Person:John Austin (97)

CENSUS: 1850, 1860, 1870 US Census Madison, Lake, OH.

OCCUPATION: "History of the Western Reserve", by Harriet Taylor Upton, Lewis Publishing Company, NY, 1910,VOL II PAGE 1061. Lake County Sheriff between 1868 & 1871.

MILITARY: Enlisted Dec 1861, Battery C, First Ohio Light Artillery. Discharged 15 Jun 1865.

BIOGRAPHY: "History of the Western Reserve", by Harriet Taylor Upton, Lewis Publishing Company, NY, 1910,, p 1062: John Austin was born on the old homestead farm of his father, on the shore of Lake Erie, in Madison Township. Lake County, Ohio, and the date of his nativity was September 14, 1841. He was a son of Joseph and Susan (Mitchelson) Austin. John Austin was reared on the old home farm, and early began to contribute his quota to its work, while as a boy he enjoyed to the full the pleasures and attractions of Lake Erie, on whose shore the farm lies. He recalls that as a lad, the sturgeon would approach close to the shore, so that their backs would appear above the surface, and he caught many of the fish, as did other boys, a number of whom remain to verify the fact here stated. Mr. Austin was afforded the advantages of the district school and continued to be associated in the work of the farm until he was twenty years of age, when he abandoned the plowshare to respond to the call of higher duty, when the integrity of the nation was placed in jeopardy through armed rebellion.

In September, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Battery C, First Ohio Light Artillery, becoming a member of the same at the time of its organization. This regiment was recruited from the northeastern corner of Ohio and had several Madison men on its rolls. It was composed of twelve batteries. With this gallant command Mr. Austin continued in service until the close of the war, having re-enlisted at the expiration of his first term. The battery to which he was attached had six guns, and he began his service as driver of a wheel team, and he thus served for twenty-eight months. After the battle of Chickamauga he was given charge of a gun, with eight men as gunners, besides a number of teamsters. He was promoted corporal of his company in 1862. He was slightly wounded on one occasion, but never sufficiently to necessitate his leaving the ranks. In the battle of Chickamauga thirteen men and thirty-six horses of his battery were killed, and he, alone and unaided, took his gun off the field, with but a single span of horses. This gun weighed thirty-six hundred pounds. and with the one team he hauled the same a distance of two and one-half miles, over rough land. At the time of the dedication of the monument to his regiment on the field of Chickamauga, in 1896, he was present to aid in designating the point where his battery stood. The history of the gallant command to which he belonged constitutes the record of Mr. Austin’s military career, and it is not necessary to enter into details in this article. In the Atlanta campaign, it may be noted, his command was under fire for ninety-six days. Of the twenty- four men from Madison township who were members of the First Ohio Artillery, there were but five left when the organization disbanded. The command took part in the grand review in the city of Washington, and Mr. Austin was there mustered out, under general orders, on the 15th of June, 1865. He received his honorable discharge in the same month, in the city of Cleveland.

After the close of his signally faithful and valiant service as a loyal soldier of the republic, Mr. Austin assumed charge of the old homestead farm, to the supervision of which he continued to give his attention for nearly twenty years, and he severed this active association in January, 1884, when he assumed the duties of the office of Sheriff of Lake County, to which position he was elected in the preceding November. He removed to Painesvile, the county seat, and gave an admirable administration of the affairs of the office to which he had been chosen. The popular appreciation of this fact was shown in his being chosen as his own successor at the expiration of his first term, and he thus remained incumbent of the office for four consecutive years.

After his retirement from office, Mr. Austin returned to the farm, where he remained four years, at the expiration of which he sold the property and returned to Painesville, where he served a few months as City Marshal. He then located in the village of Madison, where, in 1892, he formed a partnership with C. W. Stocking, and purchased the local saw mill and lumber yard, in connection with which a feed store also was conducted. The enterprise was continued under the firm name of Austin & Stocking for five years, and C. W. Morley then purchased the interest of Mr. Stocking. The firm of Austin & Morley continued the business for six years, at the expiration of which they sold the plant and business to A. N. Benjamin. During this interval of more than ten years the saw mill had been kept in operation, and it was supplied by the purchasing of standing timber by the firm, who thus made the enterprise successful. Since disposing of his interest in this business, Mr. Austin has lived retired, having an attractive residence in Madison, and being also the owner of other real estate in the village and township. He is at the present time a member of the village council, and also holds the office of township trustee of his native township.

In 1867 Mr. Austin was united in marriage to Miss Octavia Quirk. daughter of John and Jane Quirk, of Madison township, where she was born and reared. Mr. Quirk was a native of the Isle of Man and came to Ohio when a young man. Mrs. Austin was summoned to eternal rest in 1891, and is survived by one child. Susan, who is the wife of C. W. Morley. of Geneva, Ashtabula County. In 1893 Mr. Austin contracted a second marriage, being then united to Mrs. Helen J. (Wade) Pettis, widow of Daniel Pettis, of Madison, and a daughter of Harmon C. Wade, who was a prosperous farmer of Madison Township and also a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church. He came to Ohio from Chautauqua County, New York, where Mrs. Austin was born, and she was a child of two years at the time of the family removal to Ohio. Mrs. Austin had two daughters by her first marriage: Ona Belle, who became the wife of William Coffin, and died at the age of twenty-six years; and Elva L., who is the wife of Irvin D. Ketcham, of Willoughby, Lake County.

1.   Lake, Ohio, 1850 US Census Population Schedule.
2.   Lake, Ohio, 1860 US Census Population Schedule.
3.   Lake, Ohio, 1870 US Census Population Schedule.
4.   Upton, Harriet Taylor. History of the Western Reserve. (Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1910).