Captain Nathaniel Austin was born about 1720 possibly in York, England. He married twice, first Mary Manning in England who had his five sons: Walter, and Nathaniel, Jr. born in England, and after immigrating to Virginia around 1750, Thomas, John and Francis. Nathaniel married his second wife Agnes Dickenson after Mary died around 1753, and had 5 more sons: Dickinson, William, Thompson, Samuel and Robert, plus his only daughter Mary Rebecca who died at age 17 years in an Indian raid while returning home from a quilting party at a neighbor's home.
Nathaniel obtained a Royal Grant in 1769 for 500 acres of land on the Little River (later named Gilder's Creek), a branch of the Saluda, and there he built his home called "Gilder". Gilder has been described as a two-story log house, although it is referred to as a "plantation". It was located one and a half miles inside Indian Territory in Austin Township, SC. This area became Greenville, South Carolina in 1784.
From the Austin Family Bible: "13 February 1798. Capt. Nathaniel Austin, founder of Gilder and ancestor of many upstanding citizens down through the years, died in his own home. He is buried on part of his original plantation, where nine generations have continued to live." Recently Edward Ziegler, whose wife Dorothy is Nathaniel's fourth great grandaughter, visited the grave site where Nathaniel, his second wife Agnes and his daughter Mary Rebecca are buried. The site is on private land adjacent to the Holly Hill golf course near Simsonville, Greenville Co., SC.
AFAOA Genealogist Liz Austin Carlin is serving as temporary compiler for this database, so please send her all updates, corrections, etc.
Please note: For privacy reasons, this database follows the criteria for living people.
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