Davis Washington Austin - Sentimental Sunday No. 57

Davis Washington Austin ~ 1827 - 1903

Davis Washington Austin was my 2nd Great Grandfather.  He was the father of my Great Grandmother, Anna Elberta Austin - who I wrote about last week.

Original Certificate of Marriage

D.W. Austin married Amanda Seals in 1847.  They lived in Butler Alabama until they moved to Pensacola, Florida - where he worked at the Naval Yard.  At the outbreak of the Civil War he worked there building ships.

When the war began he organized a company of soldiers to join the fight, with himself as captain. Unfortunately for him (or perhaps very fortunately), the people making the decisions decided he was too valuable to the Southern cause as a ship builder and he was detailed to the Naval Yard building ships for the South. After the war he returned to Butler County.

Reverse side of Marriage Certificate - listing family births

Davis moved to Birmingham in 1871 and remained there until his death in 1903, at the age of 76. He was a contractor and builder, the Jefferson County Corner, a deputy sheriff, the jailer and in his later years engaged in real estate.