Person:William Austin (75)

Records in Augusta County, VA

From Chalkley's:

• Page 386.--18th November, 1783. Robert Alexander's estate appraised Due by Hansel Olphid. [Relates to record below]

• Page 388.--18th November, 1783. Allotment of above estate among the legatees--To Ann Balew, wife of Abraham Balew, 5 shillings; to Esther Austin, wife of Wm. Austin, 3 shillings. Signed by all except Austin.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Family Recorded, in Withers, Robert Enoch. Autobiography of an octogenerian. (Roanoke, Virginia: Stone Print. & Mfg. Co. Press, 1907)
   11.

   [Note: author is a great-grandson]
   ... He [Robert Alexander] was married on the tenth day of March, 1774, in the County of Bedford, to Ann Austin, daughter of William Austin, a captain in the British Army. ...

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Family Recorded, in Arnold, Frances Austin. The Alexander family of Scotland, Ireland and America: the Austin family of Wales and America; the Arnold family of England and America : a brief history. (Carrollton, Missouri: [s.n.], 1896)
   1, 3.

   p 1 -
   ... As to our Ancestors' record in the Revolutionary War, we have not taken steps to prove our claims; yet we know, to our own satisfaction, that William Austin of Augusta County, Virginia, was a Captain ...
   
   ... Of the Austin branch of the family little has been found further than the name stands on the pages of the English "Doomsday Book" as belonging to one of those who came into England with William the Conqueror. The name multiplies in Saxon, Norman, England, and some went into Wales, while others found homes in Germany. Of the ancestry back of William and Moses Austin (see record) I know nothing. As above stated. Captain William Austin served in the Revolutionary army. 1 have had the pleasure of holding his sword and canteen and hearing the history of his good deeds from his son, my uncle Alexander Austin.
   
   p 3 -
   ... 6. Esther [Alexander], married Capt. William Austin, up to the war of 1776 a loyal subject of His Majesty of England.
   
   The following is a copy of William Austin's Commission to the Captaincy, the original of which has the royal seal affixed, and is in the possession of Mrs. Sarah Austin Rawlings of Bedford Springs, Virginia.
   
   "His Excellency, John, Earl of Dunmore, Viscount Fincastle, Baron Murray of Blair, of Monlin, and of Tillimot, Lieutenant and Governor General of His Majesty's Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same.
   
   To William Austin, Esq. —
   By virtue of the power and authority to me given as His Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General and Commander in Chief in and over this Colony and Dominion of Virginia, with full power and authority to appoint all officers, both civil and military within the same, I, reposing special trust in your loyalty, courage and good conduct, do by these presents appoint you, the said William Austin, Captain of the Militia of the County of Bedford, whereof John Quarles, Esq., is Lieutenant and Chief Commander. You are therefore to act as Captain by exercising officers and soldiers under your command, taking particular care that they be provided with arms and ammunition as the laws of the Colony direct, and you are to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time as you shall receive from me or any other superior officers according to the rules and discipline of war, in pursuance of the trust reposed in you.
   
   Given at Williamsburg under my hand and the seal of the Colony, this Twentieth day of June, and in the Twelfth year of His Majesty's reign, Annoque Domini, 1772."
   (Signed) Dunmore.
   

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source).

   http://person.ancestry.com/tree/31331442/person/12426593140/facts