Thomas AUSTIN

Notes:

Name:
The new England Historical and Genealogical Register:

The date of his death has not been found but he was living in Stamford on 9 February 1721/2 when he, "of Stamford...formerly inhabitant & Resident in the Town of Greenwich," sold four acres in Greenwich to Samuel Peck. His wife has often been identified as Hannah Hardy, but Hannah's husband was named Jon Austin not Thomas Austin. The identity of Thomas Austin's wife is unknown.

Thomas Austin owned property and probably lived for a time in the town of Bedford, Westchester County, New York, just over the colony line from Stamford and Greenwich. He was granted land in Bedford at a Bedford town meeting on 23 April 1689 and again on 18 March 1695(/6). But he was called "of Stamford" when he sold a small parcel of land in Bedford to John Copp on 12 November 1703. He sold his remaining property in Bedford and moved back to Stamford about 1704, since in a deed dated at Stamford 1 December 1704, Thomas Austin "of Bedford" sold his three-acre homelot plus three other parcels of Bedford land and his remaining rights to future lands in Bedford to Robert Love of Stamford for an unspecified price.

He was certainly a resident of Stamford on 28 February 1716/7 whe he sold his 2/3 interest in a 5 1/2 acre parcel of land at Heckett's Hill to Isaac Weed....

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Jonathan AUSTIN was born about 1685 in Stamford, Fairfield Co.,Connecticut; died in 1769 in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA.

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.

John married Catherine UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]