Hurieosco Austill (1841-1912)

    A state senator, businessman and military figure from Alabama, Hurieosco Austill was born in Mobile on February 16, 1841, being the son of Colonel Jeremiah (1794-1881) and Margaret Eads Austill (1805-1890). Huriesoco attended the University of Alabama during his youth and after graduating from this institution in the class of 1861 enlisted in the Confederate Army's First Alabama Battery of Artillery. During his military service Austill rose from second lieutenant to Captain, and after receiving a minor injury in battle was captured at Fort Morgan. He was subsequently held as a prisoner of war until the close of the hostilities.
    After the war's conclusion Austill returned home to Mobile and recuperated before beginning the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1868 and shortly thereafter entered upon practice in Mobile, operating here until his death forty years later. Austill married in December 1873 to Aurora Roberta Ervin (1853-1928) and later became the father to three children, Margaret (born 1874), Robert Ervin (born 1878), Jennie Fee (born 1882), Hurieosco Jr. (born 1884), Aileen (born 1888) and Jere (born 1890).
   Beginning in 1874 Austill served a six year term as the Chancellor of the Southern Division of Alabama. In 1880 he made his first entry into politics, being elected as one of Mobile's representatives to the Alabama General Assembly. He served two years in the lower house of the legislature before being elected to the Alabama state Senate in 1882, again representing Mobile. His term in the senate concluded in 1886.
   Following the conclusion of his senate term in 1886 Austill spent the remainder of his life engaged in railroad work, being one of the founders of the Mobile and West Alabama Railroad. He would later serve as the president of the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City Railroad for a time. Austill died on July 3, 1912 at age 71 and was subsequently interred at the Spring Hill Graveyard in Mobile, Alabama. The rare portrait of him shown above was taken at the Alabama Division of United Confederate Veterans meeting that was held in Macon, Georgia around 1910. 
   As with many of the individuals that will eventually be posted here,  it is unknown where Austill's unique first name originated from.