Harold Kenneth Austin

1917 - 2002  (85 years)

• Name	Harold Kenneth Austin
  Birth	14 Jan 1917	Sullivan Co., IN
  	Record of Birth: Sullivan County, IN Jackson Twp. Book H-10, Pg. 83
  Gender	Male
  Census	1930	Curry Township, Sullivan, IN
  	Harold Astin, Age 13, at home of Carl and Cleadie
  Graduation	1935	Shelburn, Sullivan, IN
  	Shelburn H.S.
  Move	1937	Detroit,MI
  Census	1940	Van Dyke,MI   [1]
  	Age 23, Foundry Drill Press Operator, $1500 income, 4 yrs HS, Doris (spouse), son Carl Kenneth
  Move	1946	Mt. Sterling, Brown, IL
  Move	1947	Detroit,MI
  Move	1948	Hancock County,IL
  Occupation	From Sep 1948 to Oct 1973	Hamilton,IL
  	Hiram Walker & Sons, Inc. Cooperage Mill Manager
  DEAT	25 Apr 2002	Carthage,Hancock,IL
  Death	25 Apr 2002	Carthage,Hancock,IL
  	Certificate of Death: Hancock County IL, 25 Apr 2002
  Burial	Hamilton,Hancock,IL
  Person ID	I1421	John & Charity Austin of Montgomery Co., Maryland
  Last Modified	16 Jul 2024

  
  

  Father	James Carl Austin,   b. 16 Sep 1879, Ohio Co.,KY d. 1 Apr 1944, Terre Haute, Vigo, IN (Age 64 years)
  Mother	Cleadie Ethel Shultz,   b. 26 Feb 1881, Prentiss,Ohio,KY d. 20 May 1966, Northridge,Los Angeles,CA (Age 85 years)
  Marriage	6 Sep 1903	Ohio Co.,KY
  Family ID	F183	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Doris Lorene Curry,   b. 24 Sep 1916, Sullivan Co., IN d. 8 Feb 2013, Glen Carbon,Madison,IL (Age 96 years)
  Marriage	9 Oct 1936	Vincennes,Knox,IN
  Children	1. Living   2. Living   3. Robert Lee Austin,   b. 17 Jul 1948, Detroit,Wayne,MI d. 7 Oct 2007, Quincy,Adams,IL (Age 59 years)   4. James Ray Austin,   b. 25 Feb 1954, Keokuk,Lee,IA d. 25 Feb 1954, Keokuk,Lee,IA (Age 0 years)   5. Living
  Family ID	F438	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 May 2018

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 14 Jan 1917 - Sullivan Co., IN Census - Harold Astin, Age 13, at home of Carl and Cleadie - 1930 - Curry Township, Sullivan, IN Graduation - Shelburn H.S. - 1935 - Shelburn, Sullivan, IN Marriage - 9 Oct 1936 - Vincennes,Knox,IN Move - 1937 - Detroit,MI Move - 1946 - Mt. Sterling, Brown, IL Move - 1947 - Detroit,MI Move - 1948 - Hancock County,IL Occupation - Hiram Walker & Sons, Inc. Cooperage Mill Manager - From Sep 1948 to Oct 1973 - Hamilton,IL DEAT - 25 Apr 2002 - Carthage,Hancock,IL Death - 25 Apr 2002 - Carthage,Hancock,IL Burial - - Hamilton,Hancock,IL  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos

  Harold K. Austin Family, Circa 1958 Nauvoo, IL: Pictured Front Row L-R Doris, Donna, Robert, Harold; Back Row L-R William, Carl

  
  

