California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 EPHRAIM W. AUSTIN. Adaptability is a trait to which Ephraim W. Austin is largely indebted for his beautiful ranch and comfortable home life in the vicinity of Bakersfield. Reared to a life of luxury and comparative indolence in the Hawaiian Islands, where he was born at Hilo, October 11, 1869, the change to an undeveloped ranch, with its physical and other exactions, as well as the more strenuous life in a thriving, progressive community, has furnished abundant test of his mettle. The Austin family has been prominent in the judicial and governmental life of the Hawaiian Islands for many years, being equally honored under the new as well as old administration. The immigrant to the Pacific-swept lands was Stafford L. Austin, father of Ephraim. who was born in Saratoga, N. Y., April 10, 1824. Under his father, Benjamin H. Austin, he studied law, later attending Oberlin Law School, from which he graduated. On a whaler he made one trip to the Arctic regions before the mast, and on the return trip stopped at Honolulu. In i860 he was given a minor office under the monarchy, and in 1870 was appointed judge of the Third Judicial District of the islands. In the meantime the sugar industry, in which he had become interested, had grown apace, but 1885 proved a disastrous year, and he lost the bulk of the fortune won by his business sagacity and perseverance. To a certain degree he received compensation for financial losses in the honor conferred upon him by his adopted government, and lived to be an old man, to the last vigorous and active, giving promise of indefinite usefulness. Judge Austin died of heart disease while holding court, October 2, 1896, aged seventy-two years. He married into one of the very early families of the islands, his wife, formerly Caroline Clarke, being a daughter of Rev. Ephraim Clarke, who went there in 1828, and became renowned as a missionary and translator of foreign languages. Mrs. Austin is still living in Honolulu, and is about sixty-seven years old. She became the mother of seven children, one of whom is deceased. The oldest, Franklin H., resides in Los Angeles ; Herbert C. was au- ditor of the islands after they became an American colony, and before that was assessor and col- lector for several years, at present being one of the prominent and influential men of Honolulu ; Stafford W. is in the United States land office at Independence, Inyo county, Cal. ; C. Jonathan is superintendent of the government gardens at Honolulu ; Ephraim is a rancher of Kern county ; and Harriet, formerly in the employ of the government, but since her resignation has held the position of bookkeeper for the board of Congregational Evangelists in the islands. Educated at Oahu College, Hawaii, Ephraim W. Austin came to California in 1888, resolved to make his own living under the Stars and Stripes. For a time he was variously employed in San Luis Obispo county, and in August, 1888, came to Kern county to take up swamp land. Owing to the Kern lake excitement he was obliged to abandon his property soon afterward, and removed to the vicinity of Bakersfield, where he has since lived the greater part of the time. During 1889 and 1890 he spent nine months in Fresno county, on his return settling on the ranch which he now owns, and which consists of about forty acres, twenty of which he has placed under fruit. He has found the horticultural business unsuccessful, owing to the quality of his land, and is now arranging to place it all under alfalfa, which will undoubtedly prove more remunerative. For a couple of years Mr. Austin engaged in a livery and veterinary business in Bakersfield, with a partner. He is an active Democrat, particularly for his friends, and has himself served as clerk of the school board since its organization, having been appointed to the board of trustees by County Superintendent W. C. Doub. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World. In 1893 Mr. Austin was united in marriage with Beulah McKinzie, of Bakersfield, and four daughters have been born of the union: Caroline V., Miriam, Harriet A., and Mary H.