Mehetabel Austin (née Piercy)

Daughter of Jeffrey Piercy and Mary Spiers, Mehetabel Piercy was born 14/06/1782 in Ireland. She married William Austin (q.v.) 16/02/1807 in Bath, England. They had 8 children, whose births chart the family's movements between Britain and Demerara: William Piercy (1807, Stone, Staffordshire), Mary (1809, Bath), Elizabeth (1810, Demerera), John Gardiner (1812, Demerara), Mehetabel Ann (1814, Demerera), Sarah Louisa (1816, Demerara), Charlotte (1818, Bath) and Hugh Williams (1819, Land of Plenty, Essequibo). Her husband died in Land of Plenty, 03/11/1819 and was buried there. She moved to Bonn, Germany, with her 8 small children, where she lived until her death in 1852. William Piercy Austin became Bishop of Guiana (d. 1892) and John Gardiner Austin became Lt-Governor of British Honduras 1864-1867 and Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong 1868-1879.

Website summary of Roger B. Austin and Timothy J. Smellie, An Old Colonial Family (privately printed, 2002) available at http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/walk/rcr51/ThomasAustin/ [accessed 03/04/2013].