• Notes

  The Harold Kenneth Austin and Doris Lorene (Curry) Austin of Sullivan County Indiana and Hancock County, Illinois by William H. Austin Harold Kenneth Austin: James C., James P, James F., Baruch, Zachariah, John Harold Kenneth Austin grew up on the family farm in Shelburn, Sullivan County Indiana. After beginning married life in Indiana he moved to Michigan where his first two children were born. After World War II he moved to Illinois near Mount Sterling for a short time and then returned to Michigan where a third son was born. In late 1948 he moved back to Illinois, near Nauvoo where the family grew and thrived. Two additional children were born in nearby Iowa. Harold was a professional machinist and stave mill manager who also excelled in woodworking and furniture manufacturing. He loved the country life and his family. His father, James Carl had been a tough taskmaster and his mother, a dear and gentle woman. Emotions consistently ran high when it came to discipline and James Carl did not hesitate to use a leather strap as means to enforce his will upon his young offspring. Harold often told about his own seventeenth birthday party when he raced Bob McGarvy, lost control and rolled his dad's new Model-A Ford with a rumble seat. The young man was devastated, did not want to face his dad and shut himself in a closet. Son and father ultimately talked through the problem and completed all repairs to everyone's satisfaction right on the farm. Sometime later, Harold and his father were doing morning chores in the family’s barn when words between the two led to Harold storming to the house. He left home and stayed with Uncle Tom Schultz and Aunt Kate. From there he packed and departed for Chicago to visit his sister’s husband Ward Wilkinson. That sister happened to be visiting the family farm at the time. She vividly recalls the incident and had even suggested that Harold go to Chicago. Harold then returned to Indiana where he lived with his sister Bonnie and her husband Melvin Frakes near Prairie Creek. Melvin operated a log cabin gas station and store with living quarters in the rear. Bonnie worked at Montgomery Wards. Harold graduated high school at Shelburn, Indiana in 1935. He then went to work in Armor's Highland Creamery and married his childhood sweetheart, Doris L. Curry October 9, 1936. Harold had his eye on Doris from a very young age while attending Ebenezer Methodist Church. As an elementary student he even refused to play with Leslie Truloff, Doris' classmate, who also showed her special attention. Doris had not been aware of either boys' affections at the time but recalls riding the Ferris wheel at the fair and working the 4-H stand with Leslie. Leslie eventually moved to Shelburn but continued to occasionally write to Doris. Harold prevailed in the end in winning Doris' hand and heart. Harold needed his mother's signature to obtain the marriage license. Both mothers, Cleadie Austin and Elsie Curry, went to Vincennes, Indiana where the wedding was held to keep the news out of local newspapers and the marriage from being discovered by their employer. The groom's father, James Carl Austin was locked in a jury room and the bride's father, William Elza Curry was too busy harvesting crops to attend. Occasionally, Harold spoke of his displeasure in spending the couple's wedding night in his bride's parent's home. They rented their first half-a-home in Terre Haute that included three-rooms. Highland Creamery management learned of their new marriage and asked Doris to leave the company. The couple began buying and borrowing furniture. Family friend Chester Bollinger was working in a Detroit automobile plant and thought he could get Harold a job. With his father’s gift of a new hat in hand, Harold traveled to Detroit in early 1937 and ultimately began work earning 50 cents an hour in the stockroom at American Car and Foundry. He initially lived with Chester and Dorothy Bollinger. Doris arrived from Indiana and the couple rented an apartment in the same building as the Bollingers – exact location unknown. They soon bought a small homemade trailer located in the yard of its owner’s home (Pete and Freda) where they lived until renting an apartment on Charlotte Avenue. Their first son was born about this time. The trailer was moved to Jackson’s Trailer Park off of Gresham Ave. where the family lived during the summer of 1939. They next rented a small home at 8444 Essex Ave. in today’s South Warren just north of 9 Mile Rd east of Van Dyke Ave. The young family is found in the 1940 Census. Harold was a foundry drill press operator earning $1500 annually at the time. After five years of marriage and saving the required $500 down payment, the family moved into a new Berkley home for which they paid $5000. The family was here, at 1892 Stanford Street , (Near Woodward Ave. and 11 Mile Rd.) when Pearl Harbor was bombed, plunging the nation into World War II. By this time, Harold could operate any machine in the plant. He had attended technical college at night to study algebra and worked his way into a top machinist position as job setter and night foreman. He was asked but declined to apply for an open tool-and-die set-up-man position. As job setter, he was trained to set-up and maintain extremely tight lathe cutting tolerance specifications on metal castings of valves used on U.S. Naval vessels. These skills along with his ability to train others prompted the War Department to assign critical skills resource status to Harold which exempted him from military service. The couple’s second son arrived in October 1942. Harold built a new two-car garage at the home and worked hard to support his family. By 1946 he had developed respiration problems arising from smoke and metal dust from machining equipment at the plant. He resigned his job