Austin, Ira, 1807-1893.

Colo. pioneer businessman, born May 30, 1807 in Bristol, N.Y. He married Harriet Benjamin (b.1810) in 1831. The couple had three children: Schulyer D. (ca.1837-1901), Julia E. (ca.1843-1922), and Helen A. (ca.1848-1926). Austin and his family moved to a farm in Will County, Ill. (1838-1860). He journeyed alone to Placerville, Calif. as a gold prospector (1849-1850) before returning to Ill. Austin travelled to Colo. (1860), where he set up a mill in Gilpin County and also went into coal mining, railroading and other enterprises. Austin served as a Gilpin County commissioner, and was twice elected to the Colorado State Legislature. He later moved his family to Boulder, Colo. in 1870, where he died in 1893.