AUSTIN J. BUSH, lawyer, farmer,
and miller, now serving his third term as Probate Judge, was born on April
7, 1853, on the farm in East Lyme upon which he now resides, son of Ira
A. and Matilda P. (Austin) Bush. The family is of English origin; and its
early representatives in America were among the first settlers of Wethersfield,
Conn. On the maternal side, it is said, the Judge is of German descent.
Amaziah Bush, great-grandfather of Judge
Bush, married first Miss Lay; for his second wife, a Smith, sister of Captain
Simon Smith; and for his third wife, Dorothy Dennison, of Essex, the mother
of the Judge's grandfather, Amasa, who was her only child. Grandfather
Amasa Bush, born May 21, 1742, was a farmer and miller, owning the old
mill built in 1690, the earliest in the county with the exception of the
old mill in New London built in 1650. He died at the age of fifty-six years.
His wife was before marriage Lucretia Maynard, of Norwich. She bore him
eight children, namely: Betsey, born in 1804, who went West and is supposed
to be still living; Ira A., the Judge's father, who was the second child;
Abbie; Jerry F.; Nancy, who married Solomon Adams, and went to Michigan;
Maria; Angelina; and Emmeline. All married, and nearly all had families.
Ira and Abbie are now deceased. Ira A. Bush was a farmer, owning one hundred
acres with the mill site and pond on Pattagansett Creek, where the dam
was built in 1690. He died in 1888, a man universally respected and having
the good will of his townsmen. His wife, who was a devoted member of the
Baptist church, was a native of New Bedford, Mass., born April 27, 1814,
and married September 20, 1832. She died January 28, 1890, and is buried
in the churchyard at Niantic. Of her eight children four sons and two daughters
grew to maturity. One son, William P. Bush, studied medicine at the Albany
Medical School, and was surgeon in the Sixty-first New York Regiment during
the Civil War until his death at Georgetown from overwork at the battle
of Gettysburg. He was only thirty years of age. He left a wife and one
son. The living children of Ira A. and Matilda P. Bush are: Mary L., widow
of Francis E. Morgan, residing in Niantic at the old home; Julius M., in
Pasadena, Cal.; and Judge Bush, of East Lyme.
Austin J. Bush attended the district schools
until twelve years of age, when he was sent to the grammar and high schools
at New London. Later he studied for a year in Suffield and for two years
at Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Mass. He then read law for a year
with Pettis & Davis, of Meadville, Pa., and after returning home read
a year with T. C. Coogan at Enfield, Conn. Entering Yale Law School in
the fall of 1878, he took the course in one year; and in June, 1879, he
was admitted to the practice of his profession in the Connecticut and United
States courts.
On the 30th of December, 1878, Judge Bush
was united in marriage to Mary Josephine Stine, of Philadelphia, Pa., daughter
of Charles Stine. He has lived in different places, having spent some time
in Colorado and in Florida. From 1882 to 1887 he was Special Examiner of
Pensions in the New England and Middle States, and since 1887 he and his
family have lived at the old homestead. They have lost two children, an
infant son and infant daughter. The living children are: Mary Josephine
Bush, who is at home and attending school; and Wait Bush, a maiden of thirteen,
who was named for Colonel John T. Wait, and is now a pupil in the high
school.
Judge Bush is a Republican. In 1888 he was
elected Town Clerk, and in 1892 Judge of Probate. Having been twice re-elected
since, he is now serving on his third term. He is interested in agriculture,
and carries on considerable farming. He also operates the mill. As a legal
adviser he has the confidence of a wide circle of clients, and he is one
of the most respected and influential citizens of the town.
Biographical Review Volume
XXVI
Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens
of New London County Connecticut
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1898
pgs 409 - 410
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