Henry Tazewell Austin was born March 28, 1809 in Albemare County, Virginia to Henry J. Austin and Anne Austin nee Watts. He was named for Henry Tazewell who had served as senator for Virginia as well as its governor. He came to Huntsville in 1831 not long after Huntsville became the county seat. He is credited with helping layout much of the town of Huntsville, an addition was named for him, and was noted for designing the second Randolph County courthouse built in 1860 which was an ornate two story building. He built many of the early buildings in Huntsville, and may well have been one of the first to use bricks instead of just plain lumber. Austin made his own bricks possibly relying on slave labor. Austin owned a small number of slaves whom he freed while in California. Two of the freed slaves remained with him as freemen. They were Gabriel known as "Gabe" whom had been given to Austin as a young child and Louis who was only 10 in 1850 and was a playmate of Austin's son Felix. For Gabriel he built a brick home in Huntsville. At some point after returning to Missouri he purchased more slaves as in 1860 he is listed as owning six slaves on the Randolph County Slave Schedule of that year, and in his will which he made sometime during the Civil War he freed those he still owned at his death.
On January 31, 1831 Austin married Henrietta Rhodes Dickerson Albemarle County, Virginia. They were married by Revernd John Gibson a Methodist minister. Henrietta was only 15 at the time and the daughter of John Dickerson and Ann Dickerson nee Brown. To this union were born John Henry, Felix Houston, Margaret Ann, Sarah Frances, Waller Tazewell, and Albert Hamilton. Austin served as Sheriff of Randolph County twice and also as its Collector. His name is on some early documents as witness or executor. His wife died March 16, 1844 and he never remarried. By his death he owned quite a bit of property in Randolph County. In his will he mentions the farm on which he resided which was next to Huntsville, a lot in Huntsville adjacent to the ice house, another lot in Huntsville on which sat a stone house, a lot in Huntsville consisting of two acres, and a 200 acre farm near Renick. His home on Main Street was called the Austin House, a two story building that sat where Doctor Dryer's old office is now. It later served as a hotel.
In 1850 he traveled to California with several other men from Huntsville including C.W. and John Taylor as well as William C. Anderson (best known as father of "Bloody Bill" Anderson). The group left Missouri in April and traveled by horse and oxen. There it is assumed he did some mining. He returned to Missouri in 1851. he was influential in starting Mount Pleasant College in Huntsville his name appearing on a letter recommending the planned college be placed under the care of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Association. It is possible he served as contractor for its construction, or at least aided in some fashion. During the Civil War Austin supported the Union, and served as Provost Marshall. It is said he tried to be fair, doing things that often benefited those that supported the Confederacy. Henry Tazewell Austin died February 22, 1864. He is buried in the Austin Family Cemetery 75 yards off of West Clay Street in Huntsville.