John AUSTIN

Notes:

Name:
The New England and Historical Genealogical register:

In 1683 and 1684, John Austin, Thomas Austin and Elizabeth (Austin) Finch, all of Greenwich, gave receipts to their father-in-law (i.e., stepfather) William Hubbard for their portion of their deceased father JohnAustin's estate. John was probably a commercial tobacco grower, since his inventory contained, "a tobaca wheele, bouls & traies," ad L4 worth of tobacco -- a substantial amount considering his house and land together were valued at L12.

Writing in 1860, James Savage assumed that this was the same John Austin who had appeared briefly in New London, Connecticut, from 1647 to after 1651. While this may be the case, Savage did not mention his source(s) and no records have been found to confirm that this was indeed the same person. the possibility still exists, however, since a John Austin did own land in New London in 1648-49, and apparently sold at least some of it to Samuel Lathrop there sometime before 13 June 1655. John Austin was not in New London after that time, but no evidence has been found (other than the coincidence in timing) that connects him with anyone in Stamford or Greenwich. As already mentioned above, John Austin of Greenwich was certainly not part of the New Haven Austin family.

John Austin was one of eleven Greenwich men who pledged their allegiance to the Colony of New Haven on 6 October 1656. Greenwich itself was loosely connected with the Connecticut Colony, but not recognized as a separate town until May 1665, after the consolidation of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies. Before 1665, Greenwich people appeared as inhabitants of a fairly independent settlement at various times in the records of Stamford, New Haven, and Fairfield (the nearest other Connecticut colony town.) Therefore, in 1657, John Austin's estate was of concern to both colonies. At that time, new Haven had jurisdiction over Stamford, and so John Austin's inventory was recorded in both of those places, as well as in Fairfield. It should be emphasized, however, that John Austin of Greenwich never lived in any of those three places.

Family/Spouse: Catherine UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Elizabeth AUSTIN was born in 1650 in Connecticut, USA; died in poss. 1693.
2. Thomas AUSTIN was born in 1654; died after 9 Feb 1721/2.