Joseph Austrian was born in the small town of Wittelshofen, Bavaria in 1933. At the age of seventeen, he and his sister emigrated to America. He soon headed to Mackinac Island, Michigan and then La Pointe, Wisconsin. He eventually was hired by Henry P. Leopold in his general store in Eagle River, Michigan where he took care of correspondence and account keeping. Austrian took over the business several years later, and opened stores in Hancock with the opening of the Quincy mine there as well as Calumet to be close to the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company business. Joseph Austrian passed away in 1908, several months after finishing his memoirs.
From the description of Joseph Austrian Autobiography, 1906-1908. (Michigan Technological University). WorldCat record id: 714133860
