Robert S. Hamilton, early settler, experienced frontiersman, commanding officer of the Texas Militia, and third sheriff of Red River County, TX. Hamilton was the son of James Hamilton and Jane Gwin. He was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, on June 5, 1796, in a block house fort named Hamilton Station (located near White House, Tenn).

In June of 1833, Robert S. Hamilton & his brother-in-law, James Luther Latimer, packed up their families and set forward on their epic 300 person Cavalcade to Texas. Robert S. Hamilton appeared before the Red River Board of Land Commissioners to receive certificate #150, for one League and one Labor of land equalling 4,605.5 acres. Robert first took 1028.48 acres in Red River Co. about 6 miles northeast of Clarksville, with Pecan Bayou bonding the north side of his property. After several years later he located the remaining 3395.04 acres of land in Mason County, TX.

Robert S. Hamilton's Military Info:
May 14, 1836 Gov. William S. Fulton of the Arkansas Territory, hearing that the inhabitants of the southern frontier of Miller County, Arkansas were in danger from hostile Indian movements, commanded Brigadier General George Hill, 1st brigade Arkansas Militia, to raise independent mounted volunteer units. Two volunteer companies were already in place when Brig. Gen Hill authorized the new independent companies of mounted volunteers, Albert Hamilton Latimer Had been elected Captain, Wade H. Vining 1st Lt, and Robert S. Hamilton as 2nd Lt.

In 1838 & 1839 Robert S. Hamilton commanded the a company of Republic of Texas Mounted Riflemen under General John Dyer’s fourth brigade (Also listed as being Captain under Col. Mix) . This enlistment was from September 6, 1838 to January 7, 1839.

In 1841 he again commanded a company, serving as Colonel under Gen. Edward Tarrant in his Trinity Expedition from July 5-August 11, 1841. Col Robert S Hamilton designated Captain David Key’s unit as Company A and Captain Orton’s as Company B. Captain Lane’s company became Company C.

From August 7, 1848 to August 7, 1850, Hamilton served as the elected third sheriff of Red River County, Texas.

April 1842, in the District Court for Bowie County, Judge John T. Mills signed a warrant presented to him by District Attorney Jesse Benton, Jr. directed at Col Robert Hamilton to assist Red River County’s 2nd Sheriff in the arrest of William P. Rose and his associates for the murder of Senator Robert Potter, one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Col Robert Hamilton commanded a group of about 30-40 men and assisted the sheriff in the arrest. Prosecuting counsel for the Republic of Texas were: EH Tarrant, William Young, Albert Hamilton Latimer, BH Martin, E. Allen, WN Porter.

Church info:
Back home, in Tennessee, Robert S. Hamilton's brother, Rev. Thomas Hamilton was one a founding elders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Davy Crockett was a member of this church, as was Albert Hamilton Latimer, who was ordained just before he came to Texas. Once the families got situated in Red River County, TX they began holding church meetings in the same fashion as they previously had, sitting on logs under trees. That's when the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church began in Red River County TX. Richard Ellis, Albert Hamilton Latimer, Robert Hamilton, and many notable pioneer men were also members of this church. Robert S Hamilton's grandparents He immigrated to America from Ireland. They were Scottish Presbyterians living in Ireland.

He died March 17, 1876, and was buried in the old Shiloh Cemetery, near Clarksville, Texas. His wife Elizabeth (Bethea) Hamilton died September 5, 1879, and was buried beside him, although her headstone is not to be found.

The following obituary was published in The Clarksville Times, an original clipping from Mrs. Anne Simpson.

"Col. Robert S. Hamilton, the subject of this sketch, was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, June 5, 1796, and died at his residence in this county, on the 17th day of march last.
Col. Hamilton served under Gen. Jackson during the Indian war in Alabama, and was in the army at New Orleans when the battle took place on the 8th of January, 1815, but his command did not take part in the engagement.
He married in Tennessee. In the fall of 1834, he emigrated to Texas, and settled the place on which he has resided ever since. He was an active partisan in the Indian wars on the border, and in 1838 was elected Captain of a company to chastise the Indians. In 1841 he was elected Colonel of a regiment and took a prominent part in several campaigns under general Tarrant, against the Indians. After the annexation of Texas, in 1848, he was elected Sheriff of this county, and discharged the duties of the office in a highly credible manner. He had previously been a deputy under Sheriff West.
He had lived to a ripe old age, some ten years beyond the period allotted to man, and had seen a numerous family grow up around him. Some time previous to his death, he had become partially blind, and had been in feeble health for a long time. His wife is still living."
-The Clarksville Times., 1876