under doctor’s advice and began looking for a new career. In March he moved his family to Mount Sterling, Illinois where he managed a small cooperage mill. In March 1947 the family moved again to a farmhouse in Cooperstown, Illinois. I recall a happy family living in a large country home near a beautiful creek with a large waterfall where the family fished, picnicked and the boys regularly skinny dipped throughout the summer. After Thanksgiving 1947 Harold returned his family to Michigan, where he took a retail sales job with Montgomery Ward and purchased the same Berkley home previously owned at the identical price for which it had been sold earlier ($9000-$12000). The home had been converted from coal to gas heat. A third son was born in July 1948. It was a call from his brother H. Paul that alerted Harold to a new management position at a new Hiram Walker and Son, Inc cooperage mill opening in Hamilton, Illinois. Paul had just been hired by the same company to manage a cooperage mill in Jerseyville, Illinois. Harold opened the mill in September 1948 and closed it in October 1973. Harold rented a room in the home of Mrs. Bankie near the Hamilton Post Office until his family arrived from Berkley. The family moved into a rented country farm home on the Connable road between Nauvoo and Hamilton, Illinois in January 1949. New rural electric service first arrived in March when the family's 60 cycle appliances from Michigan could be placed into service. Only 40 cycle service was available in Hamilton. Harold and Doris then bought an old farm house north of Nauvoo in the early spring of 1951. Doris' parents, Elza and Elsie Curry, came to help the family tear down another old house near Powellton for lumber and renovate the Nauvoo house. The Berkley home had been rented and cash was tight. They paid $100 to extract the Powellton home's lumber and $300 for the Nauvoo property. The first $100 of project funding came as a loan from Elza Curry. Work continued through the summer of 1951 as much of the home was gutted — only four rooms of the original home remained. A new addition was to be added to the rear of the existing building. The family moved into a roughed-in home by late September of 1951. There was a modern bathroom with water and electricity. Elza returned in the summer of 1952 to help finish the initial construction work. Outbuildings were added to include a large shop, small hog shed, granary and a free standing two-car garage. Their fourth son was born prematurely and died in Keokuk, IA in 1954 and their only daughter was born there a year later. The two younger children, Robert and Donna were allies and close friends throughout their childhood in Nauvoo. They both developed juvenile diabetes, a difficult challenge for the family and for them as adults. The older boys, Carl and William were more detached from the younger children's daily lives and carried more responsibilities around the busy household until leaving home. Harold served his Nauvoo community as a member of the district school board. In 1967, Harold, Doris and the two younger children built and moved into a new ranch home on 44 acres of woodlands south of Hamilton near the cooperage mill. The mill he operated for 25 years ceased operations in October 1972. Harold then received his real estate license to sell properties for family friend Ronnie Greenslaugh, owner of MacMillan Insurance Agency. He sold one home (to his own daughter and new son-in-law) and then promptly decided he was not suited for the real estate sales business. Next he worked as a truck scales operator for Miller Brothers at the Hamilton quarry. Cold winter weather and dust led to illness which finally ended his working career in1979 at the approximate age of 62. Harold and Doris enjoyed walks in the woods day or night, gardening and gathering walnuts or hickory nuts. Harold had a first-class wood shop in the basement where he built everything from small projects to furniture. Doris began oil painting in the early 1980s and produced more than a dozen outstanding florals and country landscape scenes. Harold framed and hung each and every painting Doris completed. They occasionally travelled to visit their children but seemed most happy together at home. Harold suffered multiple TIAs and strokes that regrettably forced the family and his doctors to place him into a Hamilton nursing home very much against his will. He lived there for approximately four months until the final stroke took away his ability to speak or swallow. Harold died April 25, 2002 in Carthage Community Hospital due to stroke complications. All his children and their families travelled to his bedside in his final days. His is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Hamilton, IL. Doris lived in her Hamilton home until she suffered a fall in July 2004, when she was hospitalized with a severe back injury (compression fracture in the lumbar region of her spine). With unmanageable pain control at Carthage Community Hospital, she was ultimately transported by ambulance to St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis where she received pain relief and essential therapy during her long road to recovery. No longer able to care for her acreage and home, she reluctantly took residence at Meridian Village, a Lutheran Senior Services retirement community in Glen Carbon, IL. near her daughter Donna Austin Brandmeyer. Doris passed away at the age of 96 on 8 February 2013 following complications from a head injury due to a fall. Children: Carl Kenneth, b. 1 January 1939, d. William Harold, b. 9 October 1942, d. Robert Lee, b. 17 July 1948, d. 7 October 2007 James Ray, b. 25 February 1954, d. 26 February 1954 Donna Lorene, b. 16 April 1955, d.

  
  

• Sources

  [S10] 1940 US Census, (Michigan, Macomb, Van Dyke, ED 50-61, Page 55).