!BIRTH-PARENTS-SIBLINGS-MARRIAGE-SPOUSE-RESIDENCE: Edith Austin Moore, JOSEPH AUSTIN OF NH AND MATTHEW AUSTIN OF ME; p 68; Resided Bloomington, WI.

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa,
and Lafayette Wisconsin, J. H. Beers & Co., 1901, Chicago, IL.

Pages 804 - 805 - Grant County

NATHANIEL AUSTIN. Prominent among the early settlers in Bloomington is
Nathaniel AUSTIN, who well represents that hardy class of honest, sensible and
progressive men who have made Grant county the desirable locality it is. When
first he located here, in 1854, a few houses represented what is now a
flourishing town. For more than forty years Mr. AUSTIN has taken his part in
the development of this section of the State of Wisconsin. Nathaniel AUSTIN is
of Canadian birth, although of New England parentage. He was born Aug. 26,
1830, a son of Nicholas and Harriet (ORVIS) AUSTIN, natives of Vermont, who
were of English ancestry, and the family was founded in America in Colonial
times. For generations their religious belief was that of the Hicksite
Quakers. The father of Harriet ORVIS served in the Continental army.
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1880 Census
GRANT, WI Enum. Dist. 99 Reel 1426 Page 25 Date: 06/01
-- Birth Place Father Grandfather
AUSTIN, NETHANIEL W M 50 Head M Canada, (nec) Vermont Vermont
AUSTIN, SAMANTHA C W F 40 Wife M New York Vermont Massachusetts
AUSTIN, EDGAR N W M 18 Child S Wisconsin Canada, (nec) Vermont
AUSTIN, MILLIE C W F 14 Child S Wisconsin Canada, (nec) Vermont
AUSTIN, CHARLES F W M 9 Child S Wisconsin Canada, (nec) Vermont
AUSTIN, WILBUR ? AZN W M 6 Child S Wisconsin Canada, (nec) Vermont

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa,
and Lafayette Wisconsin, J. H. Beers & Co., 1901, Chicago, IL.

Pages 804 - 805 - Grant County
Nathaniel AUSTIN grew to manhood in his Canadian home and, with his brothers,
assisted in the clearing up of the farm. The country was improved and his
educational advantages were consequently limited. In the fall of 1852 he left
home and started out for himself, coming to Fond du Lac, Wis., and engaging in
any honorable employment that came his way. His wages for his first winter's
work were nine dollars a month. In March of the next year he went to
Lancaster, and there and at Waterloo, Grant county, was constantly employed
until he was able to save the sum of $500, which he applied as a first payment
on a farm which he purchased in the township of Bloomington. Settling on the
place, he industriously labored there for two years, making many improvements,
and then, as opportunity offered, he sold it and returned to Canada. His
health had failed, and, with the hope of regaining it, he did not settle down
again for about a year, when he came back to Bloomington, bought another farm,
upon which he lived for forty years. In February, 1899, he removed to the
village of Bloomington, where he owns a pleasant home and enjoys every comfort
of life.

Mr. AUSTIN had but limited advantages for education in his youth, but has given
his surviving children liberal opportunism, all being graduates of the
Wisconsin State University at Madison. His daughter is a teacher of Latin and
German in the Hudson, Wis., high school, and is a lady of high attainments.
For some time Charles has had charge of a military school at San Antonio,
Texas; and Wilbur is a mechanical engineer, and resides in Chicago. Mr. AUSTIN
adheres to the teachings of his Quaker ancestry, while Mrs. AUSITN is a devoted
and valued member of the Congregational Church. The family is one which
possesses the confidence and high esteem of all the people of Bloomington.

Submitted By: Carol