Samuel Cartmill Hiroms (1836-1920), one of the community's pioneer settlers, was born in Polk County to parents who were among Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. He taught school, served as Polk County surveyor, and served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War (1861-1865). After his first wife died, he married Emily Ann Johnston (1853-1948) in 1869 and moved his family to Houston County. In 1878 he settled in the Creek community, which later became Austinio, received land for his teaching services, and was an early leader in the Methodist church.