San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES H. AUSTIN
Counted among the substantial
citizens of the Summer Home district of San Joaquin County, James H. Austin was
born at Irondale, Missouri, April 7, 1860, a son of Rufus H. Austin, a native
of Ohio. An uncle, Horace Austin, as a
mere lad, served in the Seminole War in 1835; then in the war with Mexico he
was captain in the U. S. Regulars, and in the Civil War served as captain in
the108th Illinois Volunteer Regiment from 1861 to 1865.
In 1878, James H. Austin was
graduated from the Waterman, Illinois high school; two years later he entered
the college at Dubuque, Iowa, in the department of civil engineering, having
earned his tuition as clerk in the employ of the C. B. & Q. R. R. He spent three years there, then became
identified with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the operating
department at San Francisco in 1882, where he worked for five years; then he
was transferred to Santa Barbara, where he became station agent for the same company,
this being the opening of the road; here he remained until 1894. He then became assistant
to William Hood, chief engineer for the Southern Pacific, and for the following
ten years was very active in this work.
After the coast line from Santa Margarita to Santa Barbara was completed
in 1901, Mr. Austin was sent to Ogden, Utah, where he was put in full charge of
the east end of the thirty-mile trestle across Salt Lake out of Ogden, which
was completed in May, 1902. From Ogden,
Utah, he went to Sparks, Nevada, and while here he decided to leave the service
of the railroad. In 1900 he had
purchased twenty acres of the Peter Clapp homestead in San Joaquin County at
twenty-five dollars per acre, and desiring to locate on it and improve it, he
gave up engineering work; later he purchased ten more acres, which he set to an
orchard of almonds, peaches and apricots, and a fine vineyard, all in full
bearing now and highly productive.
Mr. Austin was married in December,
1904, to Miss Mabel Temple, a native of Scotland, who had resided in California
since 1896, and they have one son, Neil T.
Mrs. Austin is secretary of the Farm Bureau of the Summer Home local and
is prominent in Eastern Star circles.
Mr. Austin is a prominent Mason, being past master of the Santa Barbara
and Manteca lodges, and the initial master of the Manteca lodge; he is past
high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, a member of the Commandery, both of
Santa Barbara, and for the past twenty years has been a member of the Islam
Temple of San Francisco. In politics he
is a staunch Republican.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1192. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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