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

The History of Clarksville and Old Red River County
:
Written by Judge Pat B. Clark in 1936.
Pat Clark was the grandson of Captain James Clark for whom Clarksville TX is named for. Information given by W.C. Hamilton, who was related to Robert S. Hamilton and his sister Jane Hamilton Latimer. Information was also given by Ella Latimer Parks, daughter of Robert S Hamilton’s nephew, Albert Hamilton Latimer, who is the son of Robert S.Hamilton’s sister, Jane (Hamilton) Latimer. Link: http://txgenwebcounties.org/redriver/clark/pc_r003.htm

"Memories of Early Church" handwritten by Ella Latimer Parks, daughter of Albert H. Latimer
(lots of interesting info - be sure to flip to see all the pages)
https://dmc.tamuc.edu/digital/collection/redriverlib/id/890

Citing his brother: Rev Thomas Hamilton’s description of place of birth and his grandparents: http://www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/leaders/HamiltonT.htm

John Carr’s book “Early Times in Middle Tennessee” written in 1857. John Carr describes Hamilton’s Station. Link: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/265745-early-times-in-middle-tennessee?offset=1

Information from the Republic Claims, which are also compiled in Stephen Moore’s “Savage Frontier” book series.

Republic of Texas Military Land Grant:
https://s3.glo.texas.gov/ncu/SCANDOCS/archives_webfiles/arcmaps/webfiles/landgrants/PDFs/1/0/9/7/1097297.pdf

Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church Honored by Gov Rick Perry: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth156046/m1/1/?q=Cumberland%20Presbyterian%20Church

Link to the Red River County clerk record, showing when Robert S. Hamilton arrived in Texas: https://s3.glo.texas.gov/ncu/SCANDOCS/archives_webfiles/arcmaps/webfiles/landgrants/PDFs/1/0/6/2/1062474.pdf

Newspaper Article regarding Miller County, Arkansas Volunteer Militia with Robert S. Hamilton as 2nd Lt. and Albert Hamilton Latimer as Captain. (On Newspapers.com) Arkansas Gazette (Arkansas Post) July 21, 1836, Tuesday.

[I'm including this note from a previous researcher: Robert S. Hamilton may have made this change in order to differentiate himself on land records from other Robert Hamiltons living in Texas, including his uncle who was living in Cass County and another Robert Hamilton living in Red River County (See "NOTE" below).]

NOTES:
1) Local & Family Lore says that Robert S Hamilton was the signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, however, in researching this extensively- I cannot say with 100% certainty that he was or wasn't the signer. I've been combing through everything I can find researching facts for every Robert Hamilton that lived in Red River County during this time.
2) There were only 2 Robert Hamiltons who were in Red River County TX before March 2, 1836 and who were old enough to be the signer. They were:
1) Robert S. Hamilton arrived Dec 12th, 1834
His Headright land was 6 miles NE of Clarksville, along Pecan Bayou.
2) Robert Hamilton arrived three days later on Dec 15th 1834.
His Head Right land was located about 70 miles south of Clarksville-- situated about 6
miles north of Jefferson, TX (which was an important trade city but very dangerous to
travel to.)
These two Robert Hamilton's arrived 3 days apart from each other. One might imagine the two were related, but if the genealogy of the Robert Hamilton that arrived on Dec 15th 1834 is the correctly connected genealogy to the correct fella- then, from what I can see so far- they are not related- this will take deeper research to determine if they are, in fact, related.

Both Robert Hamilton's have a nephew named William F Hamilton, and both Robert Hamilton's have nieces named Euphemia, both Robert Hamilton's are familiar with the Carson family -in which the second Robert had become the managing estate executor for Samuel Caron's estate when he died in 1839- and when this Robert Hamilton died, his nephew, William F. Hamilton was one of the executors of the Robert Hamilton estate- and as such, became in possession of the Carson estate as well.

