Evan Austill, Sr. Biographical Notes

Austills appeared in Alabama in early years, before the territory achieved statehood in 1819. History tells us the city of Mobile was established by the first settlers in the ares, who were French and Spanish; during the Revolutionary years many British Sympathizers living in Georgia moved into Alabama.

We read in an old history of the area that Austills were very active in developing the region.


--From Research Notes by Juanita Austill Allen

"A Glance into the Great South-East, or Clarke County, Alabama, from 1540 to 1877" by The Reverend T. H. Ball. (Grove Hill, Alabama, publisher)(Available in Salt Lake City Genealogical Library and on Microfilm. Library # G.S. 416,771)

The following are excerpts from Rev. Ball's book:

Among the names which have for many years been historic, connected with this region, is the name of Austill.

Evan Austill of South Carolina went, with his family, in 1798, to the Cherokee agency in Georgia, where he was engaged in efforts tending to spread among the Cherokees the arts of civilization. This agency was established by the U.S. Govt. The location was on a river about twenty miles north of the present town of Rome. Mrs. Evan Austill is said to have been the first white woman who ventured to live among the Cherokees. Five children were born during the residence of the family in this agency, one Jeremiah Austill, having been born in South Carolina in 1794. Mrs. Austill was evidently not a timid woman. Sometimes when alone with her little children, in the absence of her husband, the Indians would come and tell her that they had seen a man without a head near her home. She would reply, "I am not afraid of men without heads; those having heads are much more dangerous."

A school was commenced among these Cherokees, and Evan Austill employed an Englishman to teach. One of the boys, called John Ridge, was quite talented, at length graduated, and married in the North. He became a well-known leader of his people.

After residing about fourteen years among the Cherokees, Evan Austill concluded to remove. The Indians said "Do not leave us. You have been a father and a guide to us." But in 1812 his family concluded to remove to the frontier settlements in Washington County. They came to the Hickory Ground. The Creeks here had already met to declare war. The party was permitted to proceed and the family settled South of Suggsville, and were soon called out, by the eventful times, the father and son, to take prominent parts in the war with the Creeks.

Evan Austill died 18 Oct., 1818, at the age of forty-nine, from exposure in Florida in the Indian strife. A marble slab with a plain inscription near the roadside, and near the site of Fort Madison, reveals to the passing traveller his lone resting-place.

He had two sons and five daughters.

Major Jeremiah Austill

Major Jeremiah Austill, the only male survivor of the seven children, (of Evan Austill) has passed through a long, varied and eventful career.

Born, as already mentioned, in South Carolina, in 1794, he was taken among the Cherokees in Georgia. When six years of age he was sent back to South Carolina to attend school, and again returning to the agency. When eighteen years of age he became a resident in that part of Washington County which, in a few months, became Clarke County.

The Creek War

We now reach the period of bloodshed. Says Pickett:" Everything foreboded the extermination of the Americans in Alabama, who were the most isolated and defenseless people imaginable." But in this little settlement were many brave Anglo-Saxon hearts, men, woman, and children, inured to the ways of the wilderness. The Callers, the Austills, and the Creaghs, were there. There was need of help and there would be need for all the experience and coolness of the elder Austill, all the sagacity and heroism of the younger Austill.

From Fort Madison, Jeremiah Austill, a youth of nineteen, son of Captain Evan Austill, was sent alone, on a fleet horse, as bearer of dispatches to General Claiborne at Mount Vernon. The route over which the solitary horseman passed is very lonely even now. In the dark bottoms amid the more open pines, Creek warriors might at any moment appear. The youth proceeded cautiously on his way through the still hours of the night. Reaching the river bottom in the vicinity of Fort Carney, he was uncertain whether the fort was above or below that point. He rode near the river bank and gave one Indian War-whoop. There came to his ears, from the fort, distant about half a mile, the loud, defying bark of some fifty or sixty dogs. Uncertainty was at an end. Soon he reached the gateway; was welcomed within by the startled men, women, and children; a warm supper was provided for himself and food for his horse; both were transported across the river; and again the courier was upon the road. In the dawn of the morning he reached the headquarters of the General. Claiborne was amazed that he had come thus alone. But the youthful messenger replied that his ears were quick to catch sounds, and his eyes were keen, like the natives of these wilds, and in the event of danger he would have been obliged to trust to his own resources and to his fleet horse. Companions would only have exposed him to more danger.

