He initially also bore the middle name Punderson but apparently ceased using it, as it appears on none of his Texan records.
Involved through his business with the coasting trade, John became the port officer in 1831 and alcalde for Brazoria the next year.
He was also the delegate for Victoria at the Convention of 1832, signed the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, and following his command at Velasco was elected brigadier general of the Texian militia.
John Austin died with his two children in a cholera epidemic at Gulf Prairie.
His wife Elizabeth married Thomas Parrott in 1834, returning the upper half of John's Buffalo Bayou grant to his father.