HAMILTON-HUNTER

The following bio was taken from page 253 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

On October 7, 1835, Francis Hamilton, son of Isaiah Hamilton, made the following request of the Spanish land commissioner in the Mexican province of Texas and Coahuila: "I, Francis Hamilton, a native of the United States of the North with due respect appear before you and say: That not owning any land on which to practice cattle raising, and having emigrated to this State in the year 1827, being married, my family consisting of twelve persons, I beg of you in the use of your powers to grant to me the possession and issue to me the corresponding title to the tract which corresponds to me, accompanying herewith a certificate to prove what I have declared. Therefore, I beg of you to do as I have asked, for therein I shall receive favor and justice. Nacogdoches, October 7^th of 1835. Signed: Francis Hamilton."

Hamilton had returned to Tennessee to bring back his wife, son, father, and brothers to participate in the life of a new land. His request was granted, but his happiness was short-lived. On August 4, 1838, he joined a group of citizens from Nacogdoches to go after some stolen horses which they found at Cardova settlement. Returning with the horses, they were fired upon by the band of local Mexicans and Indians who had stolen the horses, and Francis Hamilton was killed. His killing was probably the single event that brought about the removal of Indians from East Texas.

Hamilton’s widow, Caroline, married William C. Davis on November 20, 1840, and the couple, with her two children, Mary L. and James, moved to a home in the newly created Rusk County. (The county of Rusk was created in 1843.) Mary wed James M. Hudson on November 18, 1857. Later, after Hudson died, she married Andrew Calhoun Hunter on January 10, 1870, and they made their home at what is now known as the Compton Community. Their first child was John Calhoun Hunter. At an early age John Hunter left home and found work-herding cattle. His wife, Eunice Neeley, had three children: Aaron, Sue and Bernice; then she died. John Hunter married Effie Marcene Broome on November 11, 1911. One child was born to them, Agnes Elise, in 1917.

Like many other people during the Great Depression, John and Effie Hunter moved to find work. The port of Texas City offered opportunity, and John found work on a tugboat, while Effie managed a boarding house and later a hotel. Their daughter Agnes married Emmett Floyd Lowry on November 11, 1937. Emmett was born and raised in Texas City, and he has served as Texas City’s mayor for many years.

Agnes and Emmett purchase the Monte Verdi Plantation home at Glenfawn in southern Rusk County in 1959 and later restored it. The Allan Birdwell log house was also purchased, moved from Mt. Enterprise to the Monte Verdi property, and restored in 1966.

The Lowrys have two children. Marce, who married Walter Welch of Duncan, Oklahoma, lives with her husband and two sons, Clayborn Hunter and Matthew Lowry, at Sante Fe, Texas. Hunter has one daughter, Alicia, and resides in Texas City.

Submitted by Mrs. Marce Welch