The Family of Rosa Anna Abbott and John Joseph LaValle
Oil Painting of farm against hill with vineyard in foreground
View of the John Frew House near Crafton, PA, 1889. Oil on Canvas. Austin C. Wooster, PA, 1837 – 1916. Collection of Majka/Eads, Pennsylvania.

The Life of Austin C. Wooster

Related information:

Austin C. Wooster was a southwestern Pennsylvania painter of portraits, landscapes, and still lifes from 1860 to 1916. He was born on November 24, 18381 "at the old manse" on the Thornburg farm in Chartiers Valley, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.2 This is now part of a town called Thornburg. Austin's parents were Dr. Henry Wooster and Rebecca Thornburg,3 granddaughter of Thomas Thornburg, who was a member of the Pennsylvania Militia during the Revolutionary War. The first deed for land purchased by Thomas, in what is now known as Thornburg, was in 1797. Austin's grandparents, Jacob and Jane Lorain Thornburg, who raised him after the death of his parents, discouraged his art, looking on it as an insane fancy or crime, rather than as a gift.4

At the age of 22, Wooster married Miss Lilian [sic] M. Ackelson. The marriage took place at the residence of Rev. A. Calhoun in Union Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania on September 6, 1861.5. See their marriage certificate. Lilian was hereafter known as "Mary" Wooster. Mary was born December 12, 1846 in Union Township {Green Tree}, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.6 On September 15th, Wooster enlisted in Company M, of the 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.7

Wooster's Civil War pension claim application in 1883 describes him as being 45 years old; 5' 8" tall, light complexion and hair, with hazel or grey eyes; he gave his occupation as artist. Wooster contracted malarial fever after the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia on May 31, 1862. He was hospitalized for three and a half months at Fortress Monroe, Virginia and Broad Street Hospital, Philadelphia. He was granted a medical discharge on September 16, 1862, because of total deafness in one ear, and partial deafness in the other.8. See Wooster's Certificate of Discharge and Invalid Pension Claim.

Wooster served in General John J. Peck's brigade and was Brigade Artist in April 1862.9 Wooster's daughter, Virginia, reported that he had painted a portrait of General Peck. She said that in 1904 this painting hung in the home of his nephew, Mr. Charles Hazlett, in Washington D.C.10 (Virginia Wooster's obituary describes Austin C. Wooster's artwork.) Previous biographies and articles mention Wooster's interment in Libby prison. Wooster's pension application shows no evidence of this. It is very likely he would have cited his imprisonment as he would have received a larger pension if he had been taken prisoner. Samuel Bates' "History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers" published in 1870, shows Wooster reenlisted in 1864. The National Archives does not have any record of this, and Wooster states in his pension application that he never served in the military at any other time.

After discharge, Wooster lived in Green Tree (then called Union Township,) Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and earned his living as an artist, doing occasional work at house painting.11 Wooster had a studio in Pittsburgh at Fourth and Wood Streets. He exhibited his work in various ways, including the "1890 Western Pennsylvania Exposition Society,"12 and Pittsburgh department stores, where he sold his work13. According to two of his neighbors he did portrait work,14 and also did work for hire; painting houses, farms, and vineyards in neighboring communities. He gave watercolor lessons to at least one young girl, Madeline Graser, also a neighbor. He did at least one painting of oil on wood of a house and farm in neighboring Scott Township, later Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania.15 Wooster also completed at least two paintings of a home in Crafton, PA.16 In 1984 the Adam Weschler Gallery in Washington D.C. sold a Wooster painting titled "Gothic House," which also may have been painted in the Pittsburgh area. He also did an oil painting of the Haudenshield Vineyard, along the Parkway West, near Parkway Center.17

No records have been found regarding Wooster's art training. Wooster appears to have been greatly influenced by the style of A.F. King, a local artist of the same time period, though it is not known if he actually studied under King.

Wooster died of heart problems on February 22, 1916 on Kenmore Street, Rook Station18, Green Tree Borough, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania at the age of 78. His wife, Mary, died February 16, 1928 in Crafton, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania.19 Austin is buried in Chartiers Cemetery, Noblestown Road, Carnegie, Pennsylvania.20

Austin and Mary had six children: Virginia E., born June 22, 1863, died Nov. 24, 1904; Austin C., Jr., born January 24, 1867; Annie, born July 31, 1872; Josephine, born January 22, 1874, died May 15, 1874; Nettie, born February 4, 1884, died January 12, 1886; and Arthur, born February 20, 1887.21

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Note: The painting of Frankfort Springs near Racoon [sic] Park22 attributed to Austin C. Wooster, from the collection of Ms. Dorothy Slack, Sewickley, PA, shown in the 1956 Frick Exhibition, could not have been one of Wooster's works, unless the date is incorrect. It is dated 1839 and Wooster was born in 1838.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Pennsylvania Death Certificate No. 36666; March 29, 1916; File No. 17087. Pennsylvania Vital Records, PO Box 1528, New Castle, PA 16103-1528. Information given by his youngest son, Arthur E. Wooster.
  2. 2 Pittsburg Index article, November 4, 1904. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. (Writer seems to have interviewed Wooster's daughter, Virginia.)
  3. 3 Pennsylvania Death Certificate No. 36666; March 29, 1916; File No. 17087. Pennsylvania Vital Records, PO Box 1528, New Castle, PA 16103-1528. Information given by his youngest son, Arthur E. Wooster. Also the Court appointed Commission of Partition, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1880. (Will of Jacob Thornburg.)
  4. 4 Pittsburg Index article, November 4, 1904. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. (Writer seems to have interviewed Wooster's daughter, Virginia.)
  5. 5 Marriage Certificate issued by Rev. A. Calhoun, March 20, 1916 in Civil War Widow's Pension Certificate No. 809669. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.
  6. 6 Widow's Pension Certificate No. 809669. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.
  7. 7 Civil War Invalid Pension Certificate No. 496710. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.
  8. 8 Ibid.
  9. 9 Returns of Company M, 102nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Civil War Invalid Pension Certificate No. 496710. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.
  10. 10 Pittsburg Index article, November 4, 1904. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. (Writer seems to have interviewed Wooster's daughter, Virginia.)
  11. 11 Declaration for Original Invalid Pension, Civil War Invalid Pension Certificate No. 496710 sworn to at the Prothonotary's Office, Court of Common Pleas No. 1, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1883 by Austin C. Wooster.
  12. 12 "1890 Western Pennsylvania Exposition Society," catalogue, 1890. The Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, 1212 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, PA.
  13. 13 Madeline Graser's (personal acquaintance of Wooster) conversation to son, Charles Graser, Washington.
  14. 14 Affidavit for Neighbors' and General Purpose, Asa Broad and Daniel Dougharty of Greentree Borough, 20December 1888. Civil War Invalid Pension Certificate No. 496710. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.
  15. 15 "The Abbott Family Farm, Mt. Lebanon, PA, 1875" The Donley Collection, 2003. Another of his paintings, "Gothic House, 1875," sold at auction by Adam Weschler & Son Gallery, Washington D.C. in 1983, could also have been done in the same area.
  16. 16 John Frew house, near Crafton, PA - 1889. The Majka/Eads Collection, 2003. The original owner of the paintings, the widow of a descendant of John Frew, said that there were four paintings of the house, each done in a different season.
  17. 17 Photo in collection of Historical Society of Green Tree, 10 W. Manila Ave., Green Tree, Pennsylvania 15220.
  18. 18 Pennsylvania Death Certificate No. 36666; March 29, 1916; File No. 17087. Pennsylvania Vital Records, PO Box 1528, New Castle, PA 16103-1528.Information given by his youngest son, Arthur E. Wooster.
  19. 19 Civil War Widow's Pension Certificate No. 809669. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.
  20. 20 Pennsylvania Death Certificate No. 36666; March 29, 1916; File No. 17087. Pennsylvania Vital Records, PO Box 1528, New Castle, PA 16103-1528.Information given by his youngest son, Arthur E. Wooster.
  21. 21 Application dated March 13, 1899 for Civil War Invalid Pension Certificate No. 496710. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.
  22. 22 Application dated March 13, 1899 for Civil War Invalid Pension Certificate No. 496710. National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.
    23. The Henry Clay Frick catalogue "Painters from Pittsburgh," for the exhibition Jan15-Feb 12, 1956. Catalog in Inf File. Carnegie Inst. (or Trust) Exhib. 1956.

Copyright © 2003, all rights reserved, Janice G. Donley

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Research assistance by the Historical Society of Green Tree and David Majka. Thanks to Marianne Watton, Charles Graser, and Richard Wagner, 2003.

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