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Below is a family biography included in The History of Polk County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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G. B. Austin, a successful liveryman at Bolivar, Mo., was born in Dallas County, Mo., September 7, 1861, and is the second of six children born to Elijah and Louisa (Randies) Austin, the father a native of North Carolina, and the mother of Dallas County, Mo. The latter’s parents came from Tennessee. When still but a child, the father came with his parents to Dallas County, Mo., and attained growth in that county, there being married. Elijah Austin was an extensive farmer and stock-dealer, which occupation he carried on all his life. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity; was a Democrat in politics, and during the late war he served in the Union army. Both he and wife were members of the Baptist Church. He died January 31, 1889, at the age of fifty-three, and she died November 11, 1887, at the age of forty-eight years. G. B. Austin was reared on a farm, received his early education in the common schools of Dallas County, and in 1881 came with his parents to Bolivar, where he took a commercial course in Southwest Baptist College, graduating from that institution in 1883. In December of the same year he married Miss Ella Hunt, a native of Dallas County, born near Buffalo, Mo., and this union resulted in the birth of two children: Essie and Otta. Mrs. Austin is a member of the Baptist Church. He, like his father, is a Democrat in politics. In 1885 he became a partner with his father in the livery business, which, after the death of his father, he resumed. He runs a livery, feed and sale stable containing about thirteen head of horses and nine vehicles, and has all the requisites for a first-class stable. He also runs the ‘bus line.

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This family biography is one of 132 biographies included in The History of Polk County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Polk County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Polk County, Missouri family biographies, click here

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