David Henry "D. H." Hamilton (August 8, 1843 - May 30, 1929) was a Texas farmer, businessman, and statesman. Hamilton volunteered to join the Texas Brigade (also known as Hood's Brigade) Company M, First Texas Volunteer Infantry, at the age of 17. After the surrender at the Appomattox Court House during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, he returned home to Sumpter, Texas, May 25, 1865, without serious injury, and lived in Centralia and Groveton in Trinity County and

Haskell Haskell () is a general-purpose, statically typed, purely functional programming language with type inference and lazy evaluation. Designed for teaching, research, and industrial applications, Haskell pioneered several programming language ...

in Haskell County.

Biography

David's father, John Hamilton, moved from

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 14th most populous city in Mississippi, United States, and the county seat of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County, southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. A college town, Oxford ...

, to

Rusk County, Texas Rusk County is a county located in Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 52,214. Its county seat is Henderson. The county is named after Thomas Jefferson Rusk, a secretary of war of the Republic of Texas. Rusk County is part of ...

, in 1846. In 1852 he moved to Trinity County and located at a spring near the center of Nogalus Prairie. He sold this place to Byrd Kerr and settled north of there on a small prairie which went by the family name. In 1854, John Hamilton was elected County Surveyor and moved near Sumpter, opening a farm east of town on Homer or Clark's Ferry road. A large hewn log school house was erected in Sumpter, one block west and two blocks south of the plaza. David attended this school for a short time. John was accidentally injured on the job and his frequent absence to attend to official business required David assist his father in the survey work. After the Civil War, David Hamilton served as the Trinity County Sheriff from 1865 to 1867. He married Mary Isabell Gaston on November 8, 1867. David and his family moved to Centralia, Texas when the county seat was moved from Sumpter to Centralia, where he operated a gristmill, sawmill, and farm. He was in the mercantile business for over 10 years. He also served in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

in the Twenty-third Texas LegislatureLegislative Reference Library of Texas
/ref> from January 10, 1893, to January 8, 1895. He was a member of the Democratic Party. His district covered the counties of Montgomery, Trinity, and

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

. In 1895, Hamilton and his wife sold their possessions and moved to Haskell County where he tried farming, and then was elected as County Judge. Then they moved to the city of

. His wife, Mary, broke her hip and they decided to move back to Trinity County, where children John Gibson, Mary Annice and Octavia (Eddie) were living. While living in Groveton, David wrote a memoir of his Civil War experiences as a volunteer in Hood's Texas Brigade. Hamilton and his wife had eight children: John Gibson Hamilton, Mary Annice Hamilton, Maranda Alzera Hamilton, Vera Alice Hamilton, Alzara Gertrude Hamilton, Dudley Warner Hamilton, Octavia Edmonia (Eddie) Hamilton, and Allene Hamilton. Hamilton was the great-great-grandfather of

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...

."Rick Perry: From Aggie yell leader to Texas governor, farmer's son stands on side of tradition," ''Austin American Statesman'', 2/10/2010.

References

External links

History of Company M First Texas Volunteer Infantry
by D H Hamilton. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, David Henry 1843 births 1929 deaths Oxford, Mississippi Trinity County, Texas Farmers from Texas Confederate States Army soldiers Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives People from Haskell, Texas People from Groveton, Texas 19th-century members of the Texas Legislature