The biography of Robert Hamilton, the signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, has become a mesh of the two Robert Hamilton's. Historians have attempted many times to research and create biographies for the 59 signers of the declaration, but it proved a challenge when working on the Robert Hamilton case. 100 years after the signing, historians had a hard time finding direct evidence that ties the Signer Robert Hamilton to the citizen Robert Hamilton. One must consider the time in which all occurred, This was the edge of the frontier, Anglo's were sandwiched between violent attacks from the Natives and retaliation from the Mexican army for their revolution and wanting to break free of Mexico. The signers knew they would face the Mexican Army firing squad should they be caught at Washington on the Brazos. Frequent alarms happened through the night, spies & patrols were sent out. There was much nervousness and caution. After the signing of the document, the convention adjourned, the members then dispersed in all directions with haste and confusion. A general panic seems to have seized them. A constant stream of people exiting Texas, rushing to escape the violence of the Mexican army. People were taking only what they could grab, leaving their homes left with housewares still in them. Haste & Panic were the signs of the time. (see the first hand account of this on page 134 of the Diary of Col. Wm Gray) it was said that every male of age should hit the battleground immediately. So, from this state of frenzy & panic to the time when we had gained our Independence but we were still just a newborn Republic trying to get our footing... the records are most likely lost. Early settlers who were prominent citizens of Red River county have said that there were not many documents of that earliest chunk of time from 1836 to about 1839. Some information regarding the local history of Red River County can be read in Judge Pat B. Clarks book "The history of Clarksville and old Red River County". Pat B. Clark was the grandson of the founder of Clarksville, TX. and Pat was married to the grand daughter of "Major" Edward West, the 2nd sheriff of Red River County, which Robert S Hamilton served as deputy sheriff with before he, himself, was elected the county sheriff. The book was reviewed and was given an official endorsement by the Chamber of Commerce of Clarksville. Among the people contributing were W.C. Hamilton, great grandson of Rev. Thomas Hamilton (Robert S. Hamilton's brother), Henry Latimer (son of signer Albert Hamilton Latimer- in which- A.H. Latimer is the nephew of Robert S. Hamilton). NOTE: at the time of the 100th anniversary of Texas Independence, 4 children of Albert Hamilton Latimer, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, were still alive. The account of their family history that were published centered primarily around their father.

There were two historical markers for Robert Hamilton. The first was a Centennial marker for Robert Hamilton from 1936 which was produced by the Texas Centennial Commission before the Texas Historical Commission agency was formed. This historical marker was placed at Rowland Cemetery, the place near where he was said to have died. The people involved with this marker were descendants of Robert Hamilton, Great-Granddaughters: Willie Mae Flowers Carlisle and Ruth Simpson Moore, along with Texas Historian Louis Wiltz Kemp, who was a member of the board of the Texas State Library and chairman of the board of Texas historians for the Texas Centennial. He was one of the directors of compilation of Monuments Erected by the State of Texas to Commemorate the Centenary of Texas Independence (c. 1939), published as the report of the Commission of Control for Texas Centennial Celebrations. Worth mentioning that in L.W. Kemp's book "The Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence" (1944) that the Only information he based his biography for Robert Hamilton on was 1) "The Hamilton's of Burnside" Book by Patrick Hamilton Baskervill in which Kemp says "In one paragraph Patrick Hamilton Baskerville stated that the date of Robert Hamilton's birth was unknown, but later in the same paragraph he set the date as October 17, 1780. and another book Kemp used in his research was Samuel Houston Dixon's book "The Men Who Made Texas Free" 1924. Kemp states "Dixon, on page 295, without citing his authority, set the date as march 24, 1783, and said that Hamilton came to Texas in 1828. The 3rd source in which Kemp used to create his Biography of Hamilton was "Goodrich", this refers to Benjamin B. Goodrich, who it is said, after the signing took place, Goodrich asked each delegate how old he was While attending the convention he secured from each delegate present his age, place of birth, and the name of the state from which he emigrated to Texas.- Good rich claims that Robert Hamilton replied 53 yrs old, born in Scotland, previously lived in N.C.. So the 1st historic monument was based on less than solid info, mixed information, and two great grandchildren.
The second marker was placed in 2009. The biography for this marker refers to Robert S. Hamilton, but of the last 3 sentences of his biography- 2 of the sentences refer to a different Robert Hamilton.

So Two historical markers were placed (one in 1936 & one in 2009) Both have a biography that is partially Robert S. Hamilton and partially the second Robert Hamilton. The second marker's application states that the 1936 centennial marker inaccurately marks his burial as his remains were transferred to the State Cemetery in Austin. However, the information for the second marker itself is incorrect, Robert Hamilton was not reinterred in the state cemetery ...and neither is his wife. That information is just flat-out incorrect.

My research is ongoing and thorough, I look for hard facts, the paper trail, direct evidence. If you have any information that provides documentary proof, or if you would like to help research this, please message me.

Also, I have *never* seen any document that says Robert's Middle name is Shaw. Yes, the surname Shaw is in this family, but it's not directly in his line, his aunt is married to Robert Shaw, but nowhere in Robert S. Hamilton's direct line do I see any person with the middle name Shaw. So without the proof, I'm sticking with just the S.