Matthew Smith Austin
Matthew Smith Austin was born in June 1830 in New York to Russell Austin and Martha Smith. His mother died around 1833. His family probably moved to New Jersey sometime before 1841.
 
He and his father were living in Neosho Falls in the Kansas Territory in 1860, and he was working as a printer. He returned to the East Coast soon afterward. He enlisted in the Union army on August 24, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company I of the 5th New Jersey Infantry later that day. He became a commissary sergeant soon afterward, and he was eventually promoted to 2nd lieutenant. In January 1863, he hoped "to see an order for 300,000 men to fill up the old regiments. Draft them, if they would not enlist promptly...I should like further, if it were possible, (and it is) to see the ten or more thousand Deserters compelled to serve their three years from the time of their apprehension." He added that the "President and Congress [ought] to convince the north that it means to win, even if it have to call into the field every man able to bear arms." He mustered on September 7, 1864.
 
Austin lived in Trenton, New Jersey, after the war and worked as a printer. He married Sarah Jane Bell there on December 26, 1872, and they had five children: Edith, born in May 1875; Henry, born around 1877; Charles, born around 1879; Susannah, born in November 1881; and Harriet, born in March 1886. He remained in Trenton for the rest of his life, and he died there on January 13, 1904.
709
DATABASE CONTENT
(709)Austin, Matthew Smith1830-061904-01-13
  • Conflict Side: Union
  • Role: Soldier
  • Rank in: Private
  • Rank out: 2nd Lieutenant
  • Rank highest: 2nd Lieutenant
  • Gender: Male
  • Race: White

Documents - Records: 16

  • (2939) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 16 January 1863
  • (3126) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 27 June 1864
  • (3191) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 12 April 1863
  • (3752) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 25 November 1863
  • (5383) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Eliza S. Austin, 7 November 1861
  • (5384) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 10 November 1862
  • (5385) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 12 January 1863
  • (5386) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 29 March 1863
  • (5387) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Eliza S. Austin, 24 April 1863
  • (5815) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 17 March 1862
  • (5816) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Eliza S. Austin, 19 March 1862
  • (5817) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 30 March 1862
  • (5818) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 14 April 1862
  • (5821) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 18 April 1862
  • (5904) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 14 April 1862
  • (15048) [writer] ~ Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 13 November 1863

People - Records: 2

  • (710) Austin, Russell is the [parent of] (709) Austin, Matthew Smith
  • (1548) Austin, Eliza S. is the [step-parent of] (709) Austin, Matthew Smith

Places - Records: 2

  • (67) [birth] ~ New York
  • (503) [death] ~ Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey

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Regiments - Records: 1

  • (223) [enlisted] [G] ~ 5th New Jersey Infantry

Groups - Records: 1

  • (6) [member/supporter] ~ Grand Army of the Republic
SOURCES

1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; 1890 Veterans Census, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; New Jersey Marriage Records, 1670-1965, available from Ancestry.com; Matthew S. Austin to Russell Austin, 12 January 1863, DL0956.003, Nau Collection