Austin | WTTP

Willard Harmon Austin

(printed in THE MILLER COUNTY AUTOGRAM-SENTINEL in the column, 'WINDOW TO THE PAST', April 15, 2013)

Willard Harmon Austin was born September 1, 1860 in Browning, Vermont. He was a son of Rev. Daniel Harmon Austin 1821-1890 (a Congregational minister) and Betsey M. Whitten 1828-1884, both natives of Vermont. They (his parents) married in Waterbury, Washington County, Vermont 13 May 1845. About 1865, when Willard was 5 years old, his parents left Vermont and moved to Miller County and located between Eldon and Mt. Pleasant in Saline township.

The grandparents of Willard were Asa Austin 1788-1872 and Nancy Gregg 1794-1856. According to family researchers, Asa and Nancy were parents of 17 children....

On March 19, 1884, Willard married Edith Nina Eaton in Miller County . She was born 25 May 1868 in Doylestown , Ohio . According to Edith’s obituary, she had 2 sisters and 1 brother who survived her when she died in 1935. They were Mrs. M.M. Tinsley of California and Mrs. James R. Wyrick (Ella) of Kansas (twin sisters) and Ross Eaton of Eldon

Even though the father of Willard was a Congregational minister back in New England, the family attended the Methodist church in Miller County . Willard was also a member of the I.O.O.F. Lodge #462 of Eldon, and spent 4 years as the Collector of Revenue in Miller County . The Austin family members were in politics for several generations. Rev. Daniel Austin, father of Willard, was a member of the State Legislature.

The children of Willard and Edith (Eaton) Austin were:

1. Maude Eaton Austin 1885-1920 m. Alonzo Decker 1903
2. Clarence Glenn Austin 1887-1893
3. Roy Wesley Austin 1889-1959 m. Velma Drysdale 1912
4. Dale Herbert Austin 1892-1902
5. Wilda Roses Austin 1895- m. John E. Coil/Cole 1913
6. Fred Harold Austin 1897-1898
7. Mildred Whitten Austin 1901-1961 m. W. F. Costello
8. Lois Nadine Austin 1903- m. Roy Robinson 1923
9. Emma Lucinda Austin 1905- m. Norman Williams 1924
10. Gerald Ralph Austin 1908-1911

Willard Harmon Austin died February 14, 1935 at the home of his daughter, Lois Nadine Robinson, who was living at Versailles , MO. He was 75 years of age and was survived by his wife, 5 children, 10 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild, one brother, and one sister.

He was buried at the Eldon Cemetery. His wife of 51 years, Edith Nina (Eaton) only lived 6 weeks longer than her husband and died on March 19, 1935. She was buried beside him in Eldon Cemetery.

The only one of their surviving children who lived near them was Mrs. Roy Robinson (Lois) of Versailles with whom they had lived for a short while before their deaths. The other children lived in California, Indiana, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

Note from Peggy:

I have tried to place the Daniel Austin family in the same ancestral lines as Stephen Fuller Austin who was born in 1793 in southwestern Virginia.

Stephen was known as the “Father of Texas” and was considered the founder of Anglo-American Texas. He was a son of Moses and Maria (Brown) Austin who moved to Missouri before it became a state and established the town of Potosi in Washington County. They later moved to Arkansas, Louisana, and finally settled in Texas. I can find no connection but there could have been some distant relationship between the two families.