Out of Place: The Life of Austin Mabbs

 This week's theme is "Out of Place." Most of the ancestors in my family tree have pretty much stayed in Michigan. If they left it was to one of two places. They either moved to Florida, or they moved to the west coast of the United States, meaning California, Oregon and Washington. Today I'm going to talk about an outlier. Somebody who moved somewhere else.

Austin Mabbs is my 4th great uncle. He is the younger brother to my 4x great grandfather, William Mabbs. He is also the uncle to Harriet Mabbs, who I wrote about last time. Harriet is Mildred Strand's maternal grandmother. 

Austin was born February 12, 1828 in Chatham, Kent, England. Chatham is known for it's naval dockyards. Admiral Nelson's ship HMS Victory was built there. It's located 30 miles east of London. In 1833, when he was 5 years old, Austin came with his family to America. After a brief time in New York City, the family made it's way to Michigan. In the 1850 census, Austin's occupation is listed as a farmer, but in 1860 his occupation has changed to Master Carpenter and he's living in Ontonagon, Michigan. In 1870 he's found living with his older brother John and his family. John is listed as an Agent of Mine, and Austin is listed as Agent for Gates Stamp. John was involved with copper mining, so it looks like Austin got involved with it too. John comes to Deadwood, South Dakota in 1877. Austin soon follows. The brothers set up a company together, The Mabbs Brothers. I'm not sure exactly what they do but they are involved in mining in South Dakota. John eventually leaves and moves to Colorado, and then Chicago where he becomes the Chief Engineer for the Chicago Board of Trade. 

Austin stays in Deadwood and leads quite the life. I find him mentioned in many newspaper articles. He sets up a house moving business. 

He's elected Vice President of the Red Ribbon Club. He serves on an inquest. He's also credited with helping to foil a murder plot. 

In 1901, after selling his house moving business, he's elected president of the Yankee Gold Mining Company. He's 73 years old. While I can find all sorts of articles about his professional life, his personal life remains more elusive. In 1893, at the age of 65, I find him marrying a widow with grown children. It's the only marriage record I can find for him. His wife, Eliza, dies in 1903, and his brother John dies in 1904. Mention is made of John's passing in the local newspaper. On October 17, 1909, Austin Mabbs is found dead in his chair in his office. The local paper wrote about it.

At the time of Austin's passing it was thought he had no children, but that was not correct. After his passing was made public it was discovered that he did indeed, have an heir. A daughter, and granddaughter were found. In 1848, in Illinois, a daughter was born to Austin and his wife, Katie. That is all I could find on the daughter. The daughter later married and had one daughter, named Ruby. Austin's daughter, named Kate, died of tuberculosis at the Michigan State Asylum. Austin's granddaughter, Ruby, married and lived with her husband in Illinois where he was an engineer for the railroad company. After retiring they moved to Los Angeles where they both passed away. They had no children. 

One other fact about Austin. He and his second wife, Eliza, were Quakers. Austin's parents were Quakers also. I found their marriage listed in The Christian Worker, a U.S. Quaker periodical. 

Quaker Periodicals, Haverford College; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Christian Worker; Volumes: 1894 Jan - 1894 Jul (Vol 24)

I can't think of anyone more "out of place" than a Quaker Englishman in Deadwood, South Dakota, but Austin Mabbs seems to have fit in and done quite well for himself. He certainly led an exciting life.