Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013,
                           All Rights Reserved
                          U.S. Data Repository

    Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page:
                <http://www.us-data.org/fineprint.html>

Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/
=========================================================================
U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced
in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization.
Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain
the consent of the transcriber prior to use.
Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so.
=========================================================================
Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded.
===========================================================================
Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa
W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889

[page 534]

   WOODBURY H. AUSTIN, one of the influential and respected citizens
   of Tilden township, Cherokee County, was born in Essex County, Massa-
   chusetts, June 11, 1822, and is a son of JOSHUA and LUCY (HUNT) AUSTIN,
   natives of New Hampshire and Connecticut respectively.  He is the oldest
   of a family of eight children, and until he was eighteen years old he
   worked on the farm and attended the district school.  At that age he
   went to learn the carpenter's trade, and followed the business for six
   years; he was then employed by the Essex Machine Company, and for two
   years was engaged on carriage work. He then went to Braintree, Massa-
   chusetts, and for two years worked at his old trade; thence he went to
   Roxbury, Massachusetts, and at the end of one year he removed to Chi-
   cago, Illinois, remaining there nine years, employed in a sash and door
   factory and planing-mill.  His next move was to Beloit, Wisconsin, where
   he opened a sash and blind factory on his own account, which he con-
   tinued to manage for three years; this was destroyed by fire, after
   which he remained in Beloit one year, when he removed to McGregor, Iowa,
   and leased a mill for the manufacture of sash, blinds, etc.; there he
   remained one year, and we next find him in Dubuque, Iowa, in the employ
   of a firm operating a sash and blind factory and planing-mill.  After
   three years Mr. AUSTIN, in company with W. W. CARR, under the firm name
   of CARR & AUSTIN, erected large and commodious buildings for the manu-
   facture of sash, doors and blinds.  After two years the firm name was
   changed to CARR, AUSTIN & Co., and for fourteen years they did an exten-
   sive and profitable business.  Mr. AUSTIN'S business career was one of
   great success, and was the result of perseverance, indomitable courage,
   and the practice of the highest integrity in all his transactions.  He
   determined to change his mode of life, and purchased a farm of 420 acres
   in Butler County, Iowa, near Parkersburgh.  There he erected a fine
   residence, and at the end of three years sold out, and in March, 1882,
   he came to Cherokee County, having purchased, in 1880, 520 acres of
   land.  Most of this land was wild, and there were few improvements, but
   to-day, after seven years of Mr. AUSTIN'S care and management, it is one
   of the finest farms in the county.  He has planted eight acres of grove,
   and five acres in orchard.  Politically he is a stanch supporter of the
   principles of the Republican party.  He has served as school director,
   acquitting himself with much credit.  Mr. AUSTIN was married in 1844 to
   CELINA PETTY, who was born in Salem, New Hampshire, August 7, 1806.
   They are the parents of four children: STEPHEN PAGE, residing in Colo-
   rado, served through the late Civil War, was captured and lay in Libby
   Prison, enduring all the agonies of that terrible time; ELIZABETH is the
   wife of THOMAS QUINN, residing in Washington Territory; JAMES also lives
   in Washington Territory; and FRANCILIA is the wife of B. LOCKEY, re-
   siding in Clay County, Iowa.


===========================================================================