Reuben Austin (1770–1837) & Tryphena Hosmer (1769–1824)

A Faithful Journey from Connecticut to New York’s Frontier

Reuben Austin was born on January 13, 1770, in Harwinton, Litchfield County, Connecticut, to Levi and Hanna Austin, a family deeply rooted in New England’s colonial soil. On February 10, 1790, at just twenty years old, Reuben married Tryphena Hosmer in Canaan, Connecticut. Tryphena had been born on December 13, 1769, in Westchester, Connecticut, the daughter of Thomas Hosmer and Elizabeth Kellogg—families well known in the region for their industriousness and faith.

That same year, the young couple appeared in the 1790 census of Harwinton, Connecticut, their household modestly recorded as one free white male and one free white female—Reuben and Tryphena, newly embarking on life together.

Their first child, Minerva Austin, was born on December 17, 1790, followed by a growing family as Reuben sought opportunity further north. By 1793, they had moved to Hanover in Oneida County, New York, part of the state’s early frontier settlement. Reuben and Tryphena would spend nearly three decades there, raising their large family and establishing deep roots in the community.

In Paris, Oneida County, they appeared in the 1800 census, surrounded by other Austins—including Reuben’s father Levi and brother Levi Jr. Nearby lived a Thomas Osmer (Hosmer), almost certainly a relative of Tryphena, and even a Joshua Smith, perhaps an early neighbor who would later intertwine with other branches of the family. That same year, Reuben’s property was valued at $705 in real estate and $58 in residence on the 1800 Tax Assessment Rolls, a sign of hard-earned prosperity for a man building his life on the edge of the wilderness.

Their children continued to arrive in steady rhythm with the seasons:

• Lumen Austin, born March 21, 1793

• Almira Austin, born June 23, 1795

• Huldah Austin, born November 5, 1797

• Leman Austin, born April 10, 1800

• Laura Austin, born May 6, 1803

• Ursula Austin, born September 5, 1806

• Weltha Austin, born July 19, 1808

• Phebe Austin, born June 10, 1811

• Thomas Hosmer Austin, born December 21, 1815, whose middle name honored Tryphena’s family line

Faith was central to Reuben and Tryphena’s lives. On June 9, 1812, the records of the Hanover Church in Paris, Oneida County note the church’s decision to issue letters of transfer for Reuben, Tryphena, and their children Almira and Leman to the Presbyterian Church in New Haven, New York, suggesting their plans to move or affiliate more closely with that congregation. But later that same year—on September 25, 1812—Reuben and Tryphena offered themselves as candidates for membership at Hanover Church, and on November 1, 1812, they were officially admitted. A month later, on December 6, 1812, five of their children—Leman, Laura, Phebe, Ursula, and Weltha—were baptized together, a powerful moment of family devotion recorded in the church’s minutes.

By the 1820 census, the Austins were still in Paris, Oneida County, where Reuben, then fifty, headed a large household of children and young adults. But life’s trials soon followed. On December 26, 1824, Tryphena Hosmer Austin passed away in New Haven, Oswego County, New York, closing a marriage of thirty-four years marked by faith, family, and perseverance.

After several years as a widower, Reuben remarried on March 2, 1827, in Canaan, Connecticut, to Cornelia Comstock. By 1830, the family appeared in New Haven, Oswego County, where Reuben—now sixty—lived with his new wife and several children still at home.

Records from the Congregational Church in New Haven, dated February 1, 1834, note “Reuben Smith” (believed to be Reuben Austin, possibly misrecorded), along with his wife Cornelia, daughters Huldah Smith and Almira Austin, and brother Edmond Austin among the attendees. The family’s continued church involvement underscored the deep faith that had guided Reuben throughout his life.

Reuben Austin died on August 23, 1837, in New Haven, Oswego County, New York, at the age of sixty-seven. Having begun life in the hills of Connecticut and ended it in the rolling farmlands of upstate New York, he embodied the quiet strength and endurance of America’s early pioneers.

Detailed Timeline