Morgan C. Hamilton, an outstanding patriot who acted as Secretary of War and Marine in the Republic of Texas and later served the state in many roles, obtained a 1009-acre land grant in this area in 1837. While his brother A.J. Hamilton was Governor in 1865-66, he retrieved for Texas some bonds sent to Europe during the Civil War. From 1870 to 1877 he served as a United States Senator from Texas. His nephew Theodore Van Buren Coupland, born 1836 and died 1890, settled here and in 1887 founded the town of Coupland on land that formerly belonged to Senator Hamilton.