Coe Finch Austin

Background

Austin was born in Finchville, Orange County, New York, the second of ten children to farmers James C. Austin and Elizabeth Cortwright Austin.

Education

He attended public school when he was young but also worked on his family farm.

Career

He was an expert on the mosses and liverworts of North America. His interest in plant life also came at an early age and he was a constant companion to his mother in her flower garden. In the early 1850s, Austin attended Rankin Classical School in Sussex County, New Jersey, where he dedicated himself to the study of botany thanks to the influence of Mistress

Rankin, who was a botanist of note at that time.

During this period he developed a particular passion for mosses and lichens. Austin would go on to develop internationally renowned skills for naming and identifying bryophytes.

In 1870, he published his most well-known work, Musci appalachiani, which dealt with the mosses of the Eastern United States. He died in Closter, New Jersey, where he had lived most of his adult life.

The genus Austinia was named in his honor.

Connections

Acquaintance:

John Torrey