Benjamin Fish Austin - Family

Family

Austin married Francis 'Amanda' Connell-Austin (August 12 18-- - August 15, 1928) of Prescott, Ontario on June 16, 1881. She kept a scrap-book of family events and memories from 1881-1917 which is now part of the collection of the archives of the United Church of Canada/Victoria University. While a scrapbook kept by Amanda is an important existent source of information about Ausin's life, very little information remains about Amanda herself.

The couple had four children, all born while Austin was principal at Alma College.

Albert Edward Austin (September 20, 1882 - Nov 19th 1918) died of influenza-pneumonia in San Bernardino, California, where he had been involved in the newspaper trade since moving from Rochester.

Alma H. Austin received a B.A in Philosophy from the University of Rochester in 1911. She taught at the Western New York Institute for Deaf Mutes. Alma Austin outlived her father and her mother, and came into possession of their papers and files. During this period she erased her own date of birth from all currently existent archival sources. Only the order of entries into a family scrapbook indicates that she was born between her brother Albert and her sister Beatrice.

Beatrice Evelyn Austin (February 27, 1888 –October 10, 1927) was associate editor of Reason. She was a strong proponent of the League of Nations and was greatly displeased when the United States declined to take part in that organisation. She was an 'earnest student' of metaphysical healing and during President Wilson's illness she organised a group of over 100 healers to work on a united effort to save the man she referred to as 'the emancipator'. She led a Spartan life and was uninterested in physical things. Her father wrote in her obituary that 'None knew her but to love her'.

Sadly B. F. Austin's youngest daughter, Kathleen Dell Austin, died before her third birthday (September 9, 1893-April 19, 1896). This sort of tragedy was not uncommon at the time, even among the wealthier middle classes.