Richard Austin (1632 - 1703)

Born 15 Nov 1632 in Titchfield, Hampshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Abigail (Bachelor) Austin — married 11 Sep 1659 in Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 15 Aug 1703 at age 70 in Charlestown, Middlesex, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Hayward Houghton [send private message]

Biography

Richard Austin was born on November 15, 1632 in Tichfield, Hants, England. His parents were Richard Austin and Elizabeth Unknown. He married Abigail Bachelor on September 11, 1659 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Together they had 11 children:

James Austin

1. Ebenezer Austin
2. Richard Austin
3. Benjamin Austin
4. William Austin
5. Rachel Austin
6. John Austin
7. Elizabeth Austin
8. Samuel Austin
9. Abigail Austin
10. Joseph Austin

He died on August 15, 1703 in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Additional information: RICHARD AUSTIN was born on 15 November 1632, in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England. He was the son of Richard Austin and Elizabeth Unknown. Richard died in Charlestown, Middlesex Co., MA, on 15 August 1703, at the age of 70. He was buried in Phipps St. Cemetery, Boston. Richard married Abigail Bachelder on 11 November 1659, in Charlestown, Middlesex Co.^[1] They had eleven children: Samuel, Ebenezer, Abigail, Richard, Joseph, Benjamin, William, Elizabeth, Rachel, James and John.

Richard Austin was the elder of two sons who came to America from Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England aboard the Bevis, which landed in Boston on 16 May 1638.^[2] His parents were Richard and Elizabeth Austin, and his father was a tailor headed for a new home in Charlestown. However, Elizabeth died soon after their arrival, and father Richard in 1642, leaving young Richard and his brother Anthony orphans at young ages.

In 1659, notice of intention to marry was published on behalf of Richard Asten and Abigail Bacheller.^[3] As with many others of that time, last names tended to have multiple variations. The ceremony did occur on the 11th of November (the ninth month probably meant November then) and was performed by Magistrate Richard Russell. Richard returned to the large family size of his grandfather Austin by having eleven children with Abigail.

Richard, like his father Richard, worked as a tailor. With eleven children to clothe, it was a useful profession. The family lived in a house owned by Abigail’s father William, and in the latter’s 1670 will, the Austins were allowed to stay in the home while paying rent to Abigail's mother Rachel. The will referred to “my son Richard” on several occasions, so it’s clear that they got along well. In that same year, Richard and Abigail were admitted to full communion in the church.^[4]

Richard continued his service to the church and community and shared in a division of land by the town in 1658. On 31 May 1671, he was admitted as a freeman. Named a clerk of the market in 1674 and again for the years 1676-1696, he carried the right to determine the price of wheat.^[5] “Two of his sons would make lasting reputations as pewterers in Charlestown in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, during the same years that their distant cousin, Moses, was developing the lead mines in Virginia and Missouri.”^[6] They were not too distant, though; just first cousins, twice removed.

Richard was counted in a 1688 census in Charlestown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.^[7] Abigail died in 1693, and Richard’s passing came ten years later. They were both buried at the Phipps Street Burying Grounds, one of seven cemeteries in Boston from the 17th century. Also buried here was John Harvard, whose library was donated to start the famous university.

HERE LYES Ye BODY OF ABIGAIL AUSTIN WIFE TO RICHARD AUSTIN AGED 57 YEARS DIED Ye 1 OF FEBRU 1693

HERE LYES Ye BODY OF RICHARD AUSTIN AGED ABOUT 71 YEARS DYED AUGUST Ye 15 1703

Sources

1. ↑ US, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Provo, UT, Ancestry.com), Page 26.
2. ↑ https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Bevis_1638_passengers
3. ↑ Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988; Charlestown Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1629-1800, Vol. 3, pages 357-358; Ancestry.com.
4. ↑ Pierce, Frederick Clifton, Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy (Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1898), page 40; Ancestry.com.
5. ↑ Moore, Edith Austin and Day, William Allen, The Descendants of Richard Austin of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1638, page 9; familysearch.org.
6. ↑ Gracy II, David B., Moses Austin: His Life (Trinity University Press, 1987), page 6.
7. ↑ Massachusetts, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890, page 271.

• Austin Families Association of America - Profile Richard Austin