Austin E. Tyrrell was born around 1831 in Ohio to Asahel and Lucretia Tyrrell. His father was a mechanic who owned $4,000 of real estate by 1850. The family lived in Fowler, Ohio, and by 1850, he was also working as a mechanic. He married Harriet Ackley on June 11, 1854, and they had at least two children: Lucretia, born around 1855; and Lucy, born around 1857. By 1860, he owned $400 of real estate.
In the 1860s, he moved to Somerset, Missouri, and then to Clinton, Iowa. He earned a living as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $2,800 of real estate and $660 of personal property. He returned to Somerset in the late 1800s, and he died sometime after 1900.