Rufus Eugene Austin was born in Union County, North Carolina on October 9, 1866. Austin was a lawyer in Albemarle (Stanly County) who served as a member of the board for the Caswell Training School (formerly the State School for the Feeble Minded), as a member of the General Assembly (1913), and several terms as mayor of Albemarle. He died in Albemarle on January 12, 1917.