Clark, Robert Carlton, Ph.D. "History of the Willamette Valley Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1927. p. 188. A. E. AUSTIN Mercantile activity in Woodburn has been stimulated by the constructive efforts of A. E. Austin, whose store is the oldest in the town and is essential to the life of the community. He was born August 22, 1867, a native of Meeker county, Minnesota. His parents, James A. and Sarah (Barrick) Austin, came to Oregon in 1889 and lived for a time on the Baughman farm, situated on Howell prairie. In 1891 they moved to Woodburn and in partnership with his son, James A. Austin opened a grocery store. He continued the business until 1917, when he retired, his death occurring five years later. He had long survived his wife, who passed away in 1893. A. E. Austin received a public school education and worked on his father's farm for a time, afterward teaching school. When a young man of twenty-four he came to Woodburn and was associated with his father in the grocery business until 1893, when he became a clerk in a local dry goods store. He filled the position for five years and in 1898 ventured in business for himself. He purchased the dry goods stock of W. E. Finzer and has broadened the scope of his activities, handling merchandise of various kinds. Regarding satisfied customers as the best advertisement, he is always prepared to meet the needs of patrons, who receive full value for the amount expended. His word is always to be relied upon. As a logical result his trade has constantly increased and in IS 17 he established a general store in St. Helens, placing his son, Leland A., in charge of the business. In 1896 Mr. Austin married Grace Bell Jones, a native of Marion county Oregon, and a daughter of Rev. Jesse B. and Julia (Bell) Jones. She graduated at the Oregon State Normal School and taught in the public schools of Oregon until her marriage. Her grandfather, S. W. R. Jones, and family finished the last relay of the Continental journey, begun by their people just after the Revolution, when they crossed the plains from Indiana to Oregon in 1853. They settled in Marion county, where many of their descendants make their homes. Both Mr. and Mrs. Austin are descended from Colonial ancestry and are affiliated with the Sons of the American Revolution and Daughters of the American Revolution organizations. Following the war of the Revolution, Elijah Austin, who served in Captain John King's company. Colonel Mark Hopkin's Regiment in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, pioneered in New York, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and his son Elijah was in the fore-front of the western move in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Meeker county, Minnesota, was frontier country when James A. Austin, son of Elijah, Jr., and his bride Sarah (Barrick) settled on a homestead there in 1864. Here their children were born, Otto, James, Alpheus Elijah, Alice Minerva, Lloyd Barrick, Laura Faye and Harold Merton. The struggle for independence found the Jones and Bybee families in Virginia where Mathew Jones and Cornelius Bybee, great-great-grandfathers of Mrs. Austin, enlisted in the army. Following the war they pushed westward and pioneered in Kentucky. Indiana and Missouri, branches of each family reaching Oregon by the covered-wagon route. Mr. and Mrs. Austin have three children. Leland A., the eldest, was graduated from Willamette University and ably conducts the business in St. Helens. He is married and has two daughters, Nancy and Sally Ruth, the wife of J. C. Allen, Jr., completed a course in the school of journalism at the University of Oregon. They live in Paris, France, where Mr. Allen is assistant foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. Julia Bell, fifteen years of age, is at home. Mr. Austin is identified with the Woodmen of the World. In politics he supports the republican party. He has been a member of the school board for many years and takes a keen interest in everything that touches the welfare and progress of his community, which he is always ready to serve. His prosperity has been won by hard work, good management and honorable methods and the respect accorded him is well deserved. Both Mr. and Mrs. Austin and their children are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in February 2012 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.