Person:Joseph Austin (45)

BIRTH-DEATH-MARRIAGE-CHILDREN: "History of the Western Reserve", by Harriet Taylor Upton, Lewis Publishing Company, NY, 1910, Vol II, Page 1061.

From the Western Reserve, p 1061: Susan (Mitchelson) Austin was born in Hartford, Connecticut, whence her parents later removed to Charleston, South Carolina, from which place they came to Ohio and took up their residence in Ashtabula County when she was a young woman. There was solemnized her marriage to Joseph Austin, who was born at Fishkill Landing, New York, a son of John and Peggy Austin, who came to Ohio in 1812, when he was a child of six years. In later years he recalled that his parents directed his attention to the sound of cannonading on Lake Erie, and that this was the report of the guns of the two fleets whose engagement led to the historic lake victory of Commodore Perry. The family settled in Geneva Township. Ashtabula County, on the shore of the lake, where the father secured a tract of land and instituted the work of developing a farm from the wilderness. Both parents continued to reside in that county until their death, and there Joseph was reared to manhood under the conditions of the pioneer epoch. He there continued to devote his attention to agricultural pursuits for several years after his marriage, and in 1837 he removed with his family to Lake County and settled in Madison Township. on the beautiful old homestead which was the birthplace of John Austin. He reclaimed a good farm and there continued to reside until his death in 1876 at the age of seventy-two years. His devoted wife and helpmate was summoned to the life eternal in 1867, and both were zealous members of the Baptist church.

For nearly twenty years Joseph Austin operated a lime kiln on his farm, securing the limestone from Kelly’s Island, in Put-in-Bay, and he was the leading exponent of this line of industry in this section. Though never active in public affairs, he was well known in Lake and Ashtabula counties, and for many years familiarly and affectionately designated by the title of “Uncle Joe.” In politics he was originally a Whig and later a Republican, and he was not only a man of the utmost rectitude, but also one of strong mentality and well fortified opinions. Joseph and Susan Mitchelson Austin became the parents of eight children, concerning whom are the following brief data: Serena first married Frederick Skinner, after whose death she became the wife of Archibald McKinstry, and she died at the age of seventy-six years; Harriet was twice married, the name of her first husband having been Claflin, and of her second Mills, and she was seventy- four years of age at the time of her demise; Amos, who had lived in Ohio. Michigan and Kansas, finally returned to Madison Township, where he died at the age of sixty-nine years; Mehitabel first married Matthew Atwater, after whose death she became the wife of Augustus Southwick, and she died at the age of sixty-six years; Jane is the widow of Henry Pickerell and resides in Fresno, California; John, the subject of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Horace and Nancy were twins, and the former, who married, removed to Michigan and thence to Illinois, where he died at the age of sixty-two years; Nancy was twenty-five years of age at the time of her death.

CENSUS: 1850 US Census, Madison, Lake, OH, p 274 ; 1860 US Census, Madison, Lake, OH p 373 ; 1870 US Census, Madison, Lake, OH.