Some eighty citizens, enrolling themselves under the two captains, Evan Austill and Samuel Dale, chose to remain with their families and protect themselves and their homes.

Jeremiah Austill was nineteen years of age, six feet two and one-fourth inches in height, very sinewy, with no surplus flesh, and weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds.

The above excerpts from Rev. Ball's book give a glimpse of the character and lives of Evan and Jeremiah Austill. Many more details are given in the book and it is well worth trying to find a copy and read the entire story.

Not much information is given about the heroic wives of these two men. Evan Austill married in Pendleton District, SC., in 1794, to Sarah (or Lethee/Lethea) Files. She lived until 1835. Jeremiah married on 9 Oct., 1834, to Margaret Irvin Eades, with whom he had two sons and three daughters. He died in 1879 and his wife lived until 1890. One of the sons, Hurieosco, served in the Civil Was and became an attorney, a politician, and an organizer of railroads.


--- From Research Notes by Juanita Austill Allen

From another source:

AUSTILL, Jeremiah, soldier, was born in Pendleton District, S.C., in 1795, son of Evan and Lethee (Files) Austill. His great-grandfather, Isaac Austill, came to America from England before the Revolutionary War. His mother was the daughter of John and Sarah (McKinney) Files. When but nineteen years of age, he was one of a party of three men headed by Capt. Samuel Dale, known as the "Daniel Boone of Alabama", In the famous "Canoe Fight" upon the Alabama River near Claiborne, Nov 12, 1813. In this struggle, three white men, rowed by a negro named Caesar, boldly assailed a war canoe of the Creeks, manned by seven warriors in full trappings in mid-stream, and killed all of them without loss or injury to themselves, except Austill, who was struck on the head with a war club and received a scalp wound. At this time also he was the bearer of night dispatches of warning between the forts and stockades along the hostile Creek country, often making forty miles through the trackless forests by night. He once rode from Fort Madison to Fort Carney and thence to Mount Vernon in a single night, through impenetrable darkness and blinding storm. He was married, in 1838, to Margaret, daughter of Capt. John Eades, who came to Alabama with his family from Georgia in 1812. They (Jeremiah & Margaret) had four children. Their son, Hurieosco, born in Mobile, Feb. 16, 1841, was graduated at the University of Alabama in 1861; was appointed lieutenant of the 1st Alabama Artillery, and served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was admitted to the bar in 1868, and served in the house of representatives and senate of the state legislature. In 1874 he was elected Chancellor of the Southern Division of Alabama. He was married, Dec. 24, 1874, to Aurora R., daughter of Dr. Robert Ervin, of Wilcox Co., Alabama. They have six children. Major Jeremiah Austill enjoyed the respect and high confidence of all classes in his state. He died Dec 8, 1879.

--- Copy of an article of uncertain origin.

Per yet another source, the names of the men involved in the "Battle of the Canoes" were: Col. Samuel Dale, Capt. (Major) Jeremiah Austill, James Smith, William Oliver, and a Negro, known only as Caesar.

NOTE:
An excellent Pedigree Listing of the Descendants of Evan Austill is available in GEDCOM format on CD-Rom, from The World Family Tree Project, Volume #2.
It is available from the following site: Family Tree Maker Online and would be of interest to anyone researching this branch of the family.

If you are researching this family line, you may wish to contact my cousin,
Jere Austill, in Mobile, Alabama.
Send e-mail to: Jere Austill, Jr.(jaustill@aol.com)
He is a descendant of Evan.


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