Austin was born in Newark, Illinois, to Benjamin Austin, a farmer and state legislator of Nebraska[2] and Emeline Phelps.[1] Toward's the end of the Civil War, Oscar served in the Union Army.[2]
Austin moved to Chicago in 1871 to start his journalism career. By 1873, he moved to Cincinnati and continued his journalism career there until 1881. To further his writing career, he moved to Washington D. C., where he became a correspondent for Metropolitan dailies. He helped edit campaign documents for the Republican National Committee.[2]
While living in Washington, D. C., Austin applied for a patent. Patent number US429079, was for the "Process of Resurfacing Phonograph-Blanks". This patent was approved and later cited by another inventor when patenting a similar technique for records.[4]
Austin was appointed chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor on May 9, 1897[2] by President William McKinley. McKinley had noticed, while Austin was a newspaperman, that his news stories always contain figures.[5] When the Bureau of Statistics was merged into the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in 1912, Austin became its assistant chief.
From 1903 to 1914, Austin was a professor of commerce and statistics at George Washington University.[6] He then became statistician of the foreign trade department of the National City Bank in New York City. He wrote about the commerce of nations and continents, comparisons of colonial systems, and national debts.
While in Cincinnati, Austin meet and married Anna May Richardson (21 May 1854 - 10 June 1938), daughter of John Richardson and Mercy Maria Ames.[7] Oscar and Anna had one daughter.
Florence May Austin (10 December 1875 - 8 February 1942). Florence never married.[8]
^ abcdeGates, Merrill Edwards (1905). Men of Mark in America: Ideals of American Life Told in Biographies of eminent Living Americans, Volume 1. Washington, D. C.: Men of Mark Publishing Company. pp. 111–112 – via Google Play Books.
^"Three to Receive Honor Degrees". Evening Star. June 11, 1913.