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JAMES L. AUSTIN
Vol. 5, p. 1905-1906
Bio has a photo

A representative member of the bar of Washita County, Senator Austin is engaged in the practice of his profession at Cordell, the attractive and thriving metropolis and judicial center of the county, and there came consistent recognition of his character and ability when, in the fall of 1912, he was elected a member of the State Senate, as representative of the Sixth senatorial district. In both the Fourth and Fifth sessions of the Legislature he proved himself a valuable working member of the Senate and his influence was potent in the furtherance of judicious legislation and in the furtherance of the best interests of the state and its people, the while he has shown himself especially mindful of and loyal to the interests of his specific constituency.

Senator Austin was born at Mount Airy, Sequatchie County, Tennessee on the 24th of June, 1870 and he is a son of Thomas Jefferson Austin and Sarah Austin, both of whom still maintain their home in the fine Sequatchie Valley of Tennessee, where the paternal grandfather of the senator was a pioneer settler and where numerous representatives of the family still remain. Thomas J. Austin was born and reared in Sequatchie County, and is one of the substantial agriculturists of that section, besides being a grower of high-grade live stock. He is influential in public affairs of local order and is one of the honored citizens of the community that has been his home from the time of his birth. Of the children other than him whose name initiates this review it may be stated that Elijah F. is identified with the oil industry at Duffey, Texas; Mrs. Thomas J. SUTHERLAND and Mrs. Alexander STANDEFER, reside at Mount Airy, Tennessee, the husband of the former being a farmer and Mr. Standefer being a merchant; Cleveland is a farmer in the vicinity of Mount Airy, and the younger sons, Melvin and Monroe, remain at the parental home.

James L. Austin attended the public schools of his native county a portion of each year until he had attained to the age of eighteen years, when he entered Terrill College in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in which institution he was graduated in 1896, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the same year he became a teacher in the public schools of Johnson County, Texas, where he remained thus engaged four years. He then came to Washita County, Oklahoma Territory, where he continued his efficient services as a successful and popular teacher in the public schools until the admission of Oklahoma to statehood, in 1907, when he was elected the first district clerk of the county, a position which he retained five years, in the meanwhile having gained secure vantage-ground in popular confidence and esteem and having become well known in that section of the state. In 1912 he was elected from that district a member of the State Senate, for a term of four years, and this term will expire in 1916. While still teaching school Senator Austin had given close attention to the study of law and had admirable fortified himself in the science of jurisprudence, so that he was well equipped when, in 1913, he formed at Cordell a law partnership with Swan C. BURNETTE and Charles A. HOLDEN, the firm establishing an office at Clinton, Custer County, also. This alliance continued until 1914, and Messrs. Austin and Holden are still associated in the control of a large and important law business in Washita and Custer counties, the while Senator Austin is identified also with the newspaper business, as owner and publisher of the Clinton News.

In the Fourth Legislature Senator Austin was chairman of the committee on fees and salaries and was assigned to other important Senate committees. At this session he was the author of a bill relating to the construction of public highways, and though the bill passed both houses of the Legislature its provisions met with the disapproval of the governor, but was enacted by the Legislature in 1915. Senator Austin was the author also of a proposed constitutional amendment reorganizing the judicial system of the state, and this failed of enactment in 1913, but passed both branches of the Legislature in 1915. One of the distinctive ambitions of Senator Austin in the Fifth Legislature was to bring about the success of these two measures which he had valiantly championed at the preceding session and which he again introduced, but with the desired results.

In the Fifth Legislature he was chairman of the committee on revenue and taxation, and held membership also on the committees on ways and means, private corporations, roads and highways, Federal relations, public printing, and drugs and pure foods. He was a consistent supporter of measures projected for the remedying of defects in labor conditions and for the reduction of the expense of government in the state. Senator Austin, as a stalwart and able champion of the principles and policies of the democratic party, had charge of the political campaign activities of four counties when Governor Williams was candidate for the office of chief executive, and he was in full accord with the principles of reform outlined in the democratic platform of and also the recommendations for legislation made by Governor Williams in the vigorous campaign. Senator Austin is a member of the Washita County Bar Association and the Oklahoma State Bar Association, is actively identified with the Commercial Club in his home city of Cordell, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World, and holds membership in the Baptist Church, both his wife and daughter being members of the Christian Church.

At Mount Airy, Tennessee, in 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Senator Austin to Miss Florence A. Standefer, who was born and reared in that section of the state and whose grandfather, Hon. James STANDEFER, of English lineage, served as a member of the Tennessee Legislature. Senator Austin and his wife had been schoolmates in Tennessee, and after their marriage both were popular teachers in the schools of Texas and Oklahoma, Mrs. Austin being now a valued member of the corps of teachers in the public schools at Cordell, with great enthusiasm in her work and with reputation for being one of the most efficient primary teachers in the state. Ruby Lee, the only child of Senator and Mrs. Austin, was born in Johnson County, Texas, in 1898, and is a young woman of exceptional talent and accomplishment in music and dramatic expression. She is a member of the class of 1916 in the Cordell Christian College, in her home city, and after her graduation in this institution she will complete her education in music and expression in the celebrated Boston Conservatory of Music. She is a leader and loved personality in her class at Cordell Christian College, and an active worker in the Christian Church in her home city, she having been a member of the church since she was twelve years of age.

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The American Historical Society, 1916).

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Peg Luce, April 2001.