Jeremiah Corliss Austin

AUSTIN, THURSTON

Posted By: Carrie Robertson (email)
Date: 5/18/2017 at 23:38:05

The Marion Sentinel Thursday June 19, 1902
J. C. Austin
J. C. Austin, son of E.W. and Hannah Austin, was born in Orange county, Vermont, Feb. 7th, 1827, and died in Marion, Iowa, June 9th, 1902.
When only a boy his father emigrated west, settling first in Indiana, then moving to Kane county, Illinois.
July 21, 1848, he was married to Helen M. Thurston, and settled at Dundee, where their first three children were born, viz:
Geo. C., who died in infancy; Frank E., living at Olin, Iowa; Edmund F., died at Hale, Iowa, Sept. 16, 1880.
In 1856, Mr. Austin came to Iowa and pre-empted a large tract of land in Hale township, Jones county, Iowa, returning to Illinois for his family the following year, they moved west, and settled on what is now known as the Horton farm. Afterward moving to Wyoming, where their youngest son, Geo. T., was born.
In 1862 he enlisted in the army, and was made captain of Company G, in the Thirty-first regiment Iowa volunteer infantry. Company G consisted of nineteen officers and seventy-eight privates. The love and esteem in which they held their captain can best be told by one of their number writing to the Anamosa Eureka, date of Sept. 17, 1862:
Camp Herron, Davenport, Sept. 17, 1862.--Editors: I thought I would give you a short account of Captain Austin's company. We organized in Rome township by electing J.C. Austin captain, and let me say here before I pass, that he is a very fine man. Beloved by his company and one who has their welfare at heart, he is always ready to grant everything that is reasonable.
His office and duties rest lightly on his shoulders. He does not put on airs and you would not know by his manner that he is captain, although while on duty he is dignified and manly. To say the men like him would not convey the idea; they love him."
While in camp at Davenport, Mr. Austin contracted the measles. He was seriously ill for a time, and while he seemingly regained his health, he never fully recovered from its serious results.
He received his discharge and returned home, broken in health, and like so many of the G.A.R. boys, his life had been one grand battle for existence.
Glancing down the list of officers and privates of his company we find the majority of them have passed over and have joined the great army of the redeemed. One by one we garland their memories with sweet incense from the altars of love. And today as we lay a wreath of immortelles on this casket remembering that the sweetest fragrance comes from flowers plucked in full bloom, and when life is at its best.
"Give me my flowers while I can enjoy them, and when I am gone pass them on to others, " was a principle he believed in, and those who knew him best, knew he lived.
Mr. Austin moved to Marion in 1891, where he has since resided.
Besides his dear wife, he leaves to mourn his departure, two sons, Frank E. and George T., and three grandchildren, Carl, Hubert and Marie.
During his last illness, which dates from last February, he seemed to feel the end was near, and expressed himself as ready to go. His devotion to wife and family manifested itself in his patience and solicitude for their comfort, and his appreciation of flowers sent was most touching.
Surrounded by all that is most dear on earth, he passed into the great beyond and left the home circle bound by another link to the eternal.
The funeral services were conducted at his home in Marion on Thursday afternoon, June 12, at 2:00 o'clock, and were in charge of Rev. A.D. Kinzer assisted by Rev. W.H. Reynolds. The G.A.R. post of Marion attended in a body and acted as an escort to the cemetery, and the following old comrades acted as pall-bearers: From his own regiment, Captain J.S. Alexander, Dr. George L. Carhart, Newell White and George L. Stearns, and old friends and comrades, Dan R. Kinley and Major William G. Thompson.
Appropriate music was furnished by Mr. and Mrs. F.A. Rowe, Mrs. V.G. Shumack and Dr. J.J. Booth.
They're passing away, these dear old friends,
Like a leaf on a current cast;
With never a break in the rapid flow
We watch them as one by one they go
Into the beautiful past.
And with those old friends, comrades and dear ones, who had preceded him, Captain J.C. Austin has passed over and is at rest, awaiting in that sleep that knows no waking the sound of the last great reveille.

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