Family Ties
The Austin Family
Origins of the Name
The Austin name and its variants is said to have derived from the sect of Christian followers of St. Augustine. The greatest number of Austin households in England were confined to the eastern and central counties of Kent & Oxford. Fourteen different Coat Of Arms were registered under the name of Austin.
Edith Austin Moore, a dedicated Austin genealogist, along with other Austin families researchers, established nine Austin immigrants in America during the seventeenth century. The Austin name and includes several variants including Aistin, Austin, Austen, Auston, Asten, Astin, Aston, Austing, Awstin, Awstine, Ostin, Oston.
The early Austin settlers of New England were:
* Francis Austin of Dedham, Massachusetts 1640
* Jonah Austin of Tauton, Massachusetts 1634/5
* John Austin of East Haven, Connecticut 1667 when married.
* John Austin of Stamford, Connecticut was 1st at New London Ct. 1647.
* Joseph Austin of Dover, New Hampshire, 1st at Hampton, NH 1642
* Matthew Austin of York, Maine 1658
* Richard Austin of Charlestown, Massachusetts 1638
* Robert Austin of Kingston, Rhode Island 1661
* Samuel Austin of Boston, Massachusetts 1663
John Austin of Stamford, Connecticut was born in Sandwich, England in the county of Kent. The township of Sandwich is historic, dating back to ancient Saxon times as an important port city. In medieval times, as early as 1200 AD, the town was a port on on estuary of the River Stour. There are nearby ancient Roman ruins of a fort at Richborough. Today the waters have receded and the town is actually about two miles from the water.
Protestants fleeing persecution in the Netherlands and France settled in Sandwich after 1560 and introduced dyke drainage to permit market gardening, weaving and other skills such as clay tile making. In the 17th century the town was still largely a maritime economy and remained an important port for some time.
The Immigrant Austin to America
It is not known when John Austin sailed from England to the American Colonies but he apparently first settled in New London, Connecticut sometime before 1642. He married Catherine Hubbert [or Hubbard] in New London that year.
John Austin and his wife Catherine [Katherine] settled in Stamford, Connecticut some time prior to the birth of their first child in 1657. Though they were not among the first 33 settlers who formed the original township of Stamford in 1640 they were obviously early arrivals.
The original name of Stamford was Rippowam, that's what the original inhabitants called it and the first European settlers continued the tradition. The name was later changed to Stamford after a town in Lincolnshire, England. Stamford is a coastal town bounded on the north by Westchester County, New York; on the west by Greenwich; on the east by New Canaan and Darien, and on the south by Long Island Sound. When this Austin family line moved to Westchester County, New York about 3 generations later, it was not a distant move.
John Austin (d.1657) was one of eleven Greenwich men who in 1656 acknowledged allegiance to the New Haven Jurisdiction, to constitute part of the Stamford Colony in Connecticut. He and his wife was Catherine had sons Samuel (d.1657), John (d.1673) and Thomas; and a daughter Elizabeth Austin Finch. Family members lived in Connecticut, New York and elsewhere. John Austin died at the age of 41 just 2 years after the birth of his youngest son.
The Move to Rye, Westchester County
Rye township is located in Westchester County, New York. The county is between Putnam and Rockland Counties and shares a border with southwestern Connecticut, Fairfield County. Before the first white explorers, and later settlers, arrived in the Hudson Valley, the area was the inhabited by Native American groups, including the Delaware, Mohegan, and Wappinger tribes. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Hudson Valley tribes lived in tree-bark wigwams, fished and hunted game in the river and surrounding woodlands, planted and harvested small staple crops and maple syrup, and developed both water drainage systems and erosion-resistant tiered fields.
The first settlers were Dutch, arriving in the 16th and 17th centuries. The real impetus for settlement came with the exploration of the river valley beginning in 1609 by Henry Hudson. Dutch settlers followed and English settlers began to settle in the area soon after. The English settled the area around 1640 and founded towns at Rye, Mamaroneck, Eastchester, and Bedford. It was an act of the New York Assembly in the fall of 1683 that officially established Westchester County.
2nd Generation
Thomas Austin, the second son of immigrant John, was born and died in Stamford. He married Hannah Hardy in about 1697. They had sons Jonathan and Thomas and daughters Rebecca and Abigail.
3rd Generation
Jonathan Austin, Sr. was born in Stamford and died in Greenwich, Connecticut. He married Hannah Ferris in about 1711 in Greenwich. They had seven children: Jonathan, Jr., Job, Sarah, Silas, John, Levinus, and Mary. Shortly after Jonathan and Hannah were married they moved to Rye, New York, where Jonathan, Jr. was born, but just as quickly moved back to Connecticut to Stanwich [also in Fairfield County].
4th Generation
Jonathan Austin, Jr was born in Rye township, Westchester County New York in 1712. His father, Jonathan Austin, Sr., son of Thomas, was born in Stamford, Connecticut; a distance of less than 10 miles. He married Charity O'Dell in about 1743. He died in Philips Precinct, Putnam, New York in 1766, just ten years before the start of the Revolutionary War. They had nine children: Jonathan, Phoebe, Isaac, Silas, Smith, Job, Rebecca, Robert and Anna.
It is unclear exactly what village or township in Philips Precinct Jonathan, Jr. was living at the time of his death. Towns located in Putnam County in which the Austin line is later found include Carmel and Mahopac Falls. These towns are located within 30 to 40 miles of Rye.
5th Generation
Anna Austin, the youngest of nine children of Jonathan Austin and Charity O'Dell, was born in Westchester County, New York in 1762. At the age of 18 she married Lebbeus Howe in 1780 in Dutchess [now Putnam] County, New York. They had thirteen children. We have discovered the names of five: Robert, Phoebe, Jeannette, Ida and Ella.
Lebbeus was a Revolutionary War Soldier whom Anna had known most of her life. Based on information in the Revolutionary War Pension records, neither Anna nor Lebbeus were literate as both signed the required documents in an "X".
(See Howe Family Line for further information.)