Clay-Yankton County, SD Biographies.....Austin, Horace J. 1837 - 1891
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 26, 2007, 5:15 pm

Author: Geo. A. Ogle & Co. (1897)

HON. HORACE J. AUSTIN, deceased, who was in life one of the foremost citizens of
Clay county, as well as South Dakota, was born in Washington county, N. Y., July
11, 1837. When he was two years of age his parents removed to Essex county, of
the same state, and there our subject was reared and grew to manhood, making his
home with his parents until the fall of 1857, at which time, in company with
Silas N. Palmer, who still resides in Vermillion, and a young man named Dustin,
he left the Empire state for the West. The little party first stopped" at
Dubuque, Iowa, where Mr. Austin soon found employment with a company of
surveyors, and there for two years he made his home, when not absent on
surveying expeditions. Twice during those two years his business brought him to
Dakota territory. On the second trip he concluded to make Dakota his home, and
accordingly he took up his residence in Yankton, where he was living when the
civil war broke out. He enlisted early in that period of strife, becoming a
member of company A, First Dakota cavalry, in 1861, and served his country
faithfully and well. For some time the troop of which he was a member was
stationed at Vermillion, and after the close of the war he located in that city,
and there his death occurred February 27, 1891.

   Although our subject was not afforded facilities for obtaining a higher
education than-was to be had in the district schools of the neighborhood where
he resided when a boy, yet, by close observation of what was going on about him,
he acquired a fund of general knowledge that was of great benefit to him in
later years, and he was well-posted on all current topics of the day- His
honesty, integrity and steadfastness of character won him a high place in the
hearts of the people, and the esteem and respect in which he was held is
attested by the fact that he was six times elected a member of the legislature.
During 1868-69 he served as chairman of the council. As a civil engineer he
secured government surveying contracts every year from 1866 to his death, and
there are few if any counties in the state which do not bear some of his
surveying stakes.

    March 21, 1870, Mr. Austin was united in wedlock to Miss Rachel M. Ross, a
highly accomplished lady and graduate of the Warren high school in Trumbull
county, Ohio. Mrs. Austin, who survives her husband, is a native of Trumbull
county, Ohio, and was born June 1, 1838, a daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Palm)
Ross. The former died in Arkansas, and Mrs. Ross later came to Vermillion, where
she also passed from time to eternity January 22, 1876. Mr. Austin had a high
conception of what a home should be, and was enabled to carry out these ideas,
as his beautiful abode in Vermillion testifies. Home to him was the most sacred
place on earth, and there he was always to be found when not away in the
discharge of his public duties. Although not blessed with offspring, he took
upon himself the care and education of three motherless ones, in whose
companionship he delighted and to whom he gladly acted a father's part.

    In this world's goods Mr. Austin was greatly prospered, but freely as he
received, so, also, freely did he give to the poor and needy. His was a kindly,
sympathetic nature. He was the soul of gentility. Bigotry was foreign to one
endowed like he was and charity ever abided with him. 4The principles of
diligence and faithfulness were long ago mastered by him and not forgotten to
his last day. His name, too, was a synonym of honesty, and in writing to a
sister several years prior to his death, he said: "I am being prospered, but
this much I can say, I have never taken an unjust penny from any man." In the
political history of South Dakota he bore an honorable part, and as a legislator
was associated with such men as Moody, Brookings, and a host of other prominent
men, and he was peer of all. As a public official he added fidelity to zeal. As
a citizen he believed in law and its obeyance. And as a man he was gentle,
courteous and obliging. In truth Horace J. Austin was well nigh the embodiment
of manhood's ideal. He was a sturdy pioneer, a patient soldier, a faithful
legislator, a true citizen, loyal friend, and last but not least, a loving and
indulgent husband.

   The names of the children reared by Mr. and Mrs. Austin are: Anna Ross, Leroy
O. Stevens, and Helen P. Austin. The latter child was adopted and raised from
infancy.

   A wide circle of friends will welcome the portrait of Mr. Austin, which will
be found on another page, as a valuable addition to this volume.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
OF 
Turner, Lincoln, Union and Clay Counties,
SOUTH DAKOTA.

Containing Biographical Sketches of Hundreds of Prominent Old Settlers and
Representative Citizens, with a Review of their Life Work; their Identity with
the Growth and Development of these Counties; Reminiscences of Personal History
and Pioneer Life; and other Interesting and Valuable Matter which should be
Preserved in History.

ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO.
GEO. A. OGLE & CO.
Publishers, Engravers and Book Manufacturers.
1897.


Biography is the only true history.—EMERSON.

A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
generations.—MACAULAY.


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