William and Mary Lininia (Russ) Austin came to Valley Township, Barber County,
  in the summer of 1884. They were married at LePorte, Indiana, and later lived at
  Grant City, Missouri. William was a cabinet maker. Mary was said to be "full of
  life and ambition."
     They took a claim on government land, open for preemption. A settler had to
  put up a house, break sod, and make other improvements, valued at $200, file on
  it, live on it 6 months, have 2 witnesses prove he did this, and prove up the
  claim of 160 acres, pay $200 and the land was his. The $200 could be paid all
  at once or $50 for 4 years.
     Many pioneers came by emigrant car to Harper, the end of the railroad in
  1884. by 1885 the railroad had come to Medicine Lodge, 15 miles from the Austins.
  Now they could go there and back in the same day! When the Englewood line came
  through in 1887, their son, George, got a job. Working 10 hours a day with his
  team, he earned a fantastic $1.50 a day!
     They bought no fuel. Most used buffalo and cow chips. They sold butter at 3 
  and 4 cents a pound, eggs for 4 and 5 cents a dozen. Butter and egg money bought
  everything they needed or had to have. In those days, they "found they could live
  on cornbread and that takes 100 pennies to make a dollar."
     William and Mary had 5 children. Albert became a lawyer at Everett, Washington.
  Frank took a claim 2 miles north of his parents. He later made the Oklahoma Land
  Run, settling near Carmen, Oklahoma. Charlie died at 17 years in 1888 of a
  ruptured appendix. Hattie studied art and music in Chicago. She married Jim Bird.
  They farmed 1 mile north of her parents, later moving 1 mile east. George Austin
  had come to the area in 1883, taking a claim about 5 miles south of Old Bross.
     Old Bross was about 3 miles northeast of the present Nashville. It boasted a
  store and post office, a hotel, school house, blacksmith shop, and land office.
  The daily stage from Kingman to Medicine Lodge stopped there for dinner. In 1887, 
  when the railroad went through, Nashville and Isabel were started. The few houses
  that were at Old Bross were moved to Nashville. All that remains is the cemetery.
     Mary Austin died of pneumonia in 1896. Because of crippling rheumatism, William
  then lived with his son, George and Emma Austin. They added on a room for him. He
  died in 1907 and was buried by his wife and son, Charley, at Old Bross.
     Visiting that isolated spot is like a nostalgic step back into a half-forgotten,
  gentle age. A close inspection of Charley's tombstone reveals this quaint, plaintive
  inscription: A precious one from us has gond
               A voice we loved is stilled.
               A place is vacant in our home
               That never can be filled.
               
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 92 
     Submitted by: Wilma Austin Bell