In a message dated 12/23/00 3:49:13 AM Pacific Standard Time, HUDSONT@MAIL.ECU.EDU writes: << Willis Austin served as a soldier in the Phoenix Rifles, Company C, 17th Regiment Louisiana Volunteer Infantry. He later applied for a Confederate pension from the state of Oklahoma. Can any of the Austin researchers provide me with the details of his pension application and also when he left Union Parish and settled in OK? >> Tim, The following is the information that I have on a Willis Austin who lived in Union Parish. Probably one in the same as your inquiry. Willis Austin was born about 1819 in Mississippi, presumably Amite County, as his parents were living there at that time. He was the son of Richard Austin and Joannah Ferguson and the grandson of John and Mary Ferguson and John and Fanny Austin. Willis married Louisa Henderson in Union Parish, Louisiana on February 15, 1843. They had the following children: Melvina, Tabitha, Missouri Lou, Almeda, William Allen, Francis Marion, and Richard Lewis and possibly a daughter Nancy. Between the 1860 and 1870 census, Louisa died and Willis married second Millie B. Redden Norman, the daughter of David Redden and widow of Levi White Norman, in May, 1867. They had a son, Joseph Austin, b. abt. 1869. About 1876, they moved to Bowie County, Texas, where Millie died before 1880. I can't place my finger on the information right now, but Willis is buried in the DeKalb Cemetery in Bowie County, TX. An article in the Farmerville Home Advocate, 8/28/1887, shows that Willis Austin served in Capt. J. G. Taylor's company of the 17th Louisiana Regiment that was formed at Camp Moore in 1861. There was another Willis Austin who married Alice Lowe in 1867 in Union Parish, LA. Arelia Breed thought that he was perhaps the son of John Austin and Elizabeth Regan. John Austin was the son of William Austin and Mary Ferguson. In the first draft of my Ferguson book, I indicated that John's son, William Austin married Alice Lowe. This is not correct as William was only 15 in 1870, living in his father's household. I don't have an age, etc. on this Willis Austin. Not much else on the Willis's and certainly doesn't answer your question. However, no one of the Austin researchers believe that Willis, son of Richard and Joannah Austin, went to Oklahoma. But anything is possible. Guess we need to track down that pension application. Good Luck. Roy Austin