, at least the towns in between. Exact road names are hard to trace back in the 19^th century, so approximate distances between known home places will be easier to follow. I’ll base everything on the research already completed for my article RED RIVER TRAILS. I’d like to compare my migration pattern to that of my great-grandfather, William M. Hogue.

I know that William moved his family with a trip of over 1000 miles to get to what he believed was their “promised land”. So based on that, our journeys should be similar. Of course, we’ll be using Google Maps with modern roads to chart the mileage, but it should be close enough. I’ll leave out the cross-town moves to clarify things a bit more. Let’s begin with William’s…

The Migration Pattern of William M. Hogue…

#1 – Morganton, Burke County, NC. William was born near here in 1823.

#2 – Stecoah Creek, Cherokee County, NC. 136 miles.

#3 – Eton, Murray County, GA. 119 Miles.

#4 – Chattooga County, GA. 56 miles.

#5 – Ducktown, TN. 101 miles.

#6 – Brick Mill, Blount County, TN. 65 miles.

#7 – Stecoah Creek, NC. 51 miles.

#8 – Courtney, Chickasaw Nation, I.T.  978 miles.

William’s last move in 1880. He died here in 1886. 1,506 total miles.

The Migration Pattern of Michael L. Hogue…

#1 – San Jose, Santa Clara County, CA. Mike was born here in 1957.

#2 – Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County, CA. 23 miles.

#3 – Santa Clara, CA. 31 miles.

#4 – Danville, Contra Costa County, CA. 50 miles.

#5 – Chico, Butte County, CA. 157 miles.

#6 – Carson City, NV. 192 miles.

#7 – Reno, Washoe County, NV. 27 miles.

#8 – Sparks, Washoe County, NV. 6 miles.

#9 – Hidden Valley, Washoe County, NV. 5 miles.

#10 – Hillsboro, Washington County, OR. 545 miles.

#11 – Port Townsend, Jefferson County, WA. 216 miles.

My last move, I think, (said that before!) in 2024. 1,252 total miles.

Let’s Compare Migration Patterns…

So, I checked it out, and William ended up living about 1,061 miles from his place of birth. That’s only 183 miles farther than my current distance of 878. Now, Grandpa Henry was born in Rubottom, OK in 1914, and died in Folsom, CA in 2009. Those two spots are 1667 miles apart. My Dad, Chuck, died only 128 miles from his birthplace, but traveled much further to get there. He lived in Hawaii for a while.

Not sure how I got interested in this, but that’s my analysis. The last five generations in my family, really didn’t travel too far to be where they ultimately ended up. Especially when compared to the migration pattern of all our original immigrants. Those people travelled thousands of miles over dangerous oceans to find a better life for their families. Turns out, all their descendants benefitted, too.

Thanks for visiting The Hogue Connection today and reading my latest blog post. I should get back on a regular schedule in this space soon. now that I’m done moving around the beautiful Left Coast, that is! For now, anyway. If you would like to return to the Home Page, click here.