The Hamiltons are also working with Bergen Industries, out of Mexico, to market their pecan cleaning equipment in Oklahoma and north Texas. The Hamiltons are no strangers to adversity and rising above difficult circumstances. Their family entered Indian Territory during the 19th century. And that journey reflects the challenges and turbulent times of the era. In 1842, the John Null and William Buckholts families left Alabama and headed west. They ended up in Mississippi. Null’s family included his Choctaw wife, Sarah Buckholts Null. Sarah Buckholts Null’s parents were Elizabeth “Betsy” Brashears Buckholts and William H. Buckholts. In 1850, the John Null and William Buckholts families hit the road again. This time they ended up in Smith County, Texas, where the Nulls established a cattle operation. The Hamilton surname comes through a different ancestral line. James Oscar “J.O.” Hamilton was only fifteen when he served as courier for the Company E 4th Alabama Calvary, Confederate States of America. Born in Alabama in 1846, Hamilton was captured as a prisoner of war (POW) in Athens, Alabama. And he landed in the Union’s dreaded POW Camp Chase near Columbus, Ohio. POWs stumbled into overwhelming horrors upon arrival. The number of Rebel captives jam packed into Camp Chase was twice what the prison was meant to house. The smells, sights, and sounds were the stuff of nightmares. Half-clothed, starving inmates prepared and ate putrid, meager rations. Filthy, wet barracks. No fires allowed for warmth. This 19th century tintype shows Rebecca Cruel guards. Disease at every turn. A small pox Hamilton with one of her infant children. Of epidemic taking its toll by 1863. Choctaw ancestry, Rebecca was 5’2” tall and weighed only 100 pounds. But she was J.O. Hamilton faced a reality with only one a fearless pioneer woman who survived the possible, grim outcome. Although his descendants untamed frontier. This undated image was have differing opinions about what happened, one taken at Boggy Depot, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Courtesy Mark Hamilton. thing is certain, the industrious J.O. Hamilton got his hands on a Yankee uniform. And even though his head stone is in the Camp Chase cemetery, family stories tell that he walked out the gate, down the street, and vanished. By 1870, J.O. Hamilton reappeared. He was living with the Nulls and working as a laborer for the family. The Null children included Martha 1010