Background

James Trecothick Austin was born on January 10, 1784 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. He was the son of Jonathan Loring and Hannah (Ivers) Austin.

Education

He prepared for college first under Caleb Bingham, next at Andover, and finally at the Boston Latin School. He entered Harvard College in April 1799, at the third quarter of the freshman year, and graduated third in his class in 1802.

Career

Studying law with the Hon. William Sullivan, he was admitted to the bar in 1805. In 1807 Gov. Sullivan appointed him county attorney for Suffolk County, which office he held until 1832. Two years later he became town advocate and in 1811 was appointed a director of the state prison, serving in the latter capacity for a number of years. In 1816 President Madison appointed him as public agent under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. Four years later Austin was a delegate to the convention that met to revise the state constitution and in 1826 he became a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. He represented Boston in the state Senate for several terms.

In 1828 he was appointed by Gov. Levi Lincoln as commissioner to settle the boundary line between Massachusetts and Connecticut east of the Connecticut River, and in 1832 Gov. Lincoln appointed him attorney-general of Massachusetts, which office he held by successive appointments until 1843, when the office was abolished. The most striking incident of his career as attorney-general was the case of the Commonwealth vs. Abner Kneeland (20 Pickering, 206). Later Austin returned to private practice, in which he was recognized as being one of the leading lawyers of the day in Massachusetts. He was president of the Suffolk County Bar Association in 1835.

He was very much opposed to the anti-slavery agitation, as he considered slavery to be permanently established. In this connection his greatest effort was his speech at the memorial meeting for the Rev. Elijah Lovejoy, Dec. 8, 1837, in which he compared the Alton mob with the patriots of the Boston Tea Party and demanded to know what Lovejoy had done to merit the distinction of being commemorated by a meeting in historic Faneuil Hall.

A rather fertile writer, he was editor of the Boston Emerald, an ephemeral magazine of light literature (1806-1808); published, in 1811, a series of articles over the name "Leolin" in the Boston Patriot on the subject of resistance to the laws of the United States; wrote “The Life of Elbridge Gerry” (1828-29); furnished a life of his father to “The Hundred Boston Orators” 1770 to 1852 (1852); and in 1853 published his Remarks on Dr. Channing's Slavery. He also contributed numerous articles to the Christian Examiner and the Law Reporter.

In his later years his mind was impaired. He died at his home in Tremont St. at the age of eighty-six.

Achievements

• Austin was the 22nd Massachusetts Attorney General. He was also an editor of the Boston Emerald and published a series of articles in the Boston Patriot on the subject of resistance to the laws of the United States.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Review of the Rev. Dr. Channing's letter to Jonathan Phillips, esq. on the slavery question

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

  • The Life of Elbridge Gerry: With Contemporary Letters. to the Close of the American Revolution

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • An Oration: Delivered On the Fourth of July, 1829, at the Celebration of American Independence, in the City of Boston

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Remarks on Dr. Channing's Slavery (1835)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

Politics

In politics he was a stanch Republican, a decided opponent of the Federalists, and later a Whig.

Connections

On October 3, 1806 Austin married Catherine Gerry, daughter of Elbridge Gerry. They had two children.

Father:

Jonathan Loring

Mother:

Hannah (Ivers) Austin

Spouse:

Catherine (Gerry) Austin

teacher:

Caleb Bingham

Daughter:

Maria Cornelia Richie Austin Lyman

Son:

Ivers